Say You Will | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 15 April 2003 | |||
Recorded | 1995–1997, summer 2001 – fall 2002 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Pop rock [1] | |||
Length | 75:56 | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Producer | ||||
Fleetwood Mac chronology | ||||
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Singles from Say You Will | ||||
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Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 66/100 [2] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Chicago Tribune | (Mixed) [1] |
Entertainment Weekly | (Mixed) [4] |
Los Angeles Times | [5] |
People | (Positive) [6] |
Rolling Stone | [7] |
Say You Will is the seventeenth and final studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 15 April 2003. It followed 1995's Time and was their first album since 1970 without vocalist/keyboardist Christine McVie as a full member following her departure in 1998, although she participated in some songs as a guest musician; it would be her last time being involved with the band in a studio capacity before her death in 2022. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks shared keyboard duties throughout the album.
This was the band's last full album with Buckingham before his dismissal from the group in 2018, although he participated in their 2013 extended play.
Say You Will was the first studio Fleetwood Mac album to peak in the top three in the US since 1982's Mirage . [8] The album debuted at No. 3 with sales of 218,000, spent two months within the top 40, and was certified Gold by the RIAA in July 2003 for 500,000 copies shipped in the US. In the UK, the album peaked at No. 6 and was certified Gold by the BPI in May 2003 for 100,000 copies shipped.
A limited edition version of the album was issued at the same time, featuring two live tracks ("Peacekeeper" and "Say You Will"), two additional studio tracks (Nicks' "Not Make Believe" and Buckingham's cover of Bob Dylan's "Love Minus Zero/No Limit"), an expanded booklet and poster.
Soon after the release of Time , Billy Burnette and Bekka Bramlett departed to form the country duo Bekka & Billy. Rather than continue without them, Fleetwood Mac chose to disband. By 1997, the Rumours lineup agreed to perform again for an MTV Unplugged special. Following the successful reunion album, The Dance , which included a live performance of "Bleed to Love Her", [9] Christine McVie left the group, citing her fear of flying as the primary reason. [10] "Chris left in 1998 and we didn't start Say You Will until 2002," recalled Stevie Nicks. "It took us that long to figure out what the hell we were going to do without her – or even if we could do without her." [11]
In the early 2000s, Buckingham was finishing up a solo album but was encouraged by the band to set the material aside for a Fleetwood Mac record. [12] With the exception of "What's the World Coming To?" and "Peacekeeper", all of Buckingham's Say You Will songs were considered for his aborted solo record. [13] Some of Buckingham's songs on Say You Will were initially developed in the mid 1990s with Mick Fleetwood and Rob Cavallo in Hollywood. [14] [15] Buckingham stated that the body of music he created during these solo sessions "tapped into some new areas" and were "the best that I’ve ever done on my own, or with Fleetwood Mac". [16]
To round out Say You Will, Nicks brought in new material, along with leftovers from previous albums. [9] While Nicks was recording her Trouble in Shangri-La album in 2001, she left the band 17 songs to develop in her absence. The band picked five, including "Smile At You" and "Goodbye Baby", which were written in 1975–76. [17] "Smile at You" was also rehearsed for the Tusk album in 1979 [18] and the Mirage album in 1982. [19] Nicks identified two songs that were originally conceived as solo songs but were instead given to Fleetwood Mac. [20] One of those songs, "Thrown Down", was originally recorded for Trouble in Shangri-La, but it was left off that album and reworked for Say You Will. [21] According to Buckingham, Nicks had previously tried three different mixes of "Thrown Down" with three different people, but none of them worked out. "It was just obvious to me it needed a guitar riff in the chorus. It was a fairly simple thing, for some reason. There seems to be an understanding between us as to what to do." [22]
By the time Nicks returned from her Trouble in Shangri-La tour, the band had made considerable progress on her material. Nicks was pleased with what she heard, but felt obligated to write four additional compositions at her Phoenix home in December 2001. Two of those songs – "Silver Girl" and the title track – feature Sheryl Crow. [17] Nicks wrote "Illume (9–11)" after the September 11 attacks and described it as one of her only songs with political undertones. [23] Nicks wrote two additional songs about 9/11, namely "Get Back on the Plane," and "The Towers Touched the Sky", but neither were included on the album. [24] Her fourth new contribution was titled "Destiny Rules". [25]
Christine McVie was in contact with Fleetwood throughout portions of the recording sessions and expressed interest in writing for the band. "She could have come on board in the early stages of the recording," Fleetwood observed, "but, as time went on, that became more impractical." Nonetheless, the band retained McVie's contributions recorded before her departure, including on "Bleed to Love Her", where she sang and played organ. [25]
