Best Fleetwood Mac Songwriter 1976-1988

The reason we circle around this question but never face it is that it's a fundamental philosophical aporia.

It's like trying to lift yourself off the ground by picking up your feet.

...which should make for some fun defenses!

love them all, but nicks has the least cringeworthily RETARDED lyrics (and the least usages of the word "lovin'")

WHAT'S WRONG WITH LOVIN

She also needed Lindsey to finish her songs for her (oooooooh)

I love her amorphous Tusk onwards stuff anyways, so I dunno

This is the first poll where I have absolutely no clue how to vote. Can we have a "I just thank gawd the rhythm section cooks" option?

THIS IS LIKE BEING FORCED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN YOUR CHILDREN

Oh what the hell. Lindsey. For weirdness beyond the call of duty.

edwardo otm

stevie wrote my favourite, christine my second favourite (tiny margin), and lindsey my third. so for that reason alone i vote stevie.

Christine wrote my ultimate morning-after song, Lindsey described how I'll feel when he leaves, Stevie wonders why it ultimately failed.

^

I'd say Lindsey by far the worst lyricist.

Goodness we are really plumbing the depths of the 'Mac tonight.

I think Nicks is the songwriter who I could have liked without the help of the rest of the band's contributions (carefully worded: I'd still like them less than I do) - perhaps because so much of the magic of her songs is tied up in her vocals. Buckingham is the best songwriter if you count production as part of that, which maybe we don't. McVie's initially feel like the most timeless/classic and least tied up in the band itself, but I don't think I could have fallen in love with them without the frame of Fleetwood Mac surrounding them.

but I don't think I could have fallen in love with them without the frame of Fleetwood Mac surrounding them.

i think i agree with this. i found her more recent solo album completely unlikeable, but then i don't know how much better the songs would have fared had they been part of 'say you will'

Exactly. Plus Buckingham production - although usually subtle on McVie songs - makes a world of different given how conservative they otherwise, both compositionally and lyrically.

I'm on Lindsey all the way, sometimes I untick all the chicks on iTunes

I think I'll go with Christine. To me, she represents a bridging point between music I love and music that I just admire - in that she takes a lot of those bluesy influences (esp on "You Make Loving Fun", my favourite) which I want to appreciate but can't and makes them transcendent.. gorgeous.. accessible.. and writes songs that are, yeah, conservative, but within that framework are often perfect. Also, "Say You Will", though WAY better than thought, does want for one or two songs by her.

Stevie has freakish highs, but some lows I don't get very well. Linds' production is.. ludicrously amazing but I find sometimes I have to be in a specific mood to enjoy some of his "Tusk" stuff whereas Christine's songs are always a massive hug.

This is true too - Christine's song work harder to make me like something I otherwise wouldn't by anyone else.

I think I'm gonna end up agreeing with everything everyone says in this thread.

this band is very good

It all depends how much one values "consistency" as a virtue. McVie's never written a song as risible as "Welcome To The Room...Sara." Also: McVie's not particularly interested in limning relationships: she prefers to describe the afterglow and its discontents, e.g. "Why am I so lonely even after you've spent all night making loving fun?"

this is like mum, dad, AND chips

is there really a contest here?
Lindsey,duh

that's the EASY choice.

Christine McVie for me.

Though I think Danny Kirwan should have been in this thread to give it some additional intrigue...

McVie wrote "Little Lies", didn't she? And possibly "Everywhere" too?

Yup.

Yeah, everywhere is a favourite. Hold Me has a McVie vibe too. y/n?

She sang/wrote that one too.

I can never figure out who's supposed to be lead, there's nothing really at the centre of the mix

I voted Christine. Simplicity, minimalism, range, groove, depth, maturity.

Well, has to be Christine McVie for me too. Most of all because of those two songs, but she seems to have done some of the best stuff on the late 70s albums too.

Easy - it's Stevie. Her songs just hit the spot for me and always have done. Partly it's a personal preference for minor keys or whatever modes she uses, but it's also because she puts her character right upfront, broken and vulnerable. It's just great, great songwriting. Lindsay, well I love his production and I think he's the best guitarist ever, but Stevie hits gold more often for me.

Christine I just don't find very interesting. Don't Stop is the prime example, especially because it is so lauded. It just does exactly what you'd expect the whole way through, there's no surprise or change of pace or anything. The longer the song, the more I have difficulty with it. I don't think I've ever made it all the way through Over and Over. I do love things like Songbird or Little Lies, and I think the difference is because there the arrangement either adds to or takes away from the straight-down-the-line feel. I can see why she's considered classic, but I'm surprised anyone could love her the best.

Ulitmately I'd' choose Stevie too. Her songs don't sound like anyone else's, for better or worse. Sometimes she has no song and it's all Buckingham can do to create one out of elementary chords ("Welcome to the Room...Sara," "Illume").

As for your criticism of McVie - "he arrangement either adds to or takes away from the straight-down-the-line feel" – this is certainly germane in regards to Stevie, no? Her solo work is replete with examples of thrift store mysticism played by El Lay musos, notable only for her voice.

"Don't Stop" is my least favorite McVie song, for what it's worth.

I've never felt the need to hear any Stevie Nicks solo stuff. I suspect that the Buckingham-Nicks combination is where the magic lies, but I like Stevie's songs best.

It's time to listen to the Rotters.

(NSFW mp3, OK)

Yeah it's unfair to judge McVie for "Don't Stop" - it's just not as good as her other prime material. If anything I'd say Christine's songs are full of surprise - not in the sense of specific musical surprises I guess, but she performs them as if she's very surprised at where she finds herself. Maybe... "startlement" is the more appropriate word: there's an undercurrent of it in almost all her best songs - "You Make Loving Fun", "Everywhere", "Love In Store", "Mystified", "Say That You Love Me"...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

haha

possibly the best ilm poll evar