SYW - Too long or too short or too few or just right?

TrueFaith77 · #1 03-24-2011, 02:48 PM

Thanks to Destiny Rules, we all know about the in-band fighting about whether Say You Will should have been a double album and we all know about Lindsey's about-face (after Stevie played her limited-tour trump card) which resulted in an 18-track single-cd that some feel are unwieldy.
So I thought it'd be fun to poll and discuss and maybe propose alternatives.

1. It's too long - It should have been cut down to 12 tracks for thematic coherence, maximum impact, and able to experience in one sitting or while communting to work in the morning.

2. It's too short - It should have been a double album: 10 Stevie songs (the 9+Make Believe) and 14 Lindsey Songs (9+Gift of Screws, Right Place to Fade, Wait for You, Down on Rodeo, Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind) and maybe the 2 covers from the SYW sessions "I Am Waiting" and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit". (Speaking of, how is it possible for all the bootlegs we have that no "I am Waiting" with Stevie vocals has ever leaked??!! We hear a section of it in Destiny Rules).

3. At one album, it's too few - Imagine if they had agreed on the almost-2-year-tour that resulted and planned something rather radical: release an album on the first tour and then a SECOND album when returning to and expanding markets. Again, approx 12-13 tracks per album (see #2).

4. Just right - In the 18-track version, all the songs found their proper home, the length is long enough to explore the band's themes and to provide a scope of the band's range while being manageable at length and economically ($$$ and space) on one disc.

Just some thoughts. Any proposed double-album, 12-track album, split album tracklists?

Personally, I always thought that it should have been a double CD so that the forced break would make the album more palatable and its structure more readily recognized while also providing maximum scope at the range of artisty of the Mac today. But it's not the only option.

I'll think about what the tracklists might look like.

ETA: I meant to put this in the Rumours Thread.

BaronVonBielski · #2 03-24-2011, 03:45 PM

Too long. 12 tracks would have been just right.

Silver Springs · #3 03-24-2011, 04:11 PM

In my humble opinion, I would have loved to see the album approached as a double.

McTrouble · #4 03-24-2011, 04:24 PM

Shorter would have been OK as long as all Lindsey's were kept in. The only one I really like of Stevie's is Say You Will.

BTFLCHLD · #5 03-24-2011, 04:29 PM

IMO
SYW fine as-is

my future album fantz is a triple

side A - LINDSEY SOLO
side B - STEVIE SOLO
side C - BUCKINGHAM NICKS

shackin'up · #6 03-24-2011, 05:44 PM

The double album. That's what they were aiming for, that's what it should have been.

michelej1 · #7 03-24-2011, 10:52 PM

As Goldilocks would say, it's just right.

Michele

MacMan · #8 03-24-2011, 10:56 PM

With the amount of output these players put out... I'm never going to complain that there's too much or somethings too long.. It's good.. Lots of variety. Even if you don't like the whole thing, and you skip out a few tracks there's still plenty there and you'd still feel like you had a full album worth of music to listen to.

bluefox4000 · #9 03-24-2011, 11:54 PM

Well If anyone has read my posts you know my stance on long albums. By ANY band or artist. I made my own SYW....that's works for my needs......So shorter.

Mick

**mylittledemon** · #10 03-25-2011, 04:03 AM

boy... we've been having this discussion for what? 6-7 years now? Yeesh.

Well... I actually kinda like it the way it is... but I reckon I would've preferred it being a double album and having a better flow. I mean, the record didn't sell anyway... SOooo... might as well have been a 2CD set.

Madness Fades · #11 03-25-2011, 05:09 AM

I think Say you will had far to many songs. The sucess of an album is certainly not detremined buy the quantity of songs on it.
I would have put no more than 11 - 12 songs on the disk and would have made available a deluxe edition for a few pounds extra or bonus CD with additional tracks or B-Sides or whatever you want to call them but not listed as part of the actual album.
5 Stevie songs and 7 Lindsey Songs would have been a good balance back then for the bans.
Say You Will Was the Windows Vista of Music albums, a kind of stepping stone. They had better before and they will have better after.
I would Like to see a more Raw Fleetwood Mac Album Next time.

holidayroad · #12 03-25-2011, 06:51 AM

Overall, it's good how it is. A few changes would have made it a little better. I would have left off 'Running Through the Garden'. 'Bleed To Love Her' was better on The Dance album. Also, there should have been only one 'goodbye' song, or both should have been used on the last album they do together.

On the next Fleetwood Mac album (if we are lucky to get one), Stevie should be in the studio right away and work with everyone the whole time. That's the only way that the album will sound truly balanced.

Say You Will · #13 03-25-2011, 08:08 AM

I would have enjoyed a double album, as someone said it wouldn't have made much difference in sales and would have been more epic, like Tusk.
Then Linsdey could have taken the best remaining songs from UTS and GOS and made a great Solo LP as well.

But in the end I'm content since we got all these songs on one album or another anyway.

Heartboy · #14 03-28-2011, 05:56 PM

I'm just thankful we got another album from the MAC!

Minus Christine, I thought it would suck but I'm a big Stevie fan so it couldn't suck that much!

PenguinHead · #15 03-29-2011, 01:11 AM

I like the album as it is. But with Lindsey's mostly solitary production, it all come off a bit cold; there is not a lot of warmth to it - the result of Lindsey obessively noodling with his technology. When I heard they were considering an outside producer for the next Fleetwood Mac album, my reaction was "Yes!"