Best official live album?

[fleetwoodtrick]

The Dance. No competition. Really. I have "Live" on vinyl, but not CD. And it always skips and rips accross the vinyl halfway through, so I've never heard it all the way through either. That pisses me off because it wasn't cheap.

[mylittledemon]

Originally Posted by David

I have major issues with both of them. But certainly The Dance is the more immaculately crafted labor of love. It's elegant, an artifact of good breeding.

The 1980 album is akin to a concert program -- cool photos & moments, but it has beer spilled on it. It's "street" (for Fleetwood Mac, at least).

Oh yeah for sure. The Dance has it's share of problems. The fact that they didn't film it in 16:9 blows my mind.

My problem with the LIVE 1980 record is that it sounds very dirty. The performances are good, but take "Don't Stop" for example... the ending where Lindsey breaks a string and you hear Christine talking about it? Interesting for sure, but... it doesn't belong there. Give me some CLASSIC versions of the songs that I can listen to regularly. I have to say, "Fireflies" is the only one I don't typically skip over.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

My problem with the LIVE 1980 record is that it sounds very dirty. The performances are good, but take "Don't Stop" for example... the ending where Lindsey breaks a string and you hear Christine talking about it? Interesting for sure, but... it doesn't belong there. Give me some CLASSIC versions of the songs that I can listen to regularly. I have to say, "Fireflies" is the only one I don't typically skip over.

See? That's exactly why I *DO* love Live '80! It's a raw snapshot of a moment in time... even if it does show boogers in Stevie's nose, or John McVie's armpit stains . Everything FM ever did in the studio was polished up to a blinding sheen. Give me some grit. I don't need 400 backing musicians to 'fatten' up the sound... I wanna hear FLEETWOOD MAC! Not Fleetwood Mac plus Carlos, Brett, Steve, Taku, Neale, Sharon, Mindy, Lenny, the 126 piece USC Trojan Marching Band, etc etc etc.

[trackaghost]

Originally Posted by David

I have major issues with both of them. But certainly The Dance is the more immaculately crafted labor of love. It's elegant, an artifact of good breeding.

The 1980 album is akin to a concert program -- cool photos & moments, but it has beer spilled on it. It's "street" (for Fleetwood Mac, at least).

(Same is true of the 1997 concert video vs. the 1982 & 1987 videos.)

Which is probably why I prefer the 1980 album. I don't want to hear a rock band sound "elegant", I want to hear them sound dirty, raw and real. The Dance has too much polish for it to sound like a real live experience, but there's plenty of real moments on the Live album that makes it feel like you are in the venue and hearing the songs, mistakes and all, in that moment. The inclusion of the string breaking at the end of Don't Stop, for instance, is just fantastic. I'll listen to the album versions if I want perfection.

[trackaghost]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

See? That's exactly why I *DO* love Live '80! It's a raw snapshot of a moment in time... even if it does show boogers in Stevie's nose, or John McVie's armpit stains . Everything FM ever did in the studio was polished up to a blinding sheen. Give me some grit. I don't need 400 backing musicians to 'fatten' up the sound... I wanna hear FLEETWOOD MAC! Not Fleetwood Mac plus Carlos, Brett, Steve, Taku, Neale, Sharon, Mindy, Lenny, the 126 piece USC Trojan Marching Band, etc etc etc.

Exactly! I agree with everything you've just said.
I think The Dance holds a lot of nostalgia for people because it's the album that introduced a lot of younger fans to the band, but artistically and as a representation of the band live, the 1980 is more effective imo. I always think of The Dance as a TV special, but the Live album is a chronicle of the band on tour in their prime.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Exactly! I agree with everything you've just said.
I think The Dance holds a lot of nostalgia for people because it's the album that introduced a lot of younger fans to the band, but artistically and as a representation of the band live, the 1980 is more effective imo. I always think of The Dance as a TV special, but the Live album is a chronicle of the band on tour in their prime.

There definitely seems to be a dividing line between those who were fans prior to 1997 and those who became fans afterwards. I became a fan in '93, so I really thought I'd never see the Rumours kids together ever again. So naturally I have very warm and fuzzy memories from the Dance reunion, and watching the concert on TV (I actually still have my Dance VHS copy ). Hearing Silver Springs on the radio constantly was a sonic orgasm to me . Even when I watch the concert to this day, I find it sweet and touching. But you're absolutely right... it was more like a made for TV movie. It was almost like Big Band Broadway Does Fleetwood Mac! Too many musicians, too many rehearsed monologues and dialogues, too many soft camera lenses.

I like the Live '80 album because it's the real deal. The kids had been touring for 18 months... so you hear that in Stevie's ragged Rhiannon vocals. You get to hear Christine introduce the first song from their brand new album Tusk: Over And Over. You can hear strings break, band members discussing things. There are performances from 3 continents. You just can't recreate or buy any of that .

[mylittledemon]

"Sara" from the 1980 live album is stunning... I forgot about that one.

