Which two albums represent Christine's best Fleetwood Mac work?

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

Just looking back at tabrun’s comment about Christine being the weakest writer on Tusk….omg!!!!
Brown Eyes, Over and Over, Think About Me, Never Forget, Honey Hi….all gorgeous songs. Even Never Make Me Cry was sweet, if a little under-cooked.
I certainly wouldn’t consider her contributions to be inferior to Lindsey’s.

Her Tusk offerings are incredibly strong. "Never Forget" is a very underrated gem and I've been listening a lot to "Never Make Me Cry" recently.

In terms of my picks, I would probably go with Heroes Are Hard to Find first followed by Mystery to Me. In fact, my top four favorite songs on Heroes Are Hard to Find are probably all Christine McVie songs. The title track is a peppy tune with infectious horn licks, "Come A Little Bit Closer" is one of her best ballads, "Bad Loser" is one of the few angry songs in her discography and possesses an incessant tribal tom-tom beat, and "Prove Your Love" is an understated slow-burner.

Surprisingly, I actually think Rumours might be the album with Christine's McVie's worst collective body of work. Of her four offerings (not counting "The Chain") "You Make Loving Fun" is the only one of hers that I really enjoy from her. The remaining tracks, while by no means bad, are ones that I'm most likely to skip, particularly "Songbird".

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

Her Tusk offerings are incredibly strong. "Never Forget" is a very underrated gem and I've been listening a lot to "Never Make Me Cry" recently.

In terms of my picks, I would probably go with Heroes Are Hard to Find first followed by Mystery to Me. In fact, my top four favorite songs on Heroes Are Hard to Find are probably all Christine McVie songs. The title track is a peppy tune with infectious horn licks, "Come A Little Bit Closer" is one of her best ballads, "Bad Loser" is one of the few angry songs in her discography and possesses an incessant tribal tom-tom beat, and "Prove Your Love" is an understated slow-burner.

Surprisingly, I actually think Rumours might be the album with Christine's McVie's worst collective body of work. Of her four offerings (not counting "The Chain") "You Make Loving Fun" is the only one of hers that I really enjoy from her. The remaining tracks, while by no means bad, are ones that I'm most likely to skip, particularly "Songbird".

You make some great points. This is an impossible question because Chris's songs are always or usually the best ones on the albums. She finds her footing on Bare Trees and then every album she really grows. Heroes is sensational because of her variation of the 4 contributions. They were equally as good on the White Album, Rumours, Tusk, Mirage, etc. She shines on every album so this is an impossible question for me to answer.
My hunch is why her songs on Tusk don't get recognized as much is because she sort of disappears on the album for about 7 songs.
I could never say that her songs are better this album or that album post Bare Trees. I could not agree or disagree that her songs are better on the White album than Heroes. I could not agree or disagree her songs on the White album are better than Rumours either. I could not agree or disagree her Tusk songs are better than Mirage.

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

You make some great points. This is an impossible question because Chris's songs are always or usually the best ones on the albums. She finds her footing on Bare Trees and then every album she really grows. Heroes is sensational because of her variation of the 4 contributions. They were equally as good on the White Album, Rumours, Tusk, Mirage, etc. She shines on every album so this is an impossible question for me to answer.
My hunch is why her songs on Tusk don't get recognized as much is because she sort of disappears on the album for about 7 songs.
I could never say that her songs are better this album or that album post Bare Trees. I could not agree or disagree that her songs are better on the White album than Heroes. I could not agree or disagree her songs on the White album are better than Rumours either. I could not agree or disagree her Tusk songs are better than Mirage.

Yes, I would say this is just impossible to judge. She is strong on certain records but for different reasons.

Objectively I’d say Tango. She had big hits. A couple of her songs on that record have become ‘standards’. But you know what?…. I’ve become rather bored with both Little Lies and Everywhere. Lies in particular is obviously so hooky but lacks any depth.
Her rumours songs are great (even The Chain wouldn’t exist without her foundations for the song). But maybe we are too familiar with them. I’ve heard people call Songbird boring. Well…it’s Songbird. It’s a classic!!! If I’d never heard it before I’d think it was amazing. But yeah, it’s skippable for me now (along with Don’t Stop). So maybe it’s unfair and impossible to objectively judge those songs.
Future Games and Bare Trees shouldn’t really count as she had so few songs on those records.
MTM- A 10/10, a couple of 8’s and a 7.

You know what? I think her 2 best may be from HAHTF, Tusk, White and maybe even….Penguin.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

Long live theeee resurrector!

