{"id":618,"date":"2006-12-05T14:36:34","date_gmt":"2006-12-05T22:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2006\/12\/05\/buckinghambig-town\/"},"modified":"2006-12-05T14:46:27","modified_gmt":"2006-12-05T22:46:27","slug":"buckinghambig-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2006\/12\/05\/buckinghambig-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckingham\/Big Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to the wind blow
Watch the sun rise…<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, it’s true.\u00c2\u00a0 Little Big Town’s "Bones" is a clone of Fleetwood Mac’s "The Chain".\u00c2\u00a0 But does that make it BAD?<\/p>\n

There was only one Beatles, one band that constantly tested the limits, that pushed their art far beyond our conception.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s why they’re remembered, as strong as ever forty years on.\u00c2\u00a0 Little Big Town?\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not one for the ages.\u00c2\u00a0 Not yet.\u00c2\u00a0 Not unless a huge dollop of innovation comes their way.<\/p>\n

But how about Fleetwood Mac?<\/p>\n

Funny thing about Fleetwood Mac, most of their material, their hit material, with Buckingham and Nicks, is UNCOVERABLE!\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, we got the Dixie Chicks’ "Landslide", but so much of what the Mac did is sui generis, we just can’t imagine anybody else doing it.\u00c2\u00a0 And in an era when both Clive Davis and Jimmy Iovine rail that it’s all about songs and the minions pick up the mantra, Fleetwood Mac, one of the biggest acts EVER, falls a bit flat.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s not only about songs.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about performance, it’s about production, it’s about ART!<\/p>\n

Fleetwood Mac is only marginally hipper today than the Starland Vocal Band.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, of course that’s an exaggeration.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that all that music from the seventies is now deemed quaint.\u00c2\u00a0 California rock is a pejorative, this music that ruled the seventies is experiencing a critical backlash.\u00c2\u00a0 It encompasses everybody from the Eagles to Jackson Browne.\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s soft, if it’s not EDGY, it’s somehow worthless.\u00c2\u00a0 As if melodies and harmonious vocals can EVER go out of style, as if meaningful lyrics are meaningless.<\/p>\n

But these acts ARE has-beens.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve got about as much of a chance of having a hit as Donald Rumsfeld has of reclaiming his job.\u00c2\u00a0 Radio has moved on.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s hip-hop, it’s pop, it’s got sheen.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s fresh for a supposedly fast moving generation, which ironically believes music is ENTERTAINMENT, as opposed to soul-fulfilling nourishment.<\/p>\n

Stunningly, Little Big Town is not hiding its influence.\u00c2\u00a0 CMT just started airing a "Crossroads" featuring the act playing WITH Lindsey Buckingham.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, on one hand you wince.\u00c2\u00a0 Clone band with oldster who can’t get arrested.\u00c2\u00a0 But TUNE IN!<\/p>\n

By time I settled in with the recording long after midnight I was spent.\u00c2\u00a0 It was just twenty minutes of TV before I crashed for my early assignation with Dr. Brackmann at the House Ear Clinic.\u00c2\u00a0 But when the show started, I got that shot of adrenaline.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, you know it, that EXCITEMENT, that you can only get from music.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not talking about the metal assault, nor the overhyped overproduced extravaganzas of Madge and her wannabes, but that moment when the lights come up and people playing instruments and singing HIT IT!<\/p>\n

I don’t know if this "Crossroads" was fixed in post-production.\u00c2\u00a0 Little Big Town’s vocals\/harmonies are just PERFECT!\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, Lindsey Buckingham’s voice is a bit strained\/rough, so I think this is real, one pass stuff.<\/p>\n

The two guys are playing guitars.\u00c2\u00a0 The two women step up to their mics.\u00c2\u00a0 And then all four start to WAIL!\u00c2\u00a0 And in the background, a couple of steps back, is the master, the progenitor, Lindsey Buckingham, on his tiny little mahogany guitar, picking with his fingers.<\/p>\n

I get a rush just thinking about it.\u00c2\u00a0 The power of the VOCALS!\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, they’re singing the Mac-like "Bones".\u00c2\u00a0 And then, about three minutes in, the band drops out, and right there is the LICK!\u00c2\u00a0 Lindsey Buckingham starts playing the notes.\u00c2\u00a0 It sounds EXACTLY LIKE THE RECORD!\u00c2\u00a0 Only he can play them.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, they’re richer, they’re certainly live, but it’s like it’s 1977 all over again, when Fleetwood Mac ruled the world.\u00c2\u00a0 And when the stunningly good-looking Lindsey steps up to the mic and starts singing, you get this JOLT!\u00c2\u00a0 And when he drops back down and plays that lick again, you SIGH!<\/p>\n

Lindsey’s singing lead.\u00c2\u00a0 The members of Little Big Town, weaned on "Rumours", sing the backup vocals.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a power, an ESSENCE, which is INSTANTLY recognizable.\u00c2\u00a0 SUDDENLY, you’re reminded what a massive force Fleetwood Mac was.<\/p>\n

Oh, unfortunately, the rest of the show isn’t quite as good, because there are these ridiculous sitting on a stool stilted fawning discussions that make you wince.\u00c2\u00a0 But whenever the musicians take the stage, you feel it.\u00c2\u00a0 And are stunned that although they’ve just met, they can get it so right.\u00c2\u00a0 To be confronted with TALENT all these years later is so WEIRD!<\/p>\n

\n

If you go to CMT’s site, you can see a performance of "Go Your Own Way<\/a>", assuming you don’t use a Mac or Firefox, certainly not both.\u00c2\u00a0 But I suggest you tune in to see the whole show<\/a> on CMT.\u00c2\u00a0 Until then, know that if you don’t love me now, you will never love me again.\u00c2\u00a0 You can count on me, I will never BREAK THE CHAIN!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to the wind blowWatch the sun rise… Yes, it’s true.\u00c2\u00a0 Little Big Town’s "Bones" is a clone of Fleetwood Mac’s "The Chain".\u00c2\u00a0 But does that make it BAD? There was only one Beatles, one band that constantly tested the limits, that pushed their art far beyond our conception.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s why they’re remembered, as strong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-9Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}