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Browsing Tags Christine McVie

Fleetwood Mac -“Tusk” – The Music (7)

February 12, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

Track 16 is “Honey Hi” (2.43 minutes). This is a Christine McVie composition with a gentle intro, and is a sweet pop song (no pun intended). She sings, and Stevie Nicks joins in the middle 8 refrain. It is quite a pleasant little ditty. From that middle 8:

“Lord, it’s good to talk to you

Even sweeter than wine

Don’t take the love light away

‘Cause I’m far away from home”.

Track 17 is one of the best on the album, and is “Beautiful Child” (5.19 minutes). This is a Stevie Nicks song in which she sings the lead vocals, but splendid use is made of both the other vocalists, often harmonising. The piece also has haunting lyrics, some of which follow, and all in all this is an excellent track.

“You say it will be harder in the morning

I wait for you to say, just go

Your hands, held mine so few hours

And I’m not a child anymore

I’m not a child anymore

I’m tall enough

To reach for the stars

I’m old enough

To love you from afar

To trusting – yes?

But then women usually are”.

Track 18 is “Walk A Thin Line” (3.44 minutes), a slow, plodding thing from Lindsey Buckingham where all the vocalists give their all. This is very agreeable to listen to. Here is a sample from the lyrics:

“They told me that I never would recover

Still some say they knew me well

I said “Stay by my side”

But no one said nothin’

I walk a thin line”.

Fleetwood Mac -“Tusk” – The Music (2)

February 2, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

Track 3 is “Think About Me” (2.44 minutes). This is a Christine McVie song with a strong, heavy beat, with Stevie Nicks duetting most of the time. It is a very attractive sound indeed. These are its closing lyrics:

“I believe that you really want me

But it’s not easy to give in

So let yourself go, and let love begin.”

Track 4 is “Save Me A Place” (2.40 minutes). This one is written by Leslie Buckingham, and again it is rather odd. It is a slow, plunky thing, with a bit of a cowboy feel to it. The other singers provide backing vocals throughout. The lyrics include these words:

“Turn me off turn me out

But don’t turn me away

Save me a place

I’ll come running if you love me today”.

Trqck 5, which closed Side 1 of the LPs, is “Sara” [who seems to be a bloke; fair enough for the band with a chap with a girl’s name and a girl with a bloke’s name] (4.37 minutes). This is a Stevie Nicks composition, and is a most acceptable, strong beat pop song. She does the lead vocals, and the other singers provide backing vocals throughout. From the lyrics, this is the middle 8 refrain:

“Drowning in the sea of love

Where everyone would love to drown

And now it’s gone

It doesn’t matter anymore

When you build your house

Call me home”.

Fleetwood Mac -“Tusk” – The Music (1)

January 29, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

This was a double LP, though it all fits comfortably onto one CD. As ever with this band, for the reasons stated above, the bass and drums are perfectly tight throughout. Christine McVie always sings with clarity, and usually you can hear what Lindsey Buckingham is vocalising. Not so with Stevie Nicks, however; as is common with pop songs, the lyrics often tend to be buried somewhat. It is helpful to have the kyrics printed in the CD insert. The album contains 20 tracks, 5 on each side of the double LP.

Track 1 is “Over & Over” (4.35 minutes), which is a Christine McVie song. It is a good opener, being a gentle, steady beat pop song, with Christine McVie on lead vocals and Stevie Nicks providing some backing vocals on the refrains:

“And I said

Could it be me, could it really really be?

Over and over.

Don’t turn me away

And don’t let me down

What can I do

To keep you around.

Over and over

Over and over.”

Track 2 is “The Ledge” (2.02 minutes). This is an up-beat, jaunty, very busy, almost frantic Lindsey Buckingham song, which features all the vocalists throughout. It is an odd, but not unpleasant thing. The lyrics feature these words:

“Do you ever wonder

Do you ever hate

Six feet under

Someone who can wait”.