[mylittledemon]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

See? That's exactly why I *DO* love Live '80! It's a raw snapshot of a moment in time... even if it does show boogers in Stevie's nose, or John McVie's armpit stains . Everything FM ever did in the studio was polished up to a blinding sheen. Give me some grit. I don't need 400 backing musicians to 'fatten' up the sound... I wanna hear FLEETWOOD MAC! Not Fleetwood Mac plus Carlos, Brett, Steve, Taku, Neale, Sharon, Mindy, Lenny, the 126 piece USC Trojan Marching Band, etc etc etc.

I would probably love the 1980 version better if they'd release all the video footage with it and put it on DVD.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

I would probably love the 1980 version better if they'd release all the video footage with it and put it on DVD.

OH Hells yeah!!

[Erin]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

See? That's exactly why I *DO* love Live '80! It's a raw snapshot of a moment in time... even if it does show boogers in Stevie's nose, or John McVie's armpit stains . Everything FM ever did in the studio was polished up to a blinding sheen. Give me some grit. I don't need 400 backing musicians to 'fatten' up the sound... I wanna hear FLEETWOOD MAC! Not Fleetwood Mac plus Carlos, Brett, Steve, Taku, Neale, Sharon, Mindy, Lenny, the 126 piece USC Trojan Marching Band, etc etc etc.

The marching band is a highlight for me! Especially Don't Stop, it's my favorite version. I understand what you mean about the fattened sound, but I'm one of the people who were snared into the Fleetwood Mac universe because of the Dance, although like Brandon I'm annoyed by the 4:3. The dvd doesn't look so hot on my widescreen tv.

I like the Live 80 album a lot, but it needs to be remastered, badly. I just got it on vinyl recently and haven't had time to spin it yet. I'm hoping it's better than the cd transfer. So I basically can't pick between the two, because they are so different yet supposedly "live".

[seekerj]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Which is probably why I prefer the 1980 album. I don't want to hear a rock band sound "elegant", I want to hear them sound dirty, raw and real. The Dance has too much polish for it to sound like a real live experience, but there's plenty of real moments on the Live album that makes it feel like you are in the venue and hearing the songs, mistakes and all, in that moment. The inclusion of the string breaking at the end of Don't Stop, for instance, is just fantastic. I'll listen to the album versions if I want perfection.

Exactly!

I was sooo severely disappointed when I heard The Dance cd for the first time. I was so looking forward to it, and it just let me down, it was so over-produced and all the music sounded watered-down. These things bummed me out:

1. The Chain lost the continued guitar solo after the tag "chain.... keep us together"; Lindsey used to keep the solo going long after that.
2. Rhiannon was completely castrated.
3. Lanslide lost the "well I hope you make it" lyric-change.
4. You Make Loving Fun lost the "edgey" guitar and sounded like Lindsey was playing under water.
5. Don't Stop... with horns... um, I don't think so.

So I voted for Live 1980.

About the only thing I liked about it was was the rebirth of Silver Springs, but it was just too tame; now I prefer the version that is on the Superstar Concert Series show from that tour.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by seekerj

About the only thing I liked about it was was the rebirth of Silver Springs, but it was just too tame; now I prefer the version that is on the Superstar Concert Series show from that tour.

Yes, I never understood what people liked about The Dance dvd version of Silver Springs. To me the song was much better and more electric during the tour than it ever was on the dvd. I never thought Stevie was especially passionate on the dvd. I remember being surprised that everyone was talking about that moment after the show aired on on tv, because it wasn't a highlight for me. I was more giddy about their little "thank you" exchange following Landslide than I was about Silver Springs. When I saw it live though, I loved it. Michele

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yes, I never understood what people liked about The Dance dvd version of Silver Springs. To me the song was much better and more electric during the tour than it ever was on the dvd. I never thought Stevie was especially passionate on the dvd.

What? Are we watching the same thing? What I love about the "Dance" version of SS is that it spans the emotional landscape the way the original version was not quite able to. I love the way it starts off slowly, sweetly, plaintively... then after four minutes it turns into this fast, tumultuous, furious, stormy ending where she screams "you'll never get away!" amidst the musical onslaught. My favorite part of the DVD comes towards the end of Lindsey's solo, where Stevie seems to be bracing herself for the stormy ending. She assumes the hunched position, pushes the hair off her shoulders and proceeds to give the stare of death to Lindsey. Oh ****, it's on. It's sort of like watching a boxer getting limbered up for the final round.

[David]

Originally Posted by Erin

The marching band is a highlight for me!

If you could have had a video of only one of the following, which would you pick?

1. Tusk from The Dance with USC marching band May 1997
2. Tusk from Inglewood Forum with USC marching band December 1979

[David]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yes, I never understood what people liked about The Dance dvd version of Silver Springs.

I like the subtlety -- the hushed sense -- of the instrument playing (which may have been faked in post-production, I don't know). I remember telling the newsgroup that I was ready for the geezers in Fleetwood Mac to start sounding like Peter, Paul & Mary -- & here they were, sounding like Peter, Paul & Mary. I was thrilled with the minimalism; I had never heard the band present itself like that before.