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

yep -- the let's-consciously-make-a-Rumours-sequel.

which worked commercially: it remained #1 in America for five weeks and outsold Tusk.

it's great!

eyezatha world!

I ended up with three tracks from Mirage in my top 20 but I didn't put it on my albums ballot...

Christgau's take: "This is the safe follow-up Rumours wasn't, and I find myself alternately charmed by its craft and offended by its banality. After seven years, you'd think they'd weary of romantic tension-and-release. But despite the occasional I'm-scareds and can't-go-backs, you'd never know how much passion they've already put behind them--they write about infatuation and its aftermaths like twenty-year-olds. This is obviously a commercial advantage, and I wouldn't want to be immune to its truth. But pop music offers endless variations on that truth, and since only the most graceful are worth pondering I have to say that there isn't another "Hold Me" here. B+"

4th Place: Tango In the Night (1987) - 68 points, 13 votes, 2 number one votes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Fleetwood_Mac_-_Tango_in_the_Night.jpg

Did you guys know this record started out as a solo project of Lindsey's?

What is kinda amusing about the "attempt to recreate Rumours" narrative (incl. from Lindsey himself) is how relatively little Mirage actually sounds like it. You'd think if they were trying so hard for that they wouldn't have included so many oddities and curios good ("Empire State", arguably even "Hold Me") and bad ("Oh Diane").

re: Christgau - "This is the safe follow-up Rumours wasn't" - more like, this is the safe follow-up to Rumours that Tusk wasn't

Love Tango but I don't think I ended up voting for it - oddly, the weaker tracks (i.e. mainly the two non-single stevie tracks) prevent me from embracing it as an album more than the weaker tracks on Mirage do, even though there's less of them.

in Buckingham's defense, when he says "attempt to recreate Rumours" he (and the band too) mean "We all played together."

God, those Stevie tracks are REALLY rough going, huh? The best song she does on the record ("Seven Wonders") wasn't even written by her.

No I think Christgau meant what he said: Rumours *wasn't* a safe follow-up to the self-titled album when that could have been expected. He's attempting to distinguish between safe commercial appeal and brave commercial appeal, I think.

He's kinda wrong in this case I think (Mirage is the weirder album of the two) but it's a neat distinction nonetheless.

the most aurally adventurous parts of Tusk and TITN are Buckingham stitch jobs.

Rumours def wasn't the safe followup to Fleetwood Mac, so xgau makes sense

xpost ha -- Tim!

x-post

I'm guessing nobody's feeling an insane amount of anticipation for what the top three records will be, haha... In what way was Rumours not a somewhat safe follow-up to the self-titled? I'm not trying to be dense; I've really just always seen those two records as companion pieces.

What depresses me about the non-"Seven Wonders" tracks on TITN is how many good songs Nicks had in storage (her stockpile goes back to the seventies).

I feel sort of bad for not having voted for "Family Man" or "Caroline"--two "lesser" TITN tracks that I think rule.

In what way was Rumours not a somewhat safe follow-up to the self-titled? I'm not trying to be dense; I've really just always seen those two records as companion pieces.

to my ears there's a sense in which the eponymous debut betrays its origins by sounding like a bunch of pop songs with generic I/you pronouns that coheres thanks to expert playing ("Rhiannon" def not though). I guess "Go Your Own Way" is a more urgent, structurally inventive take on "Blue Letter" and "Songbird" a more despairing "Warm Ways."

what I love most about the eponymous album is how the songs have an audible joy -- a bunch of people realizing that not only do they like each other, but they make SHIT HOT music together. That's how "Monday Morning" sounds; it LEAPS off the turntable.

Yes, exactly! I love the way the s/t feels. It's lesser songs are better than Rumours's lesser songs, I think, and I enjoy listening to it more (and do listen to it more frequently as well).

In any case, Rumours wasn't made with commercial appeal as a primary objective, which makes its massive popularity all the more ironic. Certainly demonstrates that sometimes the best way to sell a gazillion records is to just make music that reflects what you're feeling.

In what way was Rumours not a somewhat safe follow-up to the self-titled? I'm not trying to be dense; I've really just always seen those two records as companion pieces.

