Sacramento Concert Cancelled

[David]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

It was actually fashionable for rock critics to bash La Nicks for many years and a good review for her was much more the exception than the rule.So it is no surprise at all that Brian was able to produce a plethora of negative reviews for her during Fleetwood Mac's prime.This trend dramatically reversed itself at the time of The Dance..which leads me to believe that the recent negative reviews are more unbiased and alot of fans seem to echo them..This was not the case back in the day ,the critics disliked her but we fans seemed to see a different show totally.

She had a (relatively) small number of supporters in the rock press in the old days -- guys who genuinely seemed to consider her a great vocalist & performer. Think of Ken Tucker (whose view of Fleetwood Mac greatly resembled my own), Steve Morse, Howard Cohen, Parke Puterbaugh, John Rockwell, Dennis Hunt (who named Stevie's Fox Wilshire show the best pop-rock show in Los Angeles that year), Robert Hilburn (who called Fleetwood Mac's 1982 benefit the best pop-rock show in Orange County that year), & Noel Coppage (who summed up "Tusk" as "perhaps not a great album but a fascinating parade of sounds").

And then there were the guys who loved Fleetwood Mac but who felt Stevie was often the weak link: Steve Pond, David Gans, etc.

Still others considered her a vocalist to be reckoned with but not a decent songwriter: Steve Simels, for example (who called her a belter in the tradition of Brenda Lee but a mooncalf as a songwriter).

There were even writers -- like Sylvie Simmons -- who didn't have any artistic respect for Nicks but who thought she was a warm, generous, and honest human being.

One critic who I felt really exemplified an almost total intolerance for Nicks as a songwriter AND a singer was Joel Selvin. In concert & album reviews he wrote from around 1980 to around 1987, he had practically no admiration for Fleetwood Mac's style, & considered Stevie a dip.

But to me it's important not to label any negative review as "bashing." That's a loaded term that doesn't mean "negative review." It expresses something personal & artistically unwarranted. Too many ledgies, unfortunately, call too many negative comments "bashing." Bashing is a violent term that should be reserved for specific examples of either character assassination or grossly distorted & exaggerated negativity, usually of a highly personal nature.

Of course, the distinction is very subjective, to a degree. But a comment from a critic (or a ledgie) that Stevie Nicks "lacked passion & commitment in her performance Sunday night" isn't bashing in any way, shape, or form.