Say You Will (2003) 


 

  1. What's the World Coming To
  2. Murrow Turning Over in His Grave
  3. Illume
  4. Thrown Down
  5. Miranda
  6. Red Rover
  7. Say You Will
  8. Peacekeeeper
  9. Come
  10.Smile at You
  11.Running Through the Garden
  12.Silver Girl
  13.Steal Your Heart Away
  14.Bleed to Love Her
  15.Everybody Finds Out
  16.Destiny Rules
  17.Say Goodbye
  18.Goodbye Baby

 

If you're keeping track, this is the fourth different Fleetwood Mac lineup on the last four Fleetwood Mac albums. A bit reminiscent of the early seventies, wouldn't you say? The good news is that both Buckingham and Nicks are back in the lineup, the bad news is Christine McVie is not. McVie had been wanting to retire from the road ever since, believe it or not, the early seventies so it's not completely surprising, although she had been touring with the band in support of the live-reunion album The Dance. As good as Buckingham and Nicks were, and they were pretty good on this album for the most part, this album proves once again that the three key front-musicians were needed for that old Fleetwood Mac magic.

This whole album is really a mixed bag on many different fronts. Even though it sounds very good, it also lacks a bit of cohesiveness. Lengthwise, it's even longer than the double album Tusk, and there's not that much filler, so quantity wise, you definitely get your money's worth. The songs are equally divided - 9 by Lindsey Buckingham and 9 by Stevie Nicks, and it doesn't sound like there was much collaboration between the two, so it sounds a lot like two solo albums with the tracks intertwined (think The Beatles' "White Album"). Fortunately, quality isn't a problem either - especially with Lindsey Buckingham.

Buckingham had seemed to be getting better with age and experience. When you look at his solo albums, his early career seemed a bit unfocused, but by the time he reached his latter works (around the time of this album) he was producing masterpieces. He has plenty of the traditional Buckingham guitar wackiness, with his signature acoustic plucking throughout. For the most part his songs are melodic enough to hum along to the tunes - at least on tracks such as Red Rover, Miranda, and the infectious Say Goodbye. Peacekeeper and What's the World Coming To are both poppy enough to gain some radio airplay, whereas some of the tracks such as Murrow Turning in His Grave and Come stretch the boundaries of weirdness a bit. Like the last Fleetwood Mac album that Buckingham played on, Tango in the Night, it's really Buckingham that carries the album.

Sadly Stevie Nicks seemed to be going in the opposite direction in her career in terms of quality. Everything she touched turned to gold in the late seventies-early eighties, yet she had been floundering a bit ever since. Her work on this album wasn't much different. Her work, like Buckingham's, is a mix of ups and downs, but, percentage wise, isn't as strong. Her strongest titles are the title track (quite possibly the most "Fleetwood Mac" sounding song on the whole album. Maybe that's why they gave the album the same title?) and Silver Girl is a bit more reminiscent of her early work and is a nice reminder of days gone bye. Her "goodbye" song (remember, Lindsay has one here too) is the very slowed down Goodbye Baby. I don't know if this band will ever put out another album, but this song in itself is a good choice to "end" this band's recording career.

Fans were pleased to have this. The material was so strong (unlike the last couple of releases) that it left fans wondering just how good this could have been had Christine decided to participate.

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