Fleetwood Mac: Classic or Dud

He was really into aliens.

sha na na 50s pastiche bullshit

Aw man, this hurts me. True, they make for a disjointed listening experience, but I love almost all of Spencer's cuts (I'm not so hot on the cover of "Mission Bell.")

Anyway, RIP Mr. Kirwan. I'm sure I mentioned on another thread, "Sunny Side of Heaven" was the first song I ever learned to pick on a guitar.

i just read about this, RIP.

this is a really nice solo song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN6M5hWU_5U

HEY TOUGH GUY, DO YOU PREFER RUMOURS *kisses left bicep* OR TUSK *kisses right bicep*

— zachary (@ingmarbirdman) September 6, 2013

was in a record store in wichita on sunday that had three of kirwan's solo albums for a couple of dollars each. should i regret not picking them up?

RIP DANNY

XP Probably, if they weren't too scratched up. He only did three, they didn't sell well, and have been barely been available on CD.

I haven't actually heard them, but from what I read the first two are pretty good.

i grew up on kiln house, i got nothing bad to say about it

did we ever discuss how beautiful the alternate That's Alright is? https://open.spotify.com/track/6CU4BzfHvcuaYtoKyP9xI6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VElI89y_-QI

in a way i don't particularly care about whether super genius baby lindsey buckingham is onstage here, he's made some of my favorite music of all time and made me want to play guitar but guy is unbelievably full of himself and i'll basically never get over some of the things i've read (and had to incorporate into my own writing) about shit he did

however that was flat and unconvincing for me

then again television performances are often flat and unconvincing

Neil was fine, but stevie was mic'd way too low. and how many extra musicians were there onstage there?

this is still one of my favourite live performances of anything ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGykwC0fdJ4

Yeah, that's the definitive take on The Chain

Ugh, love Neil, he deserves better than this. Not full of himself enough!

His new album with Liam is nice.

Idiot tv soundguy was like "ok, who sings lead on this -- the dude? Got it!" I don't think it's a terrific performance anyway, but that mix was unspeakable and maybe the monitors were just as bad so no judging yet.

that was terrible, and I say that as a fan and someone who prior to now had been cautiously optimistic about this new lineup

Thought it was ok, except the closing solo that loses the proto post punk magic of the original

Wow that 1982 clip above is insane. Captures everything wild about the band

they had too much soda before the show iirc

Neil is in a no-win situation here, I think. Well, except his wallet wins, I guess.

Said it before, somewhere, but I would love to see Fleetwood Mac backing Neil Finn. Campbell can come along, too.

honestly do bands ever come off well on TV shows? i feel like the sound is always super weak and the whole thing feels weird

there's a lot of good tv performances from the 60s/70s

And the 80s and the 90s and in the 2000s -- competent sound techs help, and bands that just do their thing regardless tend to do better (which benefits post-punk and post-jazz groups disproportionately). Big thrown together pop groups on Ellen are likely at a big disadvantage. Don't get me wrong -- I suspect the tour's gonna suck and Fleetwood Mac doing a tv show with sound that band speaks poorly for the togetherness of the whole enterprise, but it's hard to judge a mess that big as the players' fault.

Watching it again, I will say this about the performance -- Mike and Neil are trying to lock in with Mick, and they both come from bands where that worked well. Mick Fleetwood's not that drummer at all, and successful guitarists in Fleetwood Mac tend to push him forward (naturally or chemically) and he holds the whole thing back and keeps it in place. This performance drags badly before the bass solo because of the "no, YOU play first" game of chicken going on.

Also, Neil Finn is a great leader and front man, just not for a band like Fleetwood Mac, or at least not in the intense, high strung Lindsey Buckingham mode. Will he be able to banter? Make jokes? Who's going to do the talking on stage, Stevie all night?

And yeah, not just Mick, the rest of the band is famous for staring daggers at one another, which drives the performances. But when Neil Finn and Stevie Nicks are staring at each other on stage, what are they looking at? There's no history.

Neil was fine, but stevie was mic'd way too low. and how many extra musicians were there onstage there?

this is still one of my favourite live performances of anything ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGykwC0fdJ4

― canary christ (stevie),

Top yt comment: “you can actually hear the cocaine” made me laugh.

FM has had a bunch of extra musicians on stage since their The Dance reunion, iirc.

Here they are doing Gypsy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD2EUMr_Fww

It's much better, or at least a better fit for this lineup.

Weird, though, they seem to cut out the guitar solo.

Youtube comments on the ellen performance mostly seem to agree that Neil doesn’t really work in here. I think that the song choice was probably inadequate as well, they should have went for a nicks or mcvie led ballad... they probably chose the chain as it’s the song most young people now identify of them by its appearance in Guardians Of the Galaxy.

Anyways it just doesn’t work and qs exemplified by the 1982 performance it’s a song that demands too much energy and works better when performed somewhat incohesively, close but not together. Not waiting for the other band members to cue you in.

Still clueless vocals mixing on Gypsy (all three voices should go RIGHT UP FRONT, only the hired hand voices should be quieter, dammit), but the rhythm issue is much less of a problem -- but that's because this one has John pushing the tempo, letting Mick try to keep up with him.

Basically this lineup is totally misbegotten. You can replace Lindsey Buckingham, but it is a mistake to replicate him, especially when you invite a world-class songwriter to join your band.

Two world-class songwriters, if you include Mike Campbell.

yeah it would be cool if they did another transformation of the band
but kinda feel like no one is invested enough in it at this point to try

Au contraire, they are *literally* too invested.

or yeah i know what you mean, i guess i mean motivated, like they just probably want to get the dough from the tour and be done

If they thought of money in terms of millions rather than tens or hundreds of millions they would tour smaller venues and try something different.

not only did Campbell not get the closing solo in "Gypsy," but he barely tried those fills in the middle eight…

yeah it would be cool if they did another transformation of the band
but kinda feel like no one is invested enough in it at this point to try

this is the first performance with the ringer bloke that Mick likes and wanted to bring in, on the least adventurous talk show in America. even if the others were open to changing methods or arrangements or writing new material, it'd be unlikely to happen until they've played full shows in front of audiences and learnt who they are as a band.

they should just keep it going like the Harlem Globetrotters, no need for the Mac brand to end anytime soon. There are plenty of musicians out there, there will be plenty still 100 years from now.

in vancouver nov 14 - not sure about going yet...how many of you peoples are going to shows

Considered it until I saw the Ellen clip. I guess it depends what the setlists are like (that is, how much Neil Finn and/or Tom Petty, but either of those could be gross, too, in this context). Would definitely have considered it more if it were a smaller theater and not an arena

Noticed Finn & Campbell are getting the Daryl Jones treatment in the promo pics I've been seeing for the tour.

seeing Lindsey instead

Smart move, he is great live.