It's a line from "Devil Wears Prada" and yes... a slight hint.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

Just looking back at tabrun’s comment about Christine being the weakest writer on Tusk….omg!!!!
Brown Eyes, Over and Over, Think About Me, Never Forget, Honey Hi….all gorgeous songs. Even Never Make Me Cry was sweet, if a little under-cooked.
I certainly wouldn’t consider her contributions to be inferior to Lindsey’s.

I had the same thought. I feel Lindsey's are the weakest and Stevie and Christine sort of save the album.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

I had the same thought. I feel Lindsey's are the weakest and Stevie and Christine sort of save the album.

Yes. but it was Lindsey who was the driving force behind making a completely different album. His songs would then be the most different. If they're the weakest, is it a bit of a contradiction to say it was the right thing to do?

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Yes. but it was Lindsey who was the driving force behind making a completely different album. His songs would then be the most different. If they're the weakest, is it a bit of a contradiction to say it was the right thing to do?

Not everyone believes Lindsey's "force" was driving.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

Just looking back at tabrun’s comment about Christine being the weakest writer on Tusk….omg!!!!
Brown Eyes, Over and Over, Think About Me, Never Forget, Honey Hi….all gorgeous songs. Even Never Make Me Cry was sweet, if a little under-cooked.
I certainly wouldn’t consider her contributions to be inferior to Lindsey’s.

Her Tusk songs are excellent. The reason some people think they’re “weaker” is because of (Lindsey’s) decision to pare back on arrangements and create a spacier, sparer sound. Christine and Stevie get one really lush tune each: Sara and Brown Eyes—and according to Ken, a lot of the work for Sara was accomplished by Hernán Rojas. The rest of their tunes sound by turns raunchier (Think About Me, Angel, Sisters) and ultra spare (Storms, Never Make Me Cry).

It’s clear, to my ears at least, and through my study of the songs through sheet music, that Never Forget, Think About Me, Over and Over, and Honey Hi (to pick just four, though all six would work) are entirely comparable to Christine’s Mirage songs. The only difference are the arrangements. And in the case of Never Forget, in terms of craft, the tune ranks pretty high in her overall catalogue.

I have said nothing so far about her voice, which was flawless on Tusk. A pure and potent alto…

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Her Tusk songs are excellent. The reason some people think they’re “weaker” is because of (Lindsey’s) decision to pare back on arrangements and create a spacier, sparer sound. Christine and Stevie get one really lush tune each: Sara and Brown Eyes—and according to Ken, a lot of the work for Sara was accomplished by Hernán Rojas. The rest of their tunes sound by turns raunchier (Think About Me, Angel, Sisters) and ultra spare (Storms, Never Make Me Cry).

It’s clear, to my ears at least, and through my study of the songs through sheet music, that Never Forget, Think About Me, Over and Over, and Honey Hi (to pick just four, though all six would work) are entirely comparable to Christine’s Mirage songs. The only difference are the arrangements. And in the case of Never Forget, in terms of craft, the tune ranks pretty high in her overall catalogue.

I have said nothing so far about her voice, which was flawless on Tusk. A pure and potent alto…

Hernan certainly played a key role in championing "Sara" and encouraging the rest of the band to record it. Up through the Rumours album, Lindsey was very involved with the arrangements of Stevie's songs. He even convinced Ken and the rest of the band to record the basic tracks of "I Don't Want to Know" in Stevie's absence. By the time Stevie arrived, one of the only things that needed to be accomplished was the addition of Stevie's vocals, a few more overdubs, plus the mixing and mastering. Starting with the Tusk sessions Stevie began working with Tom Moncrieff and recorded various demos with him, including "Smile at You" and "Sara". Based on accounts from Hernan, Lindsey was one of the final band members to actually listen to "Sara" and overdub his parts - Mick had already recorded his drum track and I believe that John's bass had been added at that point too.

Lindsey certainly exerted his influence on certain tracks, with "Never Make Me Cry" being a prime example where the piano was stripped in favor of several guitars, but songs like "Think About Me" and "Angel" are very much ensemble pieces. Granted, Lindsey still managed to place his stamp on both songs by recording very prominent vocals on the former and replacing the Chamberlin solo originally found on the bridge with a fuzz guitar solo. As demonstrated in the Tusk documentary, he also managed to land a more prominent role on "Angel".

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

Not everyone believes Lindsey's "force" was driving.

I still wonder if he was the "force" behind the decision to include 7 versions of I Know I'm Not Wrong in the Tusk Deluxe edition.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by Villavic

I still wonder if he was the "force" behind the decision to include 7 versions of I Know I'm Not Wrong in the Tusk Deluxe edition.

I think he wanted twelve…

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

I think he wanted twelve…

He should have produced Thoughts on a Grey Day.