You Make Polling Fun: FLEETWOOD MAC POLL RESULTS, ILM Artist Poll #22

Well, the RS cover story from '97 recounted how during the Tusk tour McVie marched up to Buck, threw a glass of wine in his face, and slapped him after he donned a black shawl and mimicked Nicks' movements on stage, making her cry. "Don't you ever do that in front of a paying audience again!" she supposedly said.

LAUNCHING: TOP TEN...

#10: "Albatross" (Peter Green, 1969) - 430 points, 18 votes, 1 number one vote

http://www.raw-tcsd.com/fleetwood%20mac%20fr249.jpg

Track link: http://youtu.be/8scHKFwr0og

That song is like listening to water flow down a river.

Come to think of it, it would fit well on "Another Green World."

That photo explains why John and Mick live in Hawaii.

That's a pretty postpunk looking cover.

No kidding. Down to the title.

Green had been working on the piece for some time before the addition to the band of 18-year-old guitarist Danny Kirwan. Slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer was not generally inclined to work with Green, who had felt unable to realise the overall effect that he wanted. With Kirwan's input, Green completed the piece and it was recorded just two months after Kirwan joined, without Spencer present.

This is probably the most appropriate point in the countdown for a brief aside to mention that this poll inspired me to track down those Danny Kirwan solo albums, and I've been listening to Second Chapter on repeat throughout the day and it's a very, very good record! It has a similar post-McCartney vibe to that first Emmit Rhodes record. Definitely worth seeking out!

How much airplay did "Landslide" get before 1994?

Lots, in the US anyway, from the '70s onward. I was amazed to learn the studio version was not actually released as a single; I always assumed it was a major hit.

I should stop boosting MC today on ILM, but this is great:

"Albatross" conjures to mind a sadder and wiser Shadows; the brushstrokes now slower, more delicate, more lament than anticipation. The rhythm is down to unison, deep tom-tom and bass guitar, throbbing like an anginal heartbeat, quiet and quieter by the second.

I saw a German TV performance of "Albatross" recorded at that time, and there was neither land nor shore to be envisaged; merely five introverted, long-haired chaps in scruffy jumpers and scuffed jeans who might still have been mourning Robert Johnson in the pungent basement of a Dutch strip bar post-lock-in. The life of the mind, such as it still existed; and at its cynosure, the doomed bastard Peter Green, responsible for not only Fleetwood Mac's most successful year in terms of hit singles, but also for the most numbing and disturbing series of hit singles by anybody in any year.

With “Albatross” in particular, however, I think of Syd Barrett's "Baby Lemonade" - Jerry Shirley on drums doing his best to follow Syd's implausible tempo and mood changes, David Gilmour's lead guitar fortunate enough just to be keeping up – and realise that subsequent Fleetwood Macs represent an absolutely necessary running away from this utter darkness; though of course they always kept it somewhere in the middle of their minds; "A landslide will bring it down," and so, play on, just like those tender eight notes Peter Green sneaked onto the end of “Brown Eyes” on Tusk; the past is also allowed to run, if not quite catch up.

"Albatross" is put to very good use in the film Man On Wire, if you've seen it.

In contrast to "Landslide", I have never heard "Albatross" on US radio.

That's a fantastic piece of writing.

"Albatross" is also used prominently in Fassbinder's World on a Wire.

#9: "Gypsy" (Stevie Nicks, 1982) - 470 points, 19 votes, 1 number one vote

http://www.everythingunderthemoon.net/images/stevie/stevie-nicks-witch.jpg

Track link: http://youtu.be/3oWIF2n4ZLs

At the time, "Albatross" was out, with all the reverb on guitar. So we said, ‘Let’s be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross, just to get going.’ It never really sounded like Fleetwood Mac… but that was the point of origin.

- George Harrison, referring to the Beatles' "Sun King"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5crvsP9GW98

I first heard "Gypsy" on a car radio, when we were driving east from LA on my very first trip to the US. Musically, it's a perfect cruising-along-the-highway song and I'll always associate it with that experience. Didn't pick up on the lyric until much later.