With their surplus of material, the band considered making Say You Will a double album, [26] but opted to condense it into a single disc of 18 songs. "Not Make Believe", "Gift of Screws, "Down on Rodeo", "Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind", and a Rolling Stones cover of "I Am Waiting" were all rehearsed and considered for the track list. [27] [28] "Not Make Believe" was included on the limited edition of Say You Will, [29] "I Am Waiting", "Down on Rodeo", and "Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind" were selected for Buckingham's Under the Skin album in 2006, and "Gift of Screws" appeared on Buckingham's 2008 album of the same name. [13] [28]
According to the review aggregator Metacritic , Say You Will received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 from 8 critic scores. [2] Many reviewers noted the absence of Christine McVie and the album's length. The Chicago Tribune said that McVie's "dusky voice and deft songwriting touch are missed, particularly on an 18-song disc without enough quality tunes to justify its length". They were more complimentary of Buckingham's arrangements, compositions, and production. [1] Entertainment Weekly wrote that "while the album's highlights shine brightly, the absence of the group's least heralded songwriter [Christine McVie] ultimately proves a significant obstacle". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic believed that the album sounded like "Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks' albums bouncing around on shuffle play, but also [has] occasionally flashing moments that are purely, satisfyingly Fleetwood Mac." [3] Buckingham's six-minute hard rock song "Come" was described by Ultimate Classic Rock as a "guitar-meltdown tune". [30]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "What's the World Coming To?" | Lindsey Buckingham, Julian Raymond | 3:48 |
2. | "Murrow Turning Over in His Grave" | Buckingham | 4:12 |
3. | "Illume (9–11)" | Stevie Nicks | 4:51 |
4. | "Thrown Down" | Nicks | 4:02 |
5. | "Miranda" | Buckingham | 4:18 |
6. | "Red Rover" | Buckingham | 3:58 |
7. | "Say You Will" | Nicks | 3:49 |
8. | "Peacekeeper" | Buckingham | 4:11 |
9. | "Come" | Buckingham, Neale Heywood | 5:59 |
10. | "Smile at You" | Nicks | 4:33 |
11. | "Running Through the Garden" | Nicks, Ray Kennedy, Gary Nicholson | 4:34 |
12. | "Silver Girl" | Nicks | 3:59 |
13. | "Steal Your Heart Away" | Buckingham | 3:33 |
14. | "Bleed to Love Her" | Buckingham | 4:06 |
15. | "Everybody Finds Out" | Nicks, Rick Nowels | 4:29 |
16. | "Destiny Rules" | Nicks | 4:26 |
17. | "Say Goodbye" | Buckingham | 3:26 |
18. | "Goodbye Baby" | Nicks | 3:52 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" | Bob Dylan | 4:11 |
2. | "Not Make Believe" | Nicks | 4:28 |
3. | "Peacekeeper" (Live from Sessions@AOL ) | Buckingham | 4:16 |
4. | "Say You Will" (Live from Sessions@AOL) | Nicks | 3:50 |
Note
Fleetwood Mac
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
Studios
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [52] | Gold | 50,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [53] | Gold | 7,500^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [54] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [55] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Music videos were shot for "Peacekeeper" and "Say You Will", both of these videos were stage performances of both songs. Neither of these videos were commercially available until 2019, when Fleetwood Mac published these videos on their official YouTube channel.
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by guitarist and singer Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, who have remained with the band throughout its many lineup changes. Fleetwood Mac have sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling bands.
Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American musician, record producer, and the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has released seven solo studio albums and three live albums. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Buckingham was ranked 100th in Rolling Stone's 2011 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Buckingham is known for his fingerpicking guitar style.
Christine Anne McVie was an English musician and singer-songwriter. She was the keyboardist and one of the vocalists and songwriters of Fleetwood Mac.
Tusk is the twelfth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released as a double album on 12 October 1979 in the United States and on 19 October 1979 in the United Kingdom by Warner Bros. Records. It is considered more experimental than their previous albums, partly as a consequence of Lindsey Buckingham's sparser songwriting arrangements and the influence of post-punk. The production costs were initially estimated to be about $1 million but many years later were revealed to be about $1.4 million, making it the most expensive rock album recorded to that date.
Rumours is the eleventh studio album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977, by Warner Bros. Records. Largely recorded in California in 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. The recording sessions took place as the band members dealt with breakups and struggled with heavy drug usage, both of which shaped the album's direction and lyrics.
Fleetwood Mac is the tenth studio album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 11 July 1975 in the United States and on 1 August 1975 in the United Kingdom by Reprise Records. It is the band's second eponymous album, the first being their 1968 debut album, and is sometimes referred to by fans as the White Album. It is the first Fleetwood Mac album with Lindsey Buckingham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as a vocalist, after Bob Welch departed the band in late 1974. It is also the band's last album to be released on the Reprise label until 1997's The Dance; the band's subsequent albums until then were released through Warner Bros. Records, Reprise's parent company.
