Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie - June 9, 2017

i think "too far gone" is maybe the only misstep but that's only bc i haven't decided how i feel conceptually about "'world turning' but less good"

that's one where the production is too spare to do it justice; the track sounds cramped.

I by and large like this, but they sound like hi-fi home demos. Which can be cool! But not always here, imo.

In My World is my favorite, still. Feel About You is a bit cloying?

this is adorable (ragged voices notwithstanding):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rqLQ05AVNo

Gonna have to take some sedatives before I can bear watching that.

buckingham unable to stop making his guitar face even while playing ukulele

Can imagine that's not that far off from Tusk sessions. Where's ?uest?

Feel About You is cute, but in such an old fashioned, sunshine pop kind of way, that I can't help but like it. These days, I am taken off guard when I hear a I vi IV V progression.

Sounds more like a Lindsey record with some songs featuring Christine McVie who, sadly, is not in great shape, delivering mostly weak, clumsy, schmaltzy songs ('Too Far Gone' being the exception) and unimpressive vocals lacking the beautiful tone and strong presence of her earlier work

while the modern efx (including mild autotune) work fine with Lindsey's more aggressive style, the production does not serve her well

'Sleeping Around the Corner' and 'In My World' are really good songs though

oh I love "Carnival Begins"!

that's a song that somewhat succeeds in establishing an interesting sonic environment but ultimately I don't find the narrative captivating

I don't mean to be negative, I'm just slightly disappointed bcz I love Christine McVie

anyone catching them on the tour?

haha, this first track uses a "motown" drum loop that's packaged with logic pro (and probably some others, but i recognize that one bc i've used it before). its also at the beginning of a tame impala song.

It's a good record, it's great to have Fleetwood Mac back.

yeah did you see rage against the machine are also on tour

saw them at the greek theatre in la tonight. buckingham is such a dominating stage presence that it felt more like a buckingham show with mcvie helping out than a buckingham mcvie show. also, her voice was not in a good place. she sounded like she was struggling all night. a little sad. it was still really nice to hear her give "wish you were here" a go. he talks too much and is boring and plays "never going back again" as a frighteningly slow dirge. the backing band (two guitarists who are longtime buckingham/mac regulars and a rhythm section who are not mick and john) came out after four songs and breathed some life onto the stage. "sleeping around the corner" from the new album was great in a way that made me wish they had totally fleetwood mac'd it up in the studio. that was my highlight of the night, along with a fully credible and fun go at "tusk." the set was about half fleetwood mac, half buckingham/mcvie, and two buckingham solo tunes thrown in. they ended quietly, with mcvie on piano singing a good ballad from the new album called "game of pretend," which she introduced by saying "this is not 'songbird,'" which was either a joke or an apology, i couldn't tell. glad i went. not sure what i was expecting. probably pretty much what i got.

"Game of Pretend" is a solid album closer.

Well, all "Sleeping Around the Corner" was missing to make if full Mac was Stevie!

It was totally the Bucky show here as well. I could barely hear Mcvie's keyboard playing, and she felt very much a supporting role. Having seen lots of Buckingham live, plus Mac, I think it would have been fine had she just been rolled out as needed to sing Everywhere, Little Lies, and Hold Me.

She closed the show with that same quip about Songbird by the way. Likewise, I couldn't tell if she was joking or apologizing. As it was, the show was maybe half full and people were already streaming out.

that's disappointing. did they already play these summer Mac festival shows?

I assume he's doing "Trouble" as well

yeah they opened with "trouble," lindsey and christine alone onstage.

Well, all "Sleeping Around the Corner" was missing to make if full Mac was Stevie!

truel but it sounds kind of small and weirdly enervated on the album. the live arrangement opened it up, made it more fun, bigger.

xp whoa that's awesome, that's a great opener

that show was amazing

"trouble" -> "wish you were here" is a real heartbreaking opening suite

also christine's voice was a little variable but she hit every note in "you make loving fun" so who cares?

i think "hold me"'s key was shifted but i assume that was for lindsey's benefit more than christine's

Could you hear much of her keyboard? How full was the audience?

it was pretty full but not sold out at the beacon theater i think. it was only difficult to hear christine's keyboard when lindsey was playing his solo tracks

i think i enjoyed this more than any mac show i've seen tbh

Have you seen Bucky solo? Because it was pretty much like every solo Bucky show I'd seen, plus special guest Christine doing her songs.