Fleetwood Mac – “Rumours” the music (3)

January 15, 2015 · by listentomusicanywhere

Track 8 on the CD, which was Track 2 on Side 2 of the LP, is “You Make Loving Fun” (3.31 minutes). This song has a “walkin’ blues” base and is a Christine McVie pop song. As such, it is actually quite good, and has a classic soaring crescendo and a middle 8 chorus.

Track 9 is “I Don’t Want To Know” (3.11 minutes), and which in my view is the third most definitive song on the album. After a staccato guitar introduction, both girls blast into a duet, and the whole thing is very effective indeed.

Track 10 is “Oh Daddy” (3.54 minutes), and is a Christine McVie lament, almost having the feel of an African American Spiritual. Stevie Nicks provides haunting echo chamber supporting vocals, and the whole thing works out fairly well.

Track 11 ends the album and is called “Gold Dust Woman”. At 4.51 minutes, it is the longest track on the record. Stevie Nicks opens the bidding in this dramatic finale, which goes on to develop an enticing, almost menacing feel on the refrains when all the vocalists join in. This one makes superb use of strong chord progressions, which combine with sizzling vocals, and the overall effect is startling; a fine end to the album.

Next time, we reach the final stage of this long project, which compares the relative fortunes of Fairport Convention and Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s.

“Fleetwood Mac” 1975 (11)

December 6, 2014 · by listentomusicanywhere

The penultimate song on the CD is Track 10, which is “Sugar Daddy” (4.09 minutes). This one was written by Christine McVie, and is a soft, laid back, blues-based number on which she sings solo vocal throughout. It has a strong beat, and is much enhanced by more of the tasteful Lindsey Buckingham lead guitar which I have referred to previously.

The CD concludes very well with Track 11 on the CD, “I’m So Afraid” (4.15 minutes). This song was composed by Lindsey Buckingham, and kicks off with a bass-based intro, which leads into some phased vocals. It is a very effective, doom-laden rock classic, and makes an excellent cadence to the album.

Here we leave “Fleetwood Mac” 1975, and the story of this new band quickly becomes more interesting…

“Fleetwood Mac” 1975 (9)

November 27, 2014 · by listentomusicanywhere

Track 5 on the CD, which I think would have been the penultimate one on Side One of the LP, is “Over My Head” (3.34 minutes). This is a quiet, laid back Christine McVie composition, with a strong and catchy beat. She sings solo throughout. It is nothing special, but perfectly acceptable.

Side One of the LP would have ended, or so it seems to me, with what is Track 6 on the CD. This is “Crystal” (5.12 minutes), a song written by Stevie Nicks. It has a very quiet start, with her doing solo vocals, but fairly quickly builds up with Christine McVie harmonising with her, alternating solo/duet throughout in the soon to be distinctive fashion.

Track 7, I think, would have kicked off Side Two of the LP. This is “Say You Love Me” (4.11 minutes), another Christine McVie composition. It is an unashamed rocker, where she moves back to her Chicken Shack blues roots. Stevie Nicks joins in the refrains. It is a superb opener for Side Two, a very good track indeed, and includes some double tracking of Lindsey Buckingham’s guitars, featuring inter alia some almost Byrds-like 12 string stuff.

“Fleetwood Mac” 1975 (8)

November 24, 2014 · by listentomusicanywhere

The album opens with “Monday Morning” (2.48 minutes), written by Lindsey Buckingham. This is a strong, upbeat song, where Stevie Nicks does solo vocals on the verses, and all three singers join in the refrains. It makes an excellent opener for the LP.

Track 2 is “Warm Ways” (3.50 minutes), a Christine McVie composition. This is a dreamy, soft, quite pretty song, where she sings solo throughout the whole. It is very pleasant to listen to.