Mirage is the thirteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 2 July 1982 by Warner Bros. Records. This studio effort's soft rock sound stood in stark contrast to its more experimental predecessor, 1979's Tusk. Mirage yielded several singles: "Hold Me", "Gypsy", "Love in Store", "Oh Diane", and "Can't Go Back".
Tango in the Night is the fourteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 13 April 1987 by Warner Records. As a result of Lindsey Buckingham's departure later that year, it is the fifth and final studio album with the band's most successful lineup of Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks, though Christine McVie would make guest appearances on the band's 2003 album, Say You Will. This lineup was not seen again until 1997's live album The Dance.
The Dance is a live album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 August 1997. It hailed the return of the band's most successful lineup of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since 1987's Tango in the Night, a decade earlier. It was the first Fleetwood Mac release to top the U.S. album charts since 1982's Mirage.
Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 21 November 1988 by Warner Bros. Records. It covers the period of the band's greatest commercial success, from the mid-1970s to the late-1980s.
Time is the sixteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 10 October 1995. This album features a unique line-up for the band, featuring the addition of country vocalist Bekka Bramlett and former Traffic guitarist Dave Mason. It was the second album released after the departure of Lindsey Buckingham in 1987, and the only Fleetwood Mac album since 1974's Heroes Are Hard to Find to not feature any contribution from Stevie Nicks. Additionally, it is the final Fleetwood Mac studio album to feature Christine McVie as an official member.
"You Make Loving Fun" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written and sung by Christine McVie. It was released as the fourth and final single from the band's 1977 album Rumours. "You Make Loving Fun" peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became the album's fourth top-ten hit.
Live is a double live album released by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac on 5 December 1980. It was the first live album from the then-current line-up of the band, and the next would be The Dance from 1997. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in November 1981. A deluxe edition of the album was released on 9 April 2021.
25 Years – The Chain is a box set by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac originally released on 24 November 1992. The set contains four CDs, covering the history of the band from its formation in 1967 to 1992. The set features four new tracks as well as several previously unreleased studio and live tracks from the archives, while some of the classic tracks were included in different and new mixes. The four new songs were "Paper Doll", which was recorded earlier than the others as it was written by and recorded with Stevie Nicks and Rick Vito, both of whom had left the band in 1991, "Love Shines" and "Heart of Stone", both Christine McVie songs, and "Make Me A Mask", contributed by then-former member Lindsey Buckingham. "Love Shines" was released as a single to promote the box set in the UK, whereas "Paper Doll" was the single in the US.
"Little Lies" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their 14th studio album, Tango in the Night (1987). It was written by band member Christine McVie and her then-husband, Eddy Quintela, with lead vocals performed primarily by McVie; the chorus features backing vocals by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The song was released in August 1987 by Warner Bros. Records, as the third single from Tango in the Night. McVie recalled that she wrote the song at her pool with a pad and paper; while Quintela was listed as one of the songwriters, McVie stated in an interview with MOJO that his role in the creation of "Little Lies" was minimal.
"Hold Me" is a 1982 song by the British-American rock group Fleetwood Mac. It was the first track to be released as a single from the band's thirteenth album Mirage. Written by Christine McVie and Robbie Patton, McVie and Lindsey Buckingham shared lead vocals on the song. The single reached #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the band's first to break the top five since 1977.
"Say You Love Me" is a song written by English singer-songwriter Christine McVie for Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self-titled album. The song peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, and remains one of the band's most recognizable songs. Its success helped the group's eponymous 1975 album sell over eight million copies worldwide.
"Love in Store" is a song by British-American rock group Fleetwood Mac. The song is the opening track on the 1982 album Mirage, the fourth album by the band with Lindsey Buckingham acting as main producer with Richard Dashut and Ken Caillat. "Love in Store" was written by Christine McVie and Jim Recor and it became the album's third single in the US. Released in November 1982, it went on to peak at No. 22 for three weeks as the follow-up to Top 20 hits "Hold Me" and "Gypsy". It also peaked at number 11 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song features lead vocals by Christine McVie with prominent vocal harmonies by Stevie Nicks and background vocals by Lindsey Buckingham.
Extended Play is an EP by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 2013. Released as a digital download by the band themselves and without a record company, it was the band's first new music in ten years since their 2003 album Say You Will, the only studio work since their debut album to not involve Christine McVie in any capacity, and the last release of studio material to feature Lindsey Buckingham before his removal from the band in 2018.
Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie is a studio album by Fleetwood Mac vocalists Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, released on June 9, 2017. Four of the five "classic members" of Fleetwood Mac are featured on the album; vocalist Stevie Nicks is the sole member absent. The album sold over 22,000 units in the United States in its first week and debuted within the top 20. It proved to be even more successful in the United Kingdom, where it debuted at No. 5. In November 2017, the album was also certified silver with sales exceeding 60,000 units.
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