I have too, and yet, there's a definite feeling of yin/yang between those two as well. The first one was made when all the band members were getting along and there were two couples amongst them; the second was made by a tense band after everyone had broken up.

I'm trying to avoid biographical criticism though

3rd Place: Fleetwood Mac (1975) - 90 points, 16 votes, 0 number one votes

http://www.fotos.org/galeria/data/897/Fleetwood-Mac-Fleetwood-Mac-Del-1975-Delantera.jpg

I'm too lazy to look at the ballots right this second, but did anyone except for me put the s/t above Rumours? Alfred really nailed it above... Can you imagine being Mick and John, having been through so many lineup changes, bringing in these two young cute kids from California, and then starting to write and play shit like THIS? I can't imagine how exciting and electrifying that must have been...

I love the tiny spaceship on the cover of Tango.

wow zero #1 votes! This was once my favorite.

I knew which two albums would be the top two, but have no clue which will be #1. Most ppl would put Rumours there instinctively, but i know how much ILM loves Tusk

Sorry, that inane comment about the spaceship was me, not Clarke B. Apparently he was logged in on my computer. This sort of thing causes other problems in our lives too, like when my Spotify history says that I was listening to Darkthrone albums at 2 in the morning because he was using my computer to do so.

Clarke B.s...can't live with them, can't live without them.

Remember, they tied in this poll: Fleetwood Mac - best album (a poll)

2nd Place: Rumours (1977) - 154 points, 19 votes, 8 number one votes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/FMacRumours.PNG

1st Place: Tusk (1979) - 155 points, 19 votes, 10 number one votes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Fleetwood_Mac_-_Tusk.jpg

ONE POINT SEPARATING THE TWO!

lool

i should have done an albums ballot, rumours would have been #1!

of course

ha. i foresee the upper reaches of the tracks being ridiculously close too.

that old poll has over a hundred votes and only one for the self-titled! poor fleetwood mac, always the bridesmaid.

despite the revisionism Rumours is still the better record

Only half of the submitters of ballots did the optional albums list; I should've made it mandatory!

Tusk showed up on my album ballot, yet I did not include one track from it on my track ballot. The songs are all good, but none of them individually give me chills like many of their others do. I guess it just makes more sense to me as a coherent...well, "coherent" is maybe not the word for this collection of Lindsay's various manias...as a solid listen rather than a source of individual songs.

I put Tusk in as my #5, but could've just as easily chosen 3 or 4 other albums (in fact I should've, because I think we all knew Tusk was either going to be #1 or #2 in these results).

whew, that's a relief. genuinely excited for this roll-out.

Same here! It's hard to wait until tomorrow morning (NYC time)... So, there was no love in the albums voting for Mr. Wonderful, Penguin, or Heroes Are Hard To Find (as far as studio recordings go). Isn't Penguin generally regarded as their worst record (of the '60s/'70s/'80s)? I own it but I honestly don't think I've played it more than twice.

I voted for a track from Penguin, but the album's only just ok.

I thought until the nineties Heroes Are Hard To Find was the worst (I haven't heard it).

I have that too and it's the same story--maybe played it twice... Nothing stuck.

lol I also voted for a track from that one. Opening tracks of each, actually.

Kiln House wuz robbed! I should've voted gosh darnit

Heroes > Penguin. Although I don't care much for the latter, I do kinda like "The Derelict" which is a real oddball of the Mac catalog, a rare Dave Walker song with a strong countrified flavor that sounds like nothing else they ever recorded.

gageking67 14 days ago

Dave Walker should have stuck around. Penguin was the best album the Mac ever put out...

Good morning! (Or afternoon... Or, if you're in Australia--God knows.) Last night was the second night out of the past three nights I've had a Fleetwood Mac-related dream. The top 60 rollout will begin in about half an hour or so...

like this for example, love this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmJtRnazW20

Is there a good 70s or 80s live version of “angel” on any sanctioned release or good boot?

I shouldve voted for Coming Home & the 74 Angel. Heroes is a bit of a monster; prob Bob Welch's finest hour (while Christine is warming up for the s/t next year)

Bad Loser too tbh

Don't Stop over Sands of Time and Woman of 1000 Years? Criminal.

A few years ago, I bought four of the early-'70s albums as budget CDs: Future Games, Bare Trees, Mystery to Me, and Heroes Are Hard to Find. I did play them all in the car, but only once and put them away. Took them out again last week and was really struck by two instrumentals (well, one's a near-instrumental): "Sunny Side of Heaven" and "Safe Harbour."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxUtZSdXy6A

They only got one vote between them in this poll--would have added them to my ballot for sure, also "Forever."

I'd never heard Behind the Mask, but the other day my shuffle gave me something that I assumed was Christine solo, but no. Behind the Mask. It was ok.

I want to buy the one CD I'm missing in that sequence above, Penguin, but it's not part of the same budget series and very over-priced on Amazon for some reason ($35 used plus shipping).

Bare Trees sounds like its sleeve: spare, wintry, fragile.

I wasn’t familiar with Prove Your Love until it was in that HBO show about the Lakers a couple years back. That was a nice surprise

A compilation focused on those post-Green, pre-N&B years would've been very welcome, but it doesn't look like we ever got one. Bare Trees is the best of them though thanks to Kirwan. Based on that album, especially for his solos on songs like "Spare Me a Little of Your Love," I think he could've flourished as the lead guitarist with the later group if they could've made that work, but based on his conversations at the time, he clearly had enough of the band and later his mental illness would make it impossible.

(by "making that work," that probably means filling in for Buckingham when he quit/was fired, but by then Kirwan was in no shape to do anything)

kirwan replacing buckingham in 1987 would have been so dope

just read Fleetwood's latest autobio, he'll have to write another one, what a life to have to keep updating your autobio, but per Mick he wasn't sure what to do about Danny's nervous breakdown so he consulted Jon Lord after the gig and was convinced to fire him that night, and then he cried afterwards

where were the adults, anyways it's kind of a sad read, reads sadder than the 94 autobio, feel like maybe rock star is not a good job

Play On, from 2014? Or is there something newer?

yeah that's the latest, covers everything up to Christine tentatively joining back up and working out new material, which I guess turned into the Buckingham/McVie record, on account of Stevie not being at all interested in writing/recording

Mick talks very wistfully about his dalliance with Stevie, was pretty intense apparently before he traded her for her best friend lol, what a shitshow

his greatest regret seems to be the wild ass drama he subjected his kids to, which was a lot but at least he understands how shitty that was and is repentant

wow how interesting. am now curious to learn more. i recently discovered Mystery to Me - was amazed. what a beautiful start to finish conceit.

I want to buy the one CD I'm missing in that sequence above, Penguin

It's completely forgettable. McVie and Welch are on autopilot, and the new "lead singer" performs on two songs that have nothing to do with Fleetwood Mac. Christine plays some nice piano on "Road Runner", that's the highlight.

I really like “Remember Me” and “Dissatisfied.”

Actually “Did You Ever Love Me” too. I guess I just like Christine’s stuff.

I swear Penguin was listed as a new release on the Cherry Red website a few weeks ago, but it's nowhere to be seen now.

It's not that bad considering the state they were in at the time, pretty impressive turnaround though I'm sure it was stressful

and yeah it totally gave Christine a chance to stretch out a little more which totally saved the band several times, Christine McMVP

also Penguin is a really good album cover, maybe the best Fleetwood Mac album cover

i recently discovered Mystery to Me - was amazed. what a beautiful start to finish conceit.

yeah what a rebound, fire the singer, keep the guitar player and move the entire band into an old farmhouse in the english countryside, because of course

guitar player and drummer's wife hit it off, drummer is not happy, bass player and keys player are on the rocks, bob welch is over it and eyeing a solo career, make a record you have ~4 weeks

cannot imagine a world where this ragtag crew is subsidized by the upper crust to make Mystery to Me but they sure did

bass player and keys player are on the rocks

...and she is supposedly "hitting it off" with the engineer.

also Penguin is a really good album cover, maybe the best Fleetwood Mac album cover

This is Bare Trees or Mystery to Me depending on whether I'm up or down, I've actually displayed the latter around the house.

Controversial opinion: Christine's songs on Heroes are Hard to Find are better than what she came up with on the '75 album.