The long-awaited Fleetwood Mac tribute, Just Tell Me That You Want Me: Tribute to Fleetwood Mac, has finally been completed for an August 14th release via Hear Music/Concord. The interesting twist is that the project is now heavy with alternative and indie artists rather than the usual lineup of well-known, mainstream participants.
Produced by Randall Poster (who also handled the recent Buddy Holly tribute album Rave On), the LP features a host of artists from all walks of sound including MGMT (Future Games), The New Pornographers (Think About Me), The Kills (Dreams), Lykki Li (Silver Springs), Marianne Faithfull (Angel), ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons (Oh Well) plus Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) providing the opener with a version of Albatross. The last mentioned has certain folks in the office (ie. me) really quite ridiculously excited. Check down below for the full tracklisting.
Luckily, a handful of the covers can now be previewed via Concord's SoundCloud, and from the four provided so far the verdict from this end is a definite 'Wow!' - There's some very interesting takes on some classic and lesser known Mac tracks. Billy Gibbons' Oh Well guides The Blues back to the swamp to meet a few monsters, Lykke Li takes her contribution out into space, The New Pornographers somehow manage to make Think About Me utterly different, but still just the same as the original (nicely done), and again Best Coast's Rhiannon does something completely unexpected and turns a mysterious, somewhat creepy song into a chirpy plonk-along. Inspired!
So essentially what this LP is beginning to look like is a rather eclectic collection of decidedly uncanonical (and uncanny) versions of Fleetwood Mac tunes, and as such should turn out to be a fascinating release when it makes it out to the shelves. On a final note: Mascis! Ranaldo! Albatross! OMG! - or at least something along those lines...
Full Tracklisting:
- 1. Albatross - Lee Ranaldo Band Featuring J Mascis
- 2. Landslide - Antony
- 3. Before The Beginning - Trixie Whitley
- 4. Oh Well - Billy Gibbons & Co.
- 5. Rhiannon - Best Coast
- 6. Think About Me - The New Pornographers
- 7. Angel - Marianne Faithfull
- 8. Silver Springs - Lykke Li
- 9. Gold Dust Woman - Karen Elson
- 10. Storms - Matt Sweeney And Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
- 11. Straight Back - Washed Out
- 12. That's All For Everyone - Tame Impala
- 13. Sisters Of The Moon - Craig Wedren with St. Vincent
- 14. Dreams - The Kills
- 15. Gypsy - Gardens & Villa
- 16. Tusk - The Crystal Ark
- 17. Future Games - MGMT