I like the album version fine, but the demo is <3<3<3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKIC_Kza4Ek

surely a conteder for POX: breakup songs

coming on the heels of Belladonna "Gypsy" demonstrated how differently solo Stevie would have her songs arranged.

Wow, that demo's revelatory...

the first verse is really a tour de force. lyrics and phrasing both.

That's a pretty postpunk looking cover.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r3ls8TVm9Dw/TZRSEMipp3I/AAAAAAAAAkA/Zb7CWrZeEXA/s1600/CCF27112010_00002.jpg

Her demos have consistently shown that Buck patronizes her or underrates her melodic sense. Chords are a different story...

No way do I prefer the demo to the original "Gypsy" though.

"Albatross" is put to very good use in the film Man On Wire, if you've seen it.

GRIM UP HERE INNIT... I never really associate Mac with that vibe, but I love the idea that they've been running from it for over 40 years (at least John and Mick have)...

surely a conteder for POX: breakup songs

But less of one than "Gold Dust Woman" or "Silver Springs" (both of which are actually on my most recent "Breakup Songs" iPod playlist)

I like the album version fine, but the demo is <3<3<3

everything sounds better played on a Fender Rhodes

Her demos have consistently shown that Buck patronizes her or underrates her melodic sense. Chords are a different story...

No way do I prefer the demo to the original "Gypsy" though.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, July 26, 2012 2:32 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No way I do either... The original always slays me.

They're almost two different songs, except not.

#8: "Tusk" (Lindsey Buckingham, 1979) - 491 points, 22 votes, 2 number one votes

http://991.com/newGallery/Fleetwood-Mac-Tusk---Set-of-4-V-372889.jpg

Track link: http://youtu.be/MT7W8xJFl_g

Having played tuba for seven years as a kid, this song is truly an inspiration...

Is there anyone else who was first exposed to Albatross by the Chill Out album of The KLF? It was years before I finally heard it on its own apart from the context of 'ambient dj mix', and my mind was blown to discover the artist!

Oh! I had a sneaky feeling Tusk might take this.

Like I can't imagine anyone not finding space for it, not that it's exactly characteristic of anything. But nearly half of you didn't.

"["Tusk"] reached #8 on the U.S. charts, #6 in the U.K. and #3 in Australia and Canada. It was one of the first songs to be released using a digital mixdown from an original analog source."

But less of one than "Gold Dust Woman" or "Silver Springs" (both of which are actually on my most recent "Breakup Songs" iPod playlist)

― Lee626, Thursday, July 26, 2012 11:35 AM

oh i dunno about that. the first verse nails the plain sense in what it is to be alone, again, that the more oppositional stuff can't touch. the truth of a self in the absence of an alter. the real things that remain when the shared fantasy melts away - a room, a floor, some lace and paper flowers. or something like that.

I voted for it, but not in the top ten. Cool, good groove, novel arrangement. "Tusk" (the song) always reminds me of The Muppets for some reason, though I can't think of any reason for that.

I've never liked the original Tusk as much as the Camper Van Beethoven version. Sorry, I realize this is heresy. But I think Camper did it darker and the part where it gets weird is better. Like FM shouting the choruses better than Lowrey though.

Real Savage Like...

It could've finished anywhere really. But #8 feels about right. It's the song that got me into f mac though, aged 14. "Real savage like", indeed.

"Tusk" (the song) always reminds me of The Muppets for some reason, though I can't think of any reason for that.

You are not alone on this: my wife refers to this song as "their Muppets song".

JUST TELL ME THAT YOU WANT ME

http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/4/46/Electricmayhemposter.jpg

any time i'm drunk and hear Tusk at a bar or something i think to myself "this is one of the best songs ive ever heard"

Her demos have consistently shown that Buck patronizes her or underrates her melodic sense. Chords are a different story...

yeah he's really an asshole and uncharitable whenever he discusses stevie and christine's songwriting.

t/f? "Animal" obvs based on Mick Fleetwood, right?

do any demos or alternate early versions of tusk exist?

there's a deluxe version with a second CD of alternate takes, mixes, demos, etc.

They couldn't, could they? If ever there was a studio piece... I know it was born from Lindsey's soundcheck riff, but it's the least jammable song ever.