Published on Sep 17, 2001
This is an album I listen to when I sleep. That should tell you
something about the relevance of Fleetwood Mac in the New
Millenium.
I’m not saying they’re a bad band in any way. You can call me
born-in-the-eighties, but it seems a bit odd that so many ’70s rock
bands are still performing today. This wouldn’t be strange if we
were talking about classical music but this is ROCK music, the
soundtrack to those churning energies of youth and unformed
promise. Yes, I know there are lots of young fans at these
concerts, but concertgoers tend to be well-adjusted, happy adults;
for the most part the point seems to be… nostalgia.
I didn’t consider this when I first listened to
The Dance; my initial response, therefore, was “Geez what a
dull album… what’s the point of coming back together to make this
%*#@?” But for fans who have become used to the phrasings and the
melodies on the original albums, as I did later on, you’ll see the
subtle differences (and not-so-subtle differences) in the live
performances and maybe appreciate it better.
The songwriting has endured for the most part. Christine McVie’s
non-
Rumourscompositions are as banal as ever but “You Make
Loving Fun” and “Don’t Stop” still rock, especially with the brass
section in the latter track. Stevie Nicks gives some strangely
stiff performances with “Rhiannon” and “Dreams” but comes into
harmonic form with “Silver Springs”, with a spoken comment that may
or may not be a jab at Lindsey Buckingham (“Thank you very much,
‘Silver Springs’ is a great ol’ song” take
that
Lindsey
dear
for leaving it off
Rumours).
Buckingham himself plugs in some
impressive-but-not-quite-inspiring guitar solos and vocal
performances. I get the impression that he’s trying very, very hard
to feel something and doing everything right but still failing. No
wonder the band turned to drugs; the music works rock-and-roll
magic only about a third of the time. Oh, and there are a bunch of
NEW! NEVER BEFORE RELEASED! tracks in the mix but I can’t remember
how any of them go.
Yup, in the end,
The Dance is full of memories of magic, but not the magic
itself. It’s not that they can’t change; Stevie Nicks released a
beautiful, stunningly relevant album just this June featuring the
likes of Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan. The problem is this
“Fleetwood Mac in its golden age” concept. That
Rumourssuccess, it was just one of those freak Hootie and
the Blowfish deals. It can’t be repeated here and now. Do something
else with your time.
There were rumours of yet another reunion tour to be held next
year, but Christine McVie has opted to pull out. Fleetwood Mac was
great… in its time. But it’s been dragged out for about two
decades too long.