Fleetwood Mac - Ugh.

[honeyiscool]

It's possible that upon playback they listened to a big pair of studio monitors cranked way up and just didn't really notice it enough to force another take.

That's actually a really good point. I can sit at home and relax with what I think is a pretty decent pair of Shure headphones connected to a digital source and forget that such a level of fidelity, especially in the highs and the lows, was not something that people in the past could easily take for granted. It's entirely possible that whatever the band and the engineers heard at the time just wasn't all that revealing in that sub-50 Hz range.

Great point!

 

[Spidey2112]

I like thrice baked potatoes... if someone tries to sub twice baked in their place, I will throw them, as far as I can...

... and then purposely chew my food as slow as I can, until the thrice baked spuds arrive.

 

[Modest_Moose]

Also if no one

Setting aside any valid points the dude might have made,,I really hate that band.

Sorry, carry on.



Wut?

Where? I have never noticed.

Sorry I had to look it up and see and it's at 2:11 in the song. You can hear page essentially stop playing nearly half way through to sing back up but JPJ still going on the keyboards with Bohnam but I think they even lose it for a second

 

[Peteyboy]

I like thrice baked potatoes... if someone tries to sub twice baked in their place, I will throw them, as far as I can...

... and then purposely chew my food as slow as I can, until the thrice baked spuds arrive.

Ya gotta stick to your principles. Kudos!

 

[Spidey2112]

Ya gotta stick to your principles. Kudos!

At last, at last... someone appreciates my potatoes...

 

[Happy Jack]

Didn't the bass player on David Bowies 'Jean Jeanie' come into the chorus too soon on the song - like a bar or 2 early?
Bowie just left it like that....

Oh yes! I use an old 'Hits Of The 70s' CD as the music I play through the band's PA when we take a break. Jean Genie is about the fourth track on that CD and it's impossible to listen to it without (i) noticing the foul-up every single time and (ii) wondering for the umpteenth time why Bowie never fixed it.

 

[Kieran Mulvaney]

Oh yes! I use an old 'Hits Of The 70s' CD as the music I play through the band's PA when we take a break. Jean Jeanie is about the fourth track on that CD and it's impossible to listen to it without (i) noticing the foul-up every single time and (ii) wondering for the umpteenth time why Bowie never fixed it.

Somebody said once that music is about making all the right mistakes. There you have it.

 

[stevieg]

As far as I'm concerned, Fleetwood Mac ceased to exist after their "Heroes are Hard to Find" album. Since then a bunch of wackers have somehow assumed the name.

S

 

[Low Key]

There are all kinds of mistakes on all kinds of albums from that era and earlier. There weren't the same tools available to conveniently do digital punch in's to correct. Listening to an isolated bass track from our favorite bands reveals all kinds of "looseness" in the playing (fret buzz, "wrong" notes, hand muted notes that probably were not supposed to be muted). I don't think they obsessed over it much then.

I remember FREAKING over a very bad note I recorded over a reggae beat in a song. We didn't fix it and it felt like a permanent scar on the song to me. Listening back on it many years later, it sounds like a deliberate passing note. No one cared.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

...Since then a bunch of wackers have somehow assumed the name.

That would be Mick Fleetwood & John McVie. Wackers, indeed, for 50 years on.

 

[Doug4321]

That's about one of the last great albums. 1966 to 1976. Everything since is only good or else awful. Everything before was kind of rinky tinky.

Not to be too opinionated or anything!

 

[stevieg]

Hi EdwardfHuncote,

Yes, of course, the McVies and Fleetwood are exceptions. The band's name could not be used without them.

However to go from "Then Play On" and "Mystery to Me" to the horror show that arose leads me to think they either lost their ears or were just in it for the money. No disrespect intended.

Meanwhile, Danny Kirwan had to struggle with alcoholism and homelessness and now, sadly, has passed. And Bob Welch, always underestimated as a player and songwriter committed suicide so he, having sustained a major injury, would not be a burden to his family. And why did Peter Green leave the Splinter Group? I enjoyed them.

stevieg

 

[Stevenk]

You're questioning John McVie?!?!? If you listen to the Beatles, you'll hear mistakes. They left them in because its music made by humans, not computers (well, they didn't have computers then but the principle is basics the same). Perhaps the take was so awesome that they didn't want to try it again and lose the mojo.

Really? You’re obsessing over a note that I can’t even hear, by one of the most solid, melodic, in the pocket, consistently musical underrated, never noticed bass players ever?

 

[Bill G.]

One of the things I like about U2 is that they leave mistakes on their albums & concert recordings. It makes me feel better about my own fumbles.

 

[RichardW]

Just think, if they had fixed that mistake the album would have sold a bajillion and one copies, instead of just a bajillion. What a missed opportunity.

 

[Drucifer]

That's the opposite of a cogent arguement brother.

It's an example of an ad hominem logical fallacy.

 

[Dark Red Moon]

all hail the Bassist that's never made a mistake! listen to any Bass only track on youtube, almost every one, that was recorded before 1980 has a flub or 2 in it somewhere. hell, listen to the Bass only track for 2112, it sounds terrible. and that's my all time favorite piece of rock music, my point being that songs need to be taken as a whole piece, when you start dissecting them it just makes a mess.

 

[MCF]

Tonight’s the Night is a hot mess in places. That’s what makes it great. Time Fades Away has so many issues, Neil wouldn’t allow it to be reissued for decades. But it’s all part of the history of an icon.

 

[GZboat]

Listen better, fellers and/or gals. I was in the "You're crazy" camp...but then I cranked it through headphones. It's there, and obvious as hell once you pipe it through decent speakers.

It's not exactly "playing" the V when he should be playing the IV. It's just a little stumble when he's aiming for the IV, which he quickly corrects rather than fully committing to it. I would not call it "playing the wrong note." I would call it fumbling a bit.

Or it may not have been fumbling at all. Y'all are familiar with the concepts of passing tones and grace notes, yes? If not, here is Wikipedia on the subject:
Grace note - Wikipedia
And:
Nonchord tone - Wikipedia
John may well have known exactly what he was doing and why.
Greg

 

[7615]

Play it wrong but play it strong. When musicians say what is correct - - whatever that means - they expose their failure to understand an entire genre/s of music. Raising the spirits is the number 1 objective - not note perfect !

These critiques smack of “schoolly” musicians. Learning music is not to take theory as rules. Just guidelines. Having taken lessons and spoken with others - I point out the teacher while instructive can have their own schoollybias.

The one I noticed - “why do you always do - you must stop that.” Usually a rythmn thing. What helped was recognizing the personal “wrong” trait and using it to effect.

Rules are for fools. Musical rules are guidelines meant to be broken.