Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute To Fleetwood Mac

Various artists | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: August 14, 2012
• Release Date: August 14, 2012
• Label: Hear Music
• Copyright: (C) 2012 StarCon, LLC d/b/a Hear Music?
• Record Company Required Metadata: Music file metadata contains unique purchase identifier. Learn more.
• Total Length: 1:28:08
• Genres:
  • Pop
• ASIN: B008S68X1Q
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,444 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 49 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Hard to Recommend August 14, 2012

By T. A. Daniel TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:MP3 Music

Just let me begin by stating that I love Fleetwood Mac, and I love many of the bands on this compilation. With that said...

This tribute album is a missed opportunity. JUST TELL ME THAT YOU WANT ME is a 17-track record full of cover versions of (mostly) indie bands laying down their take on the iconic Fleetwood Mac. Most of the music here is reverently faithful to the master tracks; those hoping that Best Coast and the New Pornographers were going to bring their own indie sensibilities to Fleetwood Mac will be disappointed by these bands sticking so close to the original. Alternately, Fleetwood Mac fans eager to here some of their favorite songs transformed won't find much interesting here either.

Antony's cover of "Landslide" is a pretty solid disappointment; it is a fairly straight rendition of the song, but it only serves a missed opportunity. The Smashing Pumpkins' cover of the song during the 1990's and the original outshine the track here. The bluesy and distorted "Oh Well" seems to have been made for Billy Gibbons, and his cover is much less energetic, but just as punchy. Best Coast's "Rhiannon" is fine, but it's pretty limp and bland compared to Fleetwood Mac's original; at its worst it sounds like a karaoke version of the song. The New Pornographer's "Think About Me" adds a few synthesizer riffs to an otherwise faithful cover. Aside from a few country-guitar rips, Karen Elson's "Gold Dust Woman" is an already familiar trip.

There are a few artists who provide good treatments to these songs. Swedish singer/songwriter Lykke Li takes "Silver Springs" and gives it a reverb-drenched eerie feel. The song that was initially a B-Side to "Go Your Own Way" serves as one of the best tracks here.... "Straight Back," as performed by Washed Out is given a great 80's new-wave gloss. Craig Werden and St. Vincent's duet of "Sisters of the Moon" reworks the song to meet their sensibilities with fantastic results. MGMT's "Future Games" is perhaps the strangest cover of all: in typical MGMT fashion, the band has used an "everything and the kitchen sink" approach to the song. It's a much more robotic take on the homegrown stylings of Fleetwood Mac, and it's at least worth taking a peek at.

The most disappointing thing about this collection is the lack of variety that these bands bring to the table. Most of these tracks are faithful covers that simply fail to reach their original counterparts' quality. I would have preferred to have these bands rework them completely than play it so safely. Because it doesn't really service Fleetwood Mac or the bands performing on this tribute album, it's hard to recommend JUST TELL ME THAT YOU WANT ME to anyone. I suppose that hardcore fans of Fleetwood Mac would find some enjoyment out of this collection, but not enough fresh life is breathed into these songs to really warrant a purchase.

Additional Release Information:
Digital versions of the album include "Hold Me" and "The Green Manalishi." These tracks aren't particularly strong enough to recommend the digital copy of this album over the material one, per se, but I suppose if you are a big fan of either of those songs, you'll want to opt for the MP3 version. Read more ›

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Where are the Lindsey tracks? August 15, 2012

By JBT

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I think this is a really good collection of stevie nicks/fleetwood mac covers.
These are indie lo-fi interpretations of mostly stevie nicks penned tracks.
Not sure why the producer felt compelled to leave out christine mcvie and lindsey buckingham from the track list?
big love, brown eyes, i know i'm not wrong, over my head, you'll never make me cry, not that funny, hold me.....
For those omissions i give it three stars but the artists and tracks on this records are good.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 stars for a track packed collection of Fleetwood Mac songs August 24, 2012

By M. Oleson TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Being a Fleetwood Mac fan dating back to their Blues Rock era of the 1960's, I was somewhat suspect of this "tribute" album that was just released (Aug. 2012). These albums are hit and miss at best depending on the artist(s) being covered and those chosen to pay homage. One of the issues some have is the straight ahead versions with little or no change from the original. Hell, might as well listen to the original, right? Well yes and no. It depends on the listener. For me I prefer at least a different arrangement.

Having read some of the Amazon reviewer's comments I had decided to take a pass. A day or two later, I read several positive comments from music reviewers in various periodicals. So I decided to listen to the 17 samples available on Amazon's site. Buoyed by the pro reviewers and the brief samples, I ordered the CD. Now, you may not like certain songs or any of the songs but I have a hard time understanding that they are not unique covers.

There are several artists on the CD that I had not heard of; not the least of which was Trixie Whitley who is with a band called "Black Dub." She does a blues blistering take on a '69 FM song written by Peter Green (a founder and original front man) called "Before the Beginning." That's followed by another oldie written by Green called "Oh Well," taken from the Mac's '71 album "Black Magic Woman" performed by ZZ Top's Billy Gibbon's & company. One song that does sound pretty pure is the overplayed "Landslide" but it has the unique voice of Antony which adds a different dimension. The "Best Coast" duo bravely takes on the iconic "Rhiannon" giving it a "poppy" minimalist treatment.... Lykke Li's version of another Stevie Nick's classic "Silver Springs," adds some interesting reverb to her voice which is distinctly different from Nick's and includes some haunting guitars.

I was also fond of "The Kills" (didn't know before) who do a great job with "Dreams." St. Vincent and Craig Wedren lay on part punk, part pop but an all rocking version of "Sisters of the Moon." Is the album perfect? Well I guess not. I would have like to have seen more of Lindsey Buckingham's material. He has only 2 songs here. One, "Tusk" is better left to marching bands. Perhaps a little less Stevie Nick's hits and more Buckingham-like guitar shredding and more Peter Green blues would have been appreciated by this listener. So is this a straight up cover of Fleetwood Mac material? Not to my ears. Read more ›

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not all that... August 19, 2012

By Joseph Vincenza

Format:Audio CD

When I first heard about this project and saw the list of artists & the song choices, hopes were high. Clearly, too high. The source material speaks for itself, and the groups all have cred. But, for the most part this just doesn't work. It's not in the "hot mess" column, it's just not very appealing. It plods along in most places, the songs being deconstructed, and unfortunately, not put back together with all pieces present in most cases. And it's just no fun to listen to. No joy, no spark, none of what made Fleetwood Mac so enduring and lasting. I didn't expect, nor what I want, note for note replays of the original songs. I was looking for some of the original creativity and presence to be integrated into the tribute. As I said, hopes were too high. Need an example? Listen to Best Coast (a really wonderful group) turn Rhiannon into musical porridge. Oh well, as the song says.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Some show stoppers, some shit September 15, 2012

By Brad McDuffie

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

If I were rating a couple of songs, like the show stopping version of "Storms" and "Landslide" and "Silver Springs," then this would be
five stars. I've listened to "Storms" more than any other song on this tribute. Matt Sweeney and Bonnie "Prince" Billy knock it out of the park
In fact, that version and the others I've mentioned here are so good it is almost enough to pull the entire tribute up out of the gutter
some of the other tracks abide in. Having said that, you'll have to find out what starts and skipping tracks have in common for you. Bottom
line, throw the good songs onto your mixes for friends and trash the rest and go back to the original gems.