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Fleetwood Mac, ‘Landslide (Live)’
From possibly the most fucked-up tour ever completed by any rock band. It lasted, according to the Live album sleeve, from October 1979 to September 1980 following the horrible critical and commercial backlash from Tusk and fueled by mountains of drugs, lakes of alcohol and ill-advised sex affairs. Tusk is my favorite but I love Live too. It has a gorgeous unrecorded song called ‘Fireflies' on it; a humongous ‘I’m So Afraid’ with Lindsey Buckingham shredding; and a lovely, hazy soundcheck cover of Brian Wilson’s ‘The Farmer’s Daughter’.
This version of ‘Landslide’ is better than the one on Rumours. Stevie sounds strung-out, at the absolute end of her tether, her voice right on the edge of cracking apart. And, of course, she milks as much drama out of her performance as is technically possible, emotionally manipulating the audience in an expert, almost sinister manner. Such pathos, extremity and artistic control. It’s really beautiful, this.