Fleetwood Mac

Time

The weakest by far

Review Score:

(4/10)
Oh dear! I own every single Fleetwood Mac release from 1969 to date and I've got to say this is by far their weakest effort. With Buckingham long gone and Stevie Nicks and Rick Vito also out of the picture things take a turn for the worse. Not that the previous effort (Behind the Mask) was brilliant, but it still had Nicks on it and it was a far stronger effort. Worse still, just as we were getting used to the undeniably talented Billy Burnette and Rick Vito combination, Vito jumps ship and Burnette takes a back seat.
The rest of this album is left to newcomer Bekka Bramlett and Dave Mason, ex Traffic. Bramlett was clearly hired for her raspy vocal style as a Nicks clone, but that just emphasizes what is missing here. I mean do we have to settle with a second rate Stevie Nicks? Dave Mason seems completely miscast in the whole lineup and his offerings are forgettable. There are some strong points though, the album's opener - Burnett's countryfied 'Talkin' to my heart' is a nice uplifting tune and Bekka Bramlett's vocals work well with Burnette's. Christine McVie's pleasant 'Hollywood' follows and it's reminiscent of her earlier work with the Mac on the 'Future Games' album. After that things go downhill rapidly with some of the blandest songs ever to be put out under the Fleetwood Mac banner. On 'Winds of change' Bekka Bramlett sounds like (horror of horrors!) Bonnie Tyler! It's all pure drivel until we get to 'Sooner or later' which is surprisingly one of the strongest songs Christine McVie has put out for years. The slow atmospheric build-up is great and the whole band pulls together to a really pleasing effect.
The real surprise here is the closer, Mick Fleetwood's bizarre 'These strange times'. On first hearing I wanted to laugh, but there is something to it that keeps me coming back, the guitar playing is superb and it's nice that Peter Green get's a nod. Also the background vocals singing 'have faith' create a nice effect.

A really inconsistent album that has its moments, but Nicks and Buckingham fans should avolid this like the plague.

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