Recording information: Avatar Studios, New York, NY (2012); Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn, NY (2012); Dahle House (2012); Echo Canyon West, NJ03 (2012); His Poor Shelter (2012); Ingrid (2012); JC/DC (2012); Little Blue (2012); Midnight Sun Studios (2012); Rec Room (2012); Studio Ferber, Paris, France (2012); The Hive, Victoria, B.C., Canada (2012); The Humble Abode, Woodstock, NY (2012); The Office, Vancouver, B.C., Canada (2012).
Photographers: Michael Putland; Fin Costello.
Fleetwood Mac was the subject of an all-star tribute back in 1998, when Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours appeared. That full-length album tribute celebrated the Mac's biggest hit in a big way, concentrating entirely on major-label acts like Elton John and Matchbox 20, but 2012's Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac is decidedly more eccentric, as its title -- a line borrowed from "Tusk" -- no doubt suggests. Apart from Marianne Faithfull and Billy Gibbons, along with Americana singer Trixie Whitley, every band here exists solely within the realm of indie rock and, collectively, there's been a decision to stray from the confines of the standards of the Buckingham/Nicks songbook, with Bob Welch and Peter Green eras almost as well-represented as oddities from Lindsey Buckingham's album tracks. Certainly, the major hits come from Nicks: Antony essays an appropriately florid version of "Landslide," Karen Elson brings a bit of spooky blues to the witchy "Gold Dust Woman" -- a reinvention surpassed by Best Coast's sprightly, insistent "Rhiannon," and the Kills turning "Dreams" into something resembling nightmares. Hooks take a backseat -- only the New Pornographers' "Think About Me" really pushes the power pop angle -- to eerie, dreamy textures, with the Lee Ranaldo Band and J Mascis setting a pitch-perfect keynote with "Albatross," even though it's hardly just guitars here. Tame Impala push "That's All for Everyone" onto waves of analog synths, MGMT give "Future Games" a considerable reworking, Gardens & Villa turn "Gypsy" into electro-pop, and Crystal Ark perform a similar trick with "Tusk," signaling the kind of imagination and depth that make Just Tell Me That You Want Me an unusually satisfying tribute album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.79) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Aside from Antony's sparkling 'Landslide,' the less-familiar stuff is most striking."
Paste (magazine) - "Over a long, but appropriate 17 songs, nearly everyone tapped delivers an inspired take on Nicks and company classics and a few of their deeper cuts."
