Say You Will turns 18 this month

[secret love]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Now, who feels old LOL

Believe it or not but Say You Will was released this month back in 2003. The song Peacekeeper always takes me back to the Iraq war invasion because that song was breaking right as the invasion was happening and thought it was sort of spooky because we all wanted a peacekeeper at that time.

Anyway, you can tell I am a history buff to always remind everyone of certain dates, etc. I know this album does not get much love around here but IMHO its a musical masterpiece and the best Mac album since Rumours/Tusk era. I just watched Destiny Rules the other night in its entirety that I never did before. I had seen so many snippets here and there and never watched the complete documentary. OMG will it make you feel old. It was shot almost 20 years ago. I had to laugh at the phones they were using and the cars they were driving and OMG was everyone so young in their 50s! Poor Lindsey, its almost like he is Charlie Brown with a football and the record company and the rest of the band are Lucy. Lindsey's only concern was another Tusk like double album to showcase the artistic value of the band. He put off yet another solo album, brought those songs, was going to surrender royalties just to put something out he would be so proud of. The record company and the band liked the idea but realized the younger generation who buys albums does not care about artistic value and how "deep" the album is. Lindsey did not get his way but the album ended up still a tug of war being much longer than a conventional album. They really fought over mixing. The sad part for me was Mick saying when the album was being recorded how disappointed Lindsey and the band would be to only sell 500k copies so that was their benchmark of a commercial failure. Sadly, that's what the album ended up selling more or less and everyone was disappointed but especially because of how they worked their asses off on this album. I think Stevie's writing was some of her best. But OMG we FINALLY get Smile at You and Running Through the Garden on an album. Hello!! That alone is enough to love the album. Musically this one of the Mac's BEST album IMHO. Yes Rumours has more catchy stuff but musically speaking Say You Will is much more intricate and artsy. Yes of course the album needed Christine. But like John said, if she was there, she would not want to be there and it would have ruined the mood for the entire album. Maybe because of the mixing controversy I thought maybe that is why some say its cold? I like every song on this album but my highlights are:

What's the world Coming to
Ilumne
Thrown Down
Miranda - genius
Say You Will - its catchy for me
Smile at you
Running through the garden
Bleed to Love her
Everybody finds out - most explosive Mac song ever. Dear God listen to this song with headphones

I admire the effort. The effort shows. I don't judge albums or music by commercial success and they should be so proud of this album especially to go forward without Christine in a declining music industry time. I give this album a solid B+

I revisited the Say You Will album listening to it on Apple Music tonight, Australia time. Let me reiterate to the dumber members on here who have commented about me posting at 3 am. I rarely if at all post here at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. I do sleep! I am just in a different time zone to most Ledgies. For the record it’s 11.20 pm Thursday here.

Anyway, the point of this post was that on Apple Music I was able to bring up the lyrics for every song except Come. Much to my surprise, John McVie was credited as a co-writer on almost every single song on the album. I think Thrown Down and Come were the only exceptions.

Can anyone clarify if John did indeed co-write on all these songs and if he did, what would he have written? Would it just be writing his bass progressions? Or did John contribute additional lyrics? I have also seen him credited as playing “black keys” on this album. Does that mean playing the sharps and the flats on a piano or keyboard instrument? If so isn’t that something that Lindsey and Stevie are perfectly capable of doing without John? So why would he have done it?

Please. Enlighten me if you can.

[sleepless child]

It must be a typo. I don't think John would have co-written anything on Say you Will. I believe he just played Bass

[secret love]

Originally Posted by sleepless child

It must be a typo. I don't think John would have co-written anything on Say you Will. I believe he just played Bass

Yes, but he would have written his own bass parts, wouldn’t he? Like he did on The Chain. Surely he had some creative input beyond just playing what Lindsey or Stevie told him to play.
And how do we explain the credit for “black keys” John was given?

[jmn3]

How has it been 18 years? That is just insane and I feel very old. I was 22 and just finished my last semester of college. It came out just as I was finishing my 'extended' summer internship from the year prior and starting my first post-college full time employment at the same company. I can still remember sitting in my little intern cubicle in the center of an Accounting department listening to the little clock radio on my desk at 10am when Peacekeeper was released because the local classic rock station was going to play the first new single from the new Fleetwood Mac album. It was a great time...and now I'm 40? Bah!

I tend to like the album more than many here. But it ended up being too long and has what I consider a lot of clunkers. I've never found the appreciation for Illume that so many have. My favorites:

Thrown Down - this still holds up
Miranda - great beat, catchy
Say You Will - Stevie trying to be Christine. It's not great, but it works. The ending with the kids is lame
Peacekeeper - Again, like the previous song, it's not great, but it works. A solid Lindsey song, I'd put it on the same shelf as Eyes of the World, In My World, or Big Love
Running Through the Garden - I love this one and wish it would've remained in the set beyond Columbus
Steal Your Heart Away - Classic Fleetwood Mac sound...hmmm, I wonder why??
Bleed to Love Her - Another one that has that classic sound...and it didn't hurt that I knew it already from The Dance
Everybody Finds Out - my absolute favorite. A real kick-a$$ song. This 100% should have had the hell played out of it throughout the tour and become a regular in the greatest hits tours that followed.

It completely misses Christine in so many ways. Add 3 of her songs and her voice on the above songs, and it would be a knock out album. But for what they were trying to do, I think it worked. It's not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. And I think it's as listenable as Mirage or Tango still.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by secret love

Let me reiterate to the dumber members on here

With an attitude like that, it's difficult to imagine why anyone would be giving you sh*t.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by secret love

Would it just be writing his bass progressions? Or did John contribute additional lyrics? I have also seen him credited as playing “black keys” on this album. Does that mean playing the sharps and the flats on a piano or keyboard instrument? If so isn’t that something that Lindsey and Stevie are perfectly capable of doing without John? So why would he have done it?

Please. Enlighten me if you can.

John did not write any of the songs. It’s just Apple‘s way of labeling the music.

[ryan4136]

It's strong as a collection of songs.

But it lacks as an album. There seems to be minimal cohesion compared to previous attempts by the 5 (albeit missing 1 of the 5 probably plays heavily into it)

This feels then, and now like two solo albums with a terrific rythm section smashed together.

Tusk was strategic disconnect by design, and it works. This is disconnect by circumstances, and it doesn't work. I'm incredibly grateful for those songs, especially given how little we got after, but an "album" in the normal sense is not really what this turned out to be.

[UnwindedDreams]

Since this was a performance of a SYW song, I post in here. Does anyone know why Stevie was crying? Was it because she had a good time on 2013 Tour and it was the last show? I know Lindsey dedicated the song to her but I can't see her being touched to tears by a dedication from Lindsey.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CN0XhSIJQWM/