Circa 1982, Who *Was* Fleetwood Mac?

[EveryHour]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

I really like Lindsey's Mirage songs. Am I in the minority here?

Nope! LOVE them all!!!

But I do think by a landslide that Goodbye Angel (brilliant, one of my very faves) should have been on the album instead of Empire State (beyond cheesy, but still somehow lovable).

If people are commenting on his songs from a purely technical point (which I don't do well with), though, I understand that they may not be deemed as good or creative in that regard.

[David]

Originally Posted by EveryHour

If people are commenting on his songs from a purely technical point (which I don't do well with), though, I understand that they may not be deemed as good or creative in that regard.

Au contraire. It's the more technical aspects of Fleetwood Mac work from 1977 to approx. the present that give the band its aesthetic standing, & yet another reason why it's a different solar system (with a couple of interstellar travelers providing a certain sameness of style) from previous groupings: you don't listen to Mystery To Me or Bare Trees & exclaim, "What a splendid use of mic placement!" or "What a bold foray into multitrack composite processing!"

Songs like "Empire State" or "Isn't It Midnight" or "Sara" are interesting only for their mechanistic properties, whereas "Before the Beginning" & "Oh Well" are interesting only for aspects pertaining to performance technique.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by David

Au contraire. It's the more technical aspects of Fleetwood Mac work from 1977 to approx. the present that give the band its aesthetic standing, & yet another reason why it's a different solar system (with a couple of interstellar travelers providing a certain sameness of style) from previous groupings: you don't listen to Mystery To Me or Bare Trees & exclaim, "What a splendid use of mic placement!" or "What a bold foray into multitrack composite processing!"

Songs like "Empire State" or "Isn't It Midnight" or "Sara" are interesting only for their mechanistic properties, whereas "Before the Beginning" & "Oh Well" are interesting only for aspects pertaining to performance technique.

I don't totally agree. "The Supernatural" and "Fool No More" are two songs that fascinate me in the way Peter Green was able to manipulate his guitar with feedback and reverb. While I love the actual performances on those songs, I think I've been more impressed with the studio trickery than the songs themselves. Furthermore, I think the whole "Mr. Wonderful" album WAS a splendid use of mic placement. They worked for days to get the mics placed just right to get that "Chess tone" that makes the album all the more convincing as a purist, Chicago blues album.

[Nicksluvver]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

I really like Lindsey's Mirage songs. Am I in the minority here?

I like Lindsey's songs on Mirage- especially Book of love!

[David]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

While I love the actual performances on those songs, I think I've been more impressed with the studio trickery than the songs themselves.

Steve ... pal ... you make a rotten liar.

You're like the Deborah Kerr character in "Black Narcissus."

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by David

Steve ... pal ... you make a rotten liar.

You're like the Deborah Kerr character in "Black Narcissus."

I WISH I was lying. The fact that I've spent many years and subsequent dollars trying to recreate these songs would suggest otherwise. To be able to go from that clean, reverb-less tone to that dirty, reverb-heavy tone has long been a dream of mine. I have amps that can technically do it, but the tone is just not right. And, that's just "Fool No More." I haven't even gotten to the point where I could attempt "Supernatural."