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#1346: Fleetwood Mac – That’s All for Everyone

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In January 2014, it was officially announced Christine McVie would be rejoining Fleetwood Mac after leaving the group 15 years earlier to pursue this nice little thing called retirement. I was working as the host on my radio show back in university and used that news to slide in a Fleetwood Mac song into its playlist, specifically ‘Think About Me’ which McVie wrote and took lead vocals on. I write all this to say I must have listened through Tusk in order to get to know that song and the one that’s the subject of today’s post. When exactly I downloaded the band’s 1979 double album is something I can’t tell. All the info is on my old, very, very slow laptop whose monitor doesn’t turn on and that I have to connect to the TV in order to see what’s going on. I’ll get back to you on that one. I do have a hazy memory of being sat at my desk in my room and hearing ‘That’s All for Everyone’ and liking it then and there. But I need those dates to be sure.*

Of the first 10 tracks of Tusk, half of them were written by guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham. It’s no secret the guy took the reins after the band’s success with Rumours, insisting the band go in a different direction to avoid creating a virtual sequel. He cut his hair. He was reportedly lying down on the ground in strange positions while laying down vocals. He was certainly inspired. ‘That’s All for Everyone’ got me because… man, I could just sink into a bed while listening to it. The whole production behind it is so light and tasteful. Gentle charango strumming, a kind of lute that I never knew was used in this song until writing this. John McVie’s bass guitar working those lines. The kalimba playing those downward scales at various points. And of course the harmonies by all three songwriters. My favourite part of the entire track comes in the form of those wordless vocalizations that come in at 1:42, where you’d probably expect something like a guitar solo. An absolute moment of euphoria right there.

The song was inspired by that universal moment when the house lights come on at the end of an event and it’s time for everyone to go home. But there’s also a very human feeling about the song that I think everyone can relate to. That feeling of ‘that’s enough’ / ‘I’m done’… that feeling of just letting it all go and having a solid inner peace that comes along with it. At least that’s what I get when I hear this specific combination of words and music. It’s very mantra-like. Something to recite to yourself when trying to find that state of relaxation. Meditative is the word, it’s a very meditative track. I appreciate it a lot. It’s sort of undercut by the rocking, in-your-face number – also by Buckingham – that follows it on the album, but I’m sure that’s done very purposely. But that point is neither here nor there. ‘That’s All for Everyone’ is a fine track. Tame Impala did a cover of it a while back. I guess that’s all right. It’s all about the original for me.

*So I looked, and I downloaded the album on the 30th December 2013. That means I would have been home for the holidays. I certainly listened to it at uni, though.

#946: Nine Black Alps – Not Everyone

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Back in 2005, Nine Black Alps released their debut album Everything Is. Now, I can remember being alive at that time, seeing songs like ‘Unsatisfied’ and ‘Just Friends’ being played on MTV2. I thought both tracks were all right, didn’t grab me too much. But I distinctly remember an advert promoting Everything Is showing up on TV, and a little clip of a music video by the band that I hadn’t seen before was used in it. That small clip turned out to be from the video for ‘Not Everyone’, and I liked it so much that I went to search for the full video. Luckily, the band had it on their official website. This is back when YouTube wasn’t existing. And when I found it, I repeatedly watched it on Windows Media Player, even if my old computer’s poor Internet connection meant that I had to suffer through long moments of buffering.

All these years of listening to it, I don’t think I fully know what it’s about. I don’t think there are any widely available interviews out there that could help me in telling you either. What I’m sure of though is that it doesn’t hold the most positive of sentiments. What drew me in initially was the riff during the intro. Once I got into that, there wasn’t much going back as it repeats itself through the song’s verses. Beyond the riff, I really appreciated how the instruments sort of played with one another. