Prove Your Love Question

[WalkAThinLine.]

A while back, I remember reading that Christine McVie had expressed interest in re-recording "Prove Your Love" for a Fleetwood Mac release. I could have sworn that this interview took place around the Mirage era, but my searches have thus far turned up nothing. Do any of you remember hearing this? Do you remember the publication or interview that McVie revealed this information to?

[Villavic]

I don't remember or haven't seen or read any interviews where she mentioned that song. But listening carefully, I wonder in which album (Rumours lineup). could that song fit well on?

My first thought is, it could be Tusk.

[Penguin Emeritus]

This is kind of ringing a bell in my aging brain but i think she may have said that in an audio interview back around mirage. unfortunately that's all the info i have lol, for me to listen to all my old tapes to find the quote and the source would be too time-consuming...but i think it would have been cool to rework that song a little. (although the original is beautiful, i love how it sounds.)

--Lis

[FuzzyPlum]

Yes, I absolutely have this in my mind, but I can’t remember where it came from. I also recall it being from something she said around the time of Mirage promo.

[WalkAThinLine.]

On the sixth post of this thread, WayOfTheDragon posted the following information.

Christine did a radio interview with Jim Ladd in 1982 where she mentioned exactly that! I'll try to transcribe the quote where she talks about it:

Interviewer: If you had to pick, just on a personal level, a Christine McVie song that when you wrote it perhaps, that you thought, "Gee, this is really gonna--people are gonna love this song and really recognize this for what it is," and then it just was not ever picked up on?

Christine: Which one did I think was great which never was picked up on? I have to go back a bit, a few years I think. Then again, I wouldn't blame people for not picking up on it, because I'd like to re-record it. It's a song called Prove Your Love. The vocal is terrible. When I listen to it now, I just think the song is a great song ...I just wish that I'd just done it differently. I wish I'd been in this present band and written it and done it with Lindsey.

[blinker12]

I love this song. It’s probably my favorite off HAHTF, though I love all her songs in that record. I disagree that the vocal is terrible - typical Christine self-deprecation!

It’s interesting she said this around the time of mirage, because “Only Over You” and “Wish You Were Here” are reminiscent of PYL in terms of melody and vocals. It’s like she decided to rewrite PYL instead of actually re-recording it. I think both those songs are inferior to PYL, though.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by blinker12

I love this song. It’s probably my favorite off HAHTF, though I love all her songs in that record. I disagree that the vocal is terrible - typical Christine self-deprecation!

It’s interesting she said this around the time of mirage, because “Only Over You” and “Wish You Were Here” are reminiscent of PYL in terms of melody and vocals. It’s like she decided to rewrite PYL instead of actually re-recording it. I think both those songs are inferior to PYL, though.

Totally agree on all points. The vocal for PYL is very strong. I wish it were mixed a little more prominently.

I like OOY and WYWH but they aren’t as harmonically interesting as PYL.

[jbrownsjr]

I too disagree that the vocal is terrible. I think she just means that she wishes it had been produced or the sustained "ahhhh"(s) would have been done differently. But the quality of her voice is pure Christine McVie.

The verses have incredible vocals. Jeez, what a perfectionist. haha

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

I too disagree that the vocal is terrible. I think she just means that she wishes it had been produced or the sustained "ahhhh"(s) would have been done differently. But the quality of her voice is pure Christine McVie.

The verses have incredible vocals. Jeez, what a perfectionist. haha

I love the vocals in the whole song! i wonder what part specifically she hated. (i also prefer this song to only over you and wish you were here .)

--Lis

[Macfan4life]

I love Prove Your Love. Her vocal is fine. I bet she is referring to her opening which few singers would dare to do unless you are Whitney Houston or something. However it works on the song because its so bluesy. It fits fine.
I can almost hear Stevie and Lindsey sing harmony on Come A Little Bit Closer. That would have been a killer remake. I think its a better song than Prove Your Love but Chris was on fire on Heroes Are Hard To Find. Come A Little Bit Closer is a very somber and heart breaking song but the upbeat tempo and synth strings take the song to another level and feel.
I can talk about Heroes Are Hard To Find all day. Its so brilliant in so many ways yet its probably the band's least acknowledged album. There are days I think its even better than Mystery To Me. I think there are better songs on Mystery To Me but Heroes is a better album. It covers the full spectrum of music: blues, rock, spooky song, heart break song, love song, and we even get a rare angry Chris song not to mention Bob's psychedelic "Coming Home." Its like a box of chocolates full of all the good stuff.
Chris was getting better at crafting her songs more pop like. I often wonder what if Bob Weston contributed how much better it could have been. Also imagine if Welch stayed around for the next album. Could Say You Love Me actually charted without Lindsey and Stevie. Chris was getting that good. Remember that the White Album pretty much already had Mac songs drafted and Buck/Nicks stuff rerecorded.

[SteveMacD]

It’s really great as-is, but I understand why she would have liked a redo.

The lawsuit necessitated the expediency of releasing an album and getting the band on the road. In three months, Fleetwood Mac went from the first recording session to opening night of a tour for an album that had been released two weeks earlier. That’s insane. Fleetwood Mac took longer to make the 1975 album, and 2/3 of the arrangements for that were completed before Fleetwood Mac even heard of Buckingham Nicks.

Considering they didn’t have a lot of time to flesh out arrangements, Heroes is an extraordinary album.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Considering they didn’t have a lot of time to flesh out arrangements, Heroes is an extraordinary album.

I agree. It’s pretty sophisticated music. Mick mentions (in his first book) that the band had long discussions during that time about the direction of their sound and musical style. I get the sense it was the first album since Future Games that was made with a conscious direction in mind. So many of those early (and excellent) 70s Mac records seem the result of whatever the contributing songwriters had available. It sounds like the ethos for each record emerged while it was being recorded rather than a clear agenda spelled out beforehand. Heroes, by contrast, sounds intentional—they wanted to make adult, sophisticated rock that was no longer homespun using mobile units.

Of all the early 70s Mac albums, Heroes sounds the most tethered to its times. The band’s reliance on then current studio affects and then contemporary arrangements shows how committed they were to making an important album THEN. Minus the success, it’s the Tango of the 70s…

[DownOnRodeo]

If Prove Your Love were to be rerecorded with the Rumours lineup, it would have fitted very well on the Mirage album. Probably in lieu of Only Over You, which shares certain elements with it. What would it have sounded like with the Buckingham/Dashut touch? Faster, I think, and the piano mostly lost beneath plenty more guitar and vocal hooks.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by DownOnRodeo

If Prove Your Love were to be rerecorded with the Rumours lineup, it would have fitted very well on the Mirage album. Probably in lieu of Only Over You, which shares certain elements with it. What would it have sounded like with the Buckingham/Dashut touch? Faster, I think, and the piano mostly lost beneath plenty more guitar and vocal hooks.

The song fits with those times because Prove Your Love is not about Dennis but it easily could of been about Dennis. Maybe that is why it was on her mind then. She was internally singing it. You are right it has a similar vibe to Only Over You.

"It won't be easy but you've got to prove, prove your love to me"