Who else *doesn't* like Stevie Nicks' songs?

[ummagumma]

First off: I'm not trying to start a flamewar, and I really hope that I don't offend anyone here, because that's not my intention. Everyone has different tastes.

That said, I have to say that I am not overly fond of most Stevie Nicks songs. Generally they strike me as very "plain" and uninspiring from a musical standpoint, boring, monotonous, and they feel like they go on forever. I do appreciate her lyrics; it's just that I'd rather read them in a book of poetry.

For instance, Tusk feels to me like it would be one cohesive musical work of art, if it weren't interrupted by endlessly droning songs like "Beautiful Child" and--again, no offense intended--"Sara". I do like many of her songs ("Gold Dust Woman" is one of my all-time favorites); it's just that her most popular songs among her fans are generally the ones I like the least.

I'm just curious to see if any other FM fans have the same opinion, because I have yet to encounter one who agrees with me.

[Gailh]

I'm mainly a Christine fan but I do like Stevie's songs.

It's just that her voice grates on me after a while especially on SYW

Gail

[billwebster]

Originally Posted by Gailh

I'm mainly a Christine fan but I do like Stevie's songs.

It's just that her voice grates on me after a while especially on SYW

Gail

Hmm, it was Billy's solo music that got me into Fleetwood Mac in the 1st place, and my 1st solo album of the others was Out Of the Cradle.
Strangely, I seem to like Stevie songs best that are not so popular on this board, like Docklands or Welcome To the Room Sara for example.
I have the feeling that Stevie's voice has gotten lower between the recordings of 'Street Angel' and 'Trouble in Shangri-La'. Or is it just the way she is being mic-ed in the studio?
Imho, her best 'Say You Will' song is probably Destiny Rules, but most of her Say You Will stuff I usually skip. I think that is because I can hear the tensions in the studio.

[eclipse]

I think Stevie's main quality is her vocalizing and harmonizing talent.
I think Mick's original thought was that she would be a background...in the shawdows, type of singer... that she was just a bonus that just happened to came along with Lindsey's vocals and AMAZING guitar.

So, OK he was wrong.
She was much stonger and more ambitious than he originally believed.
SHE was going to be a ROCK star! (and she was bringing Lindsey with her...not the other way around).
I think most people, who really think about this, know I am right, and agree.
That said, I have followed and loved her tunes both with FM and with others-Loggins, Eagan, Stewart,etc. Personally, I think she sounds best with someone (male), beside her. I agree that her voice has become (since like 86 til late 90's) rather tedious (I don't think that is the right word-but I will agree).

Stevie Nicks in 1972 through Bella Donna period?
Hard to beat-
Love the style, love the delivery, just love the girl!

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by ummagumma

First off: I'm not trying to start a flamewar, and I really hope that I don't offend anyone here, because that's not my intention. Everyone has different tastes.

nice disclaimer.

Originally Posted by ummagumma

Generally they strike me as very "plain" and uninspiring from a musical standpoint, boring, monotonous, and they feel like they go on forever. I do appreciate her lyrics; it's just that I'd rather read them in a book of poetry.

plain and uninspiring? that hurts my soul. they are anything but that.

Originally Posted by ummagumma

For instance, Tusk feels to me like it would be one cohesive musical work of art, if it weren't interrupted by endlessly droning songs like "Beautiful Child" and--again, no offense intended--"Sara". I do like many of her songs ("Gold Dust Woman" is one of my all-time favorites); it's just that her most popular songs among her fans are generally the ones I like the least.

see that makes no sense. BC and Sara drag on and on, but you like GDW? GDW infamously goes on and on. BC is one of Stevie's most beautiful songs, lyrically and musically.

maybe you need to re-evaluate your reasoning and provide more support and explanation so we can see exactly what it is that warrants your point.

[Miss Vicky]

I'm going to sort of agree with you - I don't like Stevie and haven't liked her for quite some time. However, it's not really her 'songs' that are the problem, though lyrically some do annoy me. However, I'm more so irritated by her deteriorated voice and range than anything else, especially since her softer songs - like "Beautiful Child" - are the songs I like best and still enjoy.

P.S.

Bill Webster - a big thumbs up to a fellow Billy fan. Stevie's music is what initially got me interested in Fleetwood Mac's music and Lindsey Buckingham is the one who turned interest into obsession, but these days Billy is my favorite.

Oh and Eclipse, it's Egan not Eagan.

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by Miss Vicky

her deteriorated voice and range

I hear a lot of these same kind of complaints by fans of other artists who have had changes in their voice; Streisand, etc. Maybe Stevie could have prevented it, maybe not. the thing that makes me sad to see someone be "irritated" or not like her for this reason is that a large part of the reason her voice, I believe, is the way it is (different, not deteriorated, by the way) is because she spent a good 10 years or more giving her heart and soul in performances of Rhiannon, GDW, SOTM and others. I just look back at her busting her ass on those songs to thousands of screaming fans and then years later...those same fans going "omg, she sounds like a dead goat" and I imagine what it must feel like for her. that's just me. it really makes the lyrics to SOTM so, so true.

Originally Posted by Miss Vicky

Stevie's music is what initially got me interested in Fleetwood Mac's music and Lindsey Buckingham is the one who turned interest into obsession, but these days Billy is my favorite.

that's nice of you to say and it's cool Stevie hooked you and gave you the opportunity to discover Lindsey and Billy

[Miss Vicky]

Originally Posted by JazmenFlowers

a large part of the reason her voice, I believe, is the way it is (different, not deteriorated, by the way) is because she spent a good 10 years or more giving her heart and soul in performances of Rhiannon, GDW, SOTM and others.

Yes, I agree that a lot of the change in her voice is due to years of performing, and just the aging process in general, but I think a huge part of it is the result of the 3 pack a day smoking habit she had for years, not to mention the cocaine abuse.

