Unpopular Lindsey opinions/theories

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by David

Sign me up on this one, at least in principle. He's been tampering with the warmth of the natural voice too much for several years in the studio. I love the clarity he used to get on instruments back when he really was a superb engineer—from 1976 through about 1984. But in recent years, I think his ear has let him down. Already by 1979, some critics were pointing out that some tracks had an opaque, willowy echo on them, like strands of weeds in a burbling brook. That approach has become Lindsey's hallmark now, unfortunately for me. I no longer hear distinct tracks and their complementary qualities when I listen to something like When She Comes Down or Murrow. I hear wisps of reverb shoot through my ear like air through a seashell. The musical structure gets impaired; bars melt into one another so that you're not even sure of the passage of musical time.

In 1983 or so, when he bought himself the Fairlight CMI, instead of using it for subtle coloring (which I wish he had), he sampled the hell out of everything and painstakingly (and self-consciously) crafted a rather grunty, clubfooted monster out of bits of sonic tissue. That's how we got the Go Insane album and even the Tango in the Night album. (Play in the Rain is so over-the-top as an objet trouvé and "found sounds" that I honestly think sometimes he meant it as a self-referential joke.) Lindsey turned a lot of his studio music into "art" music, or into an Eighties and Nineties version of prog, and its turned out to be less interesting on repeat than the Never Going Back Again or It Was I style of production.

Go back to the rough takes and early dubs of I Know I'm Not Wrong on the Tusk deluxe. Those jump out of the speaker at you—they're so playful and soulful. What ever happened to that Lindsey?

Also, about the I Don't Want to Know stuff that we're all talking about, don't forget that the Penguin ran a bunch of Q&As years ago, and one or two of them were with people from the Buckingham Nicks band, like Hoppy Hodges. They talk a little bit about that song and several others that got recorded for later Fleetwood albums. Don't forget to read them (or reread them if you're an old timer here).

^This.

Enough of the breathy, whispery, or grunty vocals.

I get that he's trying to make a whole album with just a single human voice sound like more voices and more textures to keep it from being monotonous, but there is a line and he has crossed it too often.

Also, what's wrong with a straightforward song that doesn't try and be too clever? Gift of Screws is such a fun song that just rocks. I know he draws inspiration from Brian Wilson, but when he goes back to his John Stewart influences it's great and even his love of the Stones.

If we heard a mix of his influences on each album it'd be great; however some albums he's just stayed in one style and after like the 4th whispered song it's wearying.

His music is at it's least appealing (for me) when he tries too hard to be too 'cerebral' or 'clever' with it -- "Look what I did there! Wasn't that smart?" Often his stuff can be too cold, too 'manufactured', like a home done in a sleek, modernist, industrial style-- all concrete and metal. It cries out for a nice rug or a soft throw or something. Music needs to hook you emotionally, it needs some warmth, and his best songs are a combination of cleverness and authentic emotion-- GYOW, NGBA, SHN, most of OOTC, a lot on GoS.