Since the last time I posted on Twaddle I continued ranting on other areas of the internet. Whitney and I did Mumblepod for a few months, which was a homemade radio show where we had a different 'theme' every night, picked a dozen or so songs that fit said theme, and talked about them, with some healthy doses of self-deprecating humor. Then we missed one week because of unfortunate scheduling and never returned as of this moment. That was already about 11 months ago. Then I wrote some 'reviews' on Rateyourmusic, which I still do here and there. I put quotes on 'reviews' because rather than any critique, it's basically Twaddle (it's all just how I talk... it's all relative, man) on a website that actually receives hits. I had two reviews featured on the front page: one for Bad Company's debut album (the first post I submitted) and one for Sly Stone's High on You. That means nothing, and is even more sad when you (I) take into account that not only will no one care about any of that, but no one will even read it... but I thought it was cool, at least. Anyway, as my Rateyourmusic posts are basically Twaddle, but for albums instead of songs, I may start posting them here sometime to get this blog running again. Or I will post this and forget about it.
*****
Anyway, the whole point of this post is, there is a Fleetwood Mac tribute album coming out soon. For some reason, it's been on my mind a lot, which is weird since I usually couldn't care less about this kind of stuff. As of now, seven of the seventeen tracks are available on the official page.
The interesting thing about this album is that there are quite a few 'hip' acts contributing. You know, 'indie pop', whatever that is. Rather fittingly, then, many of the covers are from the Tusk album, which is sort of like Fleetwood Mac's 'indie' sounding album, decades before that sound existed. I'm mostly indifferent towards most of what I've heard, other than Karen Elson's frightening, beautiful version of Gold Dust Woman and Billy Gibbons' (!) acoustic, vaguely stoner rock cover of Oh Well. I know nothing about Lykki Li other than the fact that her name is hilarious, and that her Silver Springs cover is alright but abuses the echo chamber effect more than anything else I have ever heard, in true indie fashion I guess... and the MGMT cover of Future Games is hilarious in the most deadly serious, 'artistic', never-ending way. I'm glad they included a Bob Welch song on the album, though.
The weirdest cover, to me, was Best Coast's version of Rhiannon. I still am not sure who Best Coast are. I always get them mixed up with Beach House. I probably wouldn't have so much trouble if I cared more. Whoever they are, I don't really care for their take on Rhiannon, and even though I'm glad the chick is a huge fan (and I can kinda see where she's coming from, according to an article I will post later) I think they missed the point and vibe of the original song. But what do I know, they're an underground sensation, apparently; and I'm ranting on my blog with two followers, both of which are defunct accounts.
Stevie Nicks wrote Rhiannon a few months before she and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac. The story is, she read the name in a book, liked the name enough to write a song based around the name 'in ten minutes', later finding out the name Rhiannon originated with a Welsh witch/goddess with the name, and that her lyrics fit the description of said witch perfectly.
This is the very first live performance of Rhiannon, by Buckingham Nicks in late 1974, before they joined Fleetwood Mac.
Fleetwood Mac recorded Rhiannon for their first album with their new lineup (the regulars - Fleetwood and the McVies - and Buckingham/Nicks) and even though it seems to have already been near-perfected in the BN days, the final studio version adds a different edge to the song, replacing the threatening pagan stomping of the BN version with a Californian, jazzy backing that sounds like the soundtrack to a succubus encounter. Both approaches fit the lyrics perfectly, yet in different ways.
Studio version. This was the first song on a FM album to showcase the three part harmonies of Stevie, Lindsey and Christine McVie, mainly in the chorus. That part never gets old. It just sounds so BIG.
'Single version' - The mix is oh so slightly different, most notably on the lead guitar stuff during the choruses. I hear this version on what used to be the oldies/soft rock station.
Just guitar and vocals (again, listen to those harmonies in the chorus, and Stevie's own high harmonies in the second verse). The multitracks for this song are out there, but besides this video I don't think they're on Youtube yet.
I guess Rhiannon was kind of the beginning of Stevie Nicks developing her dark, 'witchy' style. I remember watching an interview where she felt kind of useless in the band at first, as she was kind of added as an afterthought (the band was mainly after Lindsey Buckingham), being the only member of a five piece/three lead vocal band who didn't play an instrument onstage, and had to find a way to coexist without becoming obsolete, too flashy/showy, or overshadowing Christine McVie, the other female in the band (since women in bands were often seen as more of a novelty than just a part of life). In that sense, Rhiannon kind of hinted towards some of her darker songs, like Gold Dust Woman, Sisters of the Moon, etc.
It seems like immediately after Fleetwood Mac started touring with this lineup (which, of course, later became known as the Rumours lineup), Rhiannon became one of their live highlights, and Stevie's showcase of sorts. Where the studio version has a mellow, sort of mournful guitar solo after the "taken by the sky" section, during live performances it turns into a violent guitar freakout before winding down for the 'dreams unwind love's a state of mind' part. On the studio version it fades out here, and live... well:
By far the best live version of Rhiannon I've ever seen, and they're all pretty amazing to begin with.
So anyway, Rhiannon was the song that finally made the band superstars, everybody knows it and loves it, millions of old women dress like Stevie Nicks because of it, and you already know all of that. I guess one of those Stevie Nicks superfans eventually gave birth to the girl from Best Coast, who is a huge fan herself. I can't fault this broad for saying things like "I'm sure Fleetwood Mac are aware this record is happening. Maybe they'll hear it and think it's cool, and then Stevie Nicks will want to be my best friend", and her comment that she prefers covers that aren't exactly like the original is appreciated. But I'm a dick and I don't like their cover.
Here is a list, in no particular order, of my favorite aspects of the original, never mind all the extra stuff they did live:
- The guitar riff (I've read that Stevie came up with it; who knows for sure)
- The way the bass acts as a counter-melody to the guitar
- The almost off-beat drums, in typical Mick Fleetwood fashion
- The jazzy, sensual keyboard in the background throughout the song
- The switch from minor to major, and back again, through the 'all your life...' part
- The famous high note in the aforementioned section ('all your life')
- The chorus harmonies, and the high wordless harmonies in the verses and outro
This cover has none of these things. I understand the desire to rework the song, so not every part has to be the same, but the Best Coast cover is three chords, C-F-G, all the way through. No A minor anywhere (the chord that most of the melody is in), no "minor fall, major lift", nothing... all played through the track's three minutes in an annoying staccato rhythm that is in just about every 'indie pop' song out there. At the very end, the drums switch from the relentless 'boom-tch-boom-tch' to a rhythm closer to that of Mick Fleetwood's, so there is that. Otherwise, I appreciate Best Coast's love for Fleetwood Mac, but their cover kind of represents everything I hate about that style of music, from the whimsical, playful, 'artsy' side of indie bullcrap (the MGMT cover of Future Games representing everything I hate about the pretentious 'artsy' side of indie bullcrap) I definitely prefer the original Rhiannon. But at least it's better than this:
It's just so bad. Why did this happen.
While reading about Rhiannon on Wikipedia, I found out that apparently Hole covered it or something. I didn't listen to it. Bob Welch, of all people, recorded a cover for an album around 2006 or so. I cannot find it anymore but I remember it was pretty interesting. The music was almost trip hop and his voice had a weird vocoder-type effect.
Anyway, twaddle. See you in a year and a half.
This is my favorite thing.
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