[eclipse]

whoops-me, and a speeling error. hee-hee??
I am a really bad speller-

I like his music, especially with Stevie and Lindsey-and I know you are a huge fan Vicky...sorry for the slight' of name....

[MacMan]

Originally Posted by ummagumma

First off: I'm not trying to start a flamewar, and I really hope that I don't offend anyone here, because that's not my intention. Everyone has different tastes.

That said, I have to say that I am not overly fond of most Stevie Nicks songs. Generally they strike me as very "plain" and uninspiring from a musical standpoint, boring, monotonous, and they feel like they go on forever. I do appreciate her lyrics; it's just that I'd rather read them in a book of poetry.

So is it the songs you're not actually fond of or her voice? By the sounds of it, it's her voice, since you can handle reading the lyrics...

I don't know, for me I think if it were her voice I would have a hard time listening to the group as a whole since with harmonies and solo songs on the albums, she's everywhere! There's no mistaken her voice even when it's mixed in on the harmonies she's right out there. Her voice has changed alot from back in the day with only remnants of what it used to be - but it's still a pretty powerfull voice - and when she wants she can still write a good lyric.

[chiliD]

Ok, from the Buckingham Nicks days through Tusk, there were not too many straight male Stevie Nicks fans more intense than I:

I think Stevie was basically useless to Fleetwood Mac in the '80s and just should've just quit FMac outright after the Tusk tour ended (and Lindsey, too). Other than "Gypsy" on Mirage everything of hers within FMac post-Tusk was atrocious. (although a COUPLE of her background vocals on Tango... were pretty cool...the "tell me, tell me lies" part on "Little Lies" is really great). She did have a few (VERY few) high points (no pun intended) on her '80s solo albums, though (side 2 of Rock A Little & "Rooms On Fire" about cover it).

[David]

Originally Posted by eclipse

I think Stevie's main quality is her vocalizing and harmonizing talent.

That's what interests me about her, too.

Originally Posted by ummagumma

That said, I have to say that I am not overly fond of most Stevie Nicks songs. Generally they strike me as very "plain" and uninspiring from a musical standpoint, boring, monotonous, and they feel like they go on forever. I do appreciate her lyrics; it's just that I'd rather read them in a book of poetry.

To me, her lyrics are beside the point (as are all the other lyrics by the other Fleetwood Macsters). I like or dislike tracks based on how Fleetwood Mac treats the songs. Although some of them have nice turns of phrase, I see no great verbal poetry in these Fleetwood Mac songs, but I do hear some good aural poetry in many of them: a lyricism & an inventiveness in the treatment of the song that encompasses arrangement, production & performance.

[Peestie]

Originally Posted by chiliD

Ok, from the Buckingham Nicks days through Tusk, there were not too many straight male Stevie Nicks fans more intense than I:

I think Stevie was basically useless to Fleetwood Mac in the '80s and just should've just quit FMac outright after the Tusk tour ended (and Lindsey, too). Other than "Gypsy" on Mirage everything of hers within FMac post-Tusk was atrocious. (although a COUPLE of her background vocals on Tango... were pretty cool...the "tell me, tell me lies" part on "Little Lies" is really great). She did have a few (VERY few) high points (no pun intended) on her '80s solo albums, though (side 2 of Rock A Little & "Rooms On Fire" about cover it).

I agree that's Stevie did very little for Fleetwood Mac in the 80's and if I was in the band at the time I would have wanted to fire her for being so out of the loop and focussing on solo projects apart from 1 reason: She was the pretty face that the public had come to love and was a big star in her own right.
I do like her stuff on SYW though. Those are songs that grabbed me on first listen.
Why do you think Lindsey should have gone as well, Chilli? Similar reasons to Stevie? (i.e. focussing on solo project, song quality dropping)

TITN would have been much better if Stevie's songs had been replaced by more songs by Lindsey and Christine IMO. And Mirage is probably the same, though with the exception of 3 or 4 songs all 3 writers reach below average levels anyway, so it's not really fair to pick on Stevie. Apart from a couple of Lindsey's songs, Gypsy and WYWH none of those songs catch the ear. Just quite bland record, not bad, but unremarkable.

[bretonbanquet]

I came to Fleetwood Mac via Peter and Danny, and I never had strong feelings about Stevie one way or the other. I definitely don't have anything against her or her songs in general, and I like her 70s stuff including most of her Tusk songs. I'll also agree that her 80s Mac stuff was pretty redundant, but then I think Mac had entered the lazy phase by that time anyway.

She certainly has her share of duff songs though, for me - perhaps more than any other Macster. Her Tango stuff is fairly dire, and same goes for Behind the Mask - but I did like Billy's and Rick's stuff, so it's not that I dislike that era per se. I would also say there are many occasions when I'd rather hear Bekka Bramlett Stevie's SYW stuff is patchy, in my humble opinion (just my opinion, of course ) - some I can listen to, some I generally don't.

I guess I could say that I like Stevie Nicks as an integral part of the late 70s Fleetwood Mac, but beyond that, I'm not really fussed. She's just another Macster to me, with great moments, and not-so-great moments.

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by Peestie

I do like her stuff on SYW though. Those are songs that grabbed me on first listen.

Yeah, it IS her songs that draw me back to listen to SYW. (Well, except for "Running Through The Garden"...{blech!})

Originally Posted by Peestie

Why do you think Lindsey should have gone as well, Chilli? Similar reasons to Stevie? (i.e. focussing on solo project, song quality dropping).

1) Came in together...go out together.

2) The flak he got from within the band for the (supposed) poor sales of Tusk. He basically, at that point, wasn't happy being in the band. (and his work on Mirage pretty much shows that)

3) Let him focus on his solo career full-time.