Why is Straight back over looked?

nightbird28 · #1 05-22-2007, 09:32 PM

I was just looking at a thread on the rumours board about pot or cocaine fleetwood songs. And it popped into my heard why is "Straight Back" always overlooked as being a great stevie song. I think it is awesome to space out to. Especially when she goes into "The dream has just begun part of the song". The overlaying vocals are awesome too. Thoughts on this song?

JazmenFlowers · #2 05-22-2007, 09:35 PM

omg, love love love this song. it is Stevie to a "T" - some of her best vocals and lyrics. the atmosphere of this song is awesome. and the Mirage tour rehearsal version is stellar!

amber · #3 05-22-2007, 10:17 PM

I dunno, but it makes me mad. Same thing as That's Alright being overlooked. Both are superb. Unfortunately, it's one in a long line of overlooked "non radio hit" Stevie gems. There are beaucoup. It's a crying shame, is what it is. Straight Back is sublime. It takes me to another dimension. There is nothing like it.

Apparently you can only have one single per album.

One per person. There was a Christine one, and a Stevie one, so I guess that is the proscribed limit on hits. *rolls eyes times a thousand*. Add mad face.

catinthedark · #4 05-22-2007, 11:57 PM

i love straight back (and i love that's alright, for that matter). i no longer care (if i ever did) what anyone else tihnks of any given song. if i like it, i listen to it.

OT... but i'm not sure i get why the pot versus coke songs thread was closed. are we THAT prudish about saying the word coke?

BombaySapphire3 · #5 05-23-2007, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amber

Apparently you can only have one single per album.

One per person. There was a Christine one, and a Stevie one, so I guess that is the proscribed limit on hits. *rolls eyes times a thousand*. Add mad face.

Christine had two hit singles off Mirage .Hold Me and Love in Store as well as every "Rumours' band studio album with the exception of Tusk.Stevie actually had two singles off Tusk ..Sara a hit and SOTM which wasn't.As for Straight Back I remember hearing it on the radio before Mirage was released and at that time I really believed it was going to be her single off Mirage even over Gypsy .In retrospect I have to say Gypsy was the better song but Straight Back is also pretty awesome and should have been a single.

MoonWaterPoet · #6 05-23-2007, 03:59 AM

I love "Straight Back" ~... the lyrics and vocals are great... but I especially love the drums and keyboards in this song too... It's a awesome 'car song'... listening to it riding down a winding road, at Twilight... with the sound real loud...

Donnie Wayne ~

wheart · #7 05-23-2007, 05:35 AM

Straight Back is in my top 5 Stevie penned FM songs. Simply amazing. The vocals have so much power in them. I remember way back when, when I first listened to Mirage (on vinyl!) and I played Straight Back over and over and over. I never get tired of it.

skuncles · #8 05-23-2007, 06:53 AM

"Straight Back" may have been overlooked because it was a last minute addition to the album. Stevie wanted "Smile At You" on the album, but the band said the song was wrong vibe for the album. So it was replaced with "Straight Back". As for "That's Alright", that song was offered up for every album from "Fleetwood Mac" up thru "Mirage" and the band kept rejecting it. Finally they put it on the album.
It is quite possible also that the record label didn't want to flood the market with Stevie singles. When "Mirage" came out, Stevie's solo singles from "Bella Donna" were still on the charts. This is why "Hold Me" was released first so "Gypsy" wasn't dueling with "Edge Of Seventeen" and "After The Glitter Fades" on the charts.

-Al

TheWILDheart · #9 05-23-2007, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skuncles

"Straight Back" may have been overlooked because it was a last minute addition to the album. Stevie wanted "Smile At You" on the album, but the band said the song was wrong vibe for the album. So it was replaced with "Straight Back". As for "That's Alright", that song was offered up for every album from "Fleetwood Mac" up thru "Mirage" and the band kept rejecting it. Finally they put it on the album.
It is quite possible also that the record label didn't want to flood the market with Stevie singles. When "Mirage" came out, Stevie's solo singles from "Bella Donna" were still on the charts. This is why "Hold Me" was released first so "Gypsy" wasn't dueling with "Edge Of Seventeen" and "After The Glitter Fades" on the charts.

-Al

That's odd. We got Gypsy first over here and then Oh Diane as a second single. Gypsy made top 40 but Oh Diane hit number 9 for some reason. IMO, it is the WORST song that the mac used on an album between 1975 and now. AWFUL! The only single from Bella Donna we got over here was Stop Draggin My Heart Around and it only reached number 50 (with BD popping in at number 11).

BombaySapphire3 · #10 05-23-2007, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skuncles

It is quite possible also that the record label didn't want to flood the market with Stevie singles. When "Mirage" came out, Stevie's solo singles from "Bella Donna" were still on the charts. This is why "Hold Me" was released first so "Gypsy" wasn't dueling with "Edge Of Seventeen" and "After The Glitter Fades" on the charts.

-Al

Edge was pretty much off the charts by the time Hold Me was released ATGF was at it's peak postion on the U.S. Billboard charts #32 when Hold Me made it's debut at #33 but I still believe Gypsy would have been the second single as Stevie always had the second single on any Fleetwood Mac studio album except for Behind the Mask where she had no single at all.Plus Hold Me is just the perfect summertime single IMO.

BlackWidow · #11 05-23-2007, 11:44 AM

I love Straight Back!!!

skcin · #12 05-23-2007, 12:59 PM

I personally overlooked it for a few years because I wrote it off as sounding too "solo Stevie" for a Mac album. I thought (and still do think to some extent) that it would have fit better on WH. But when I got past that & listened, really listened, it blew me away. That vocal is one of her best ever, IMO. And the live rehearsal version?

Ho****. It's sublime. Too bad it's not better quality.

wolfontherun · #13 05-23-2007, 02:17 PM

Love this song. In my top 5. Her vocal soars through the stratosphere. Love the drums and base, love how Christines sweet honey voice kind of caresses Stevies rougher deeper vocal.

Hawkeye · #14 05-23-2007, 02:41 PM

I like it a real lot, it's 10X better then the bes thing she did in Fletwood Mac 87-92, but for me Straight Back is like a watered down Sisters of the Moon. They're not identical. But it's like if SOTM, How Still My Love, Outside the Rain and Kind of Woman all were in a room having sex with each other and the child was Straight Back, Now I really like Straight Back, But I greatly prefer the 4 parents I mentioned

That's Alright is my favorite Stevie song from Mirage. It always makes me feel so good when I'm down. The title says it all, no matter what happens... It's Alright.

louielouie2000 · #15 05-23-2007, 03:58 PM

I love Straight Back too! I have always said it's not only underrated, but nobody even talks about it! I put it right up there with Sisters of the Moon, Gold Dust Woman, and Rhiannon as far as quality. Her vocals are superb (love the layering!), and the song has the coolest, most "Stevie vibe" of any Stevie song I can think of

. I hardly listen to Straight Back anymore because I just don't put Mirage in that often. Every time I do, I forget how much I enjoy it tho!