Track 3 is a standard rocker called “Blue Letter” (2.31 minutes). Here the vocals are done on an alternating basis: Stevie Nicks solo and both girls duetting, which is very effective. It should be noted at this point that, on the basis of these first three tracks, Lindsey Buckingham was proving to be a most competent guitarist.

Track 4 was a hit single, and most deservedly so. This is “Rhiannon” (4.12 minutes), and is nearly masterpiece. On any view it is a great number, due almost entirely to the haunting, magical minor key riff which kicks off the song, and continues throughout with some clever modulations to a major key from time to time. It is really good stuff, this one, where Stevie Nicks takes the lead, with her and Christine McVie on the refrains.

Fleetwood Mac – “Heroes are Hard to Find” (8)

November 8, 2014 · by listentomusicanywhere

Track 10, the penultimate song on the album, is “Born Enchanter” (2.54 minutes). This has a busy intro featuring drums, piano, guitar and bass, following which Christine McVie launches into the vocals. This is a blues based ballad, if that makes sense. It sort of works, but this one is not as easy on the ear as the other tracks on the record.

The album ends with Track 11, “Safe Harbour” (2.32 minutes). It is almost an instrumental, with a soft, wavy intro which very effectively evokes the sounds of the sea. Bob Welch’s guitar gets well into the feel of the thing, and indeed there is some truly exemplary lead guitar work here. Christine McVie says “Safe Harbour” twice right at the end, which are the only vocals.

This is a fitting cadence to this agreeable LP, and a somewhat ironic one in terms of the era which it also happened to end.

One curious thing about these Fleetwood Mac albums 1971 – 1974 is that just as a guitarist was really beginning to flourish, he left the group: Danny Kirwan, Bob Weston, and finally the stalwart Bob Welch, as we are about to see.

Yes indeed, something uniquely dramatic was about to happen…

R.I P. Fleetwood Mac 1968 – 1974

Fleetwood Mac – “Heroes are Hard to Find” (7)

November 8, 2014 · by listentomusicanywhere

Track 7 is “Bad Loser” (3.25 minutes). This is an upbeat song with Bob Welch’s guitar again to the fore. It is a Christine McVie composition, with good use of multiple voices. Christine McVie’s vocals are a bit too much laid back, maybe, but this is by no means a bad song.

Bob Welch is the composer of ALL the last four songs on the album.

Track 8 is “Silver Heels” (3.25 minutes), where the vocals start with the first note. It is a good soft-rock singer-songwriter thing. It has a good beat and a fine arrangement; again, in its way, it is a pretty good song.

Track 9 is “Prove Your Love” (3.57 minutes), and is a truly splendid thing. There is a drum intro and the strong beat continues throughout. Christine McVie launches quickly into some very competent vocals. She takes the solo vocals right through to the end, which is an “Ah Ah” section, and is excellent. This is a genuinely good song.

Fleetwood Mac – “Heroes are Hard to Find” (6)

November 4, 2014 · by listentomusicanywhere

Track 4 is “Bermuda Triangle” (4.08 minutes), and is a Bob Welch song. He does the vocals throughout, which are more spoken than sung, a bit like Kevin Ayers used to do it, but with an American twang here, of course. The song starts in a subdued way, but livens up a bit after the first verse. The middle 8 is chanted, which has a pleasant effect.

Track 5 is “Come A Little Bit Closer” (4.45 minutes). This is a Christine McVie song, which she sings in fine voice. It starts with a quiet piano intro, but after about 16 bars the other instruments swirl in, and the track comes to life significantly. In particular, Bob Welch’s guitar on this one is much more impressive than ever before. This is a bit of a harbinger of what was about to happen, but not not as much so as was the title track (Track 1 above). This would have been a perfectly acceptable end to what I guess would have been Side 1 of the LP.

Track 6 is “She’s Changing Me” (2.58 minutes). This is an upbeat, country style harmonised song with a very good tune. This one works extremely well, and is a splendid opener for what would have been Side 2 of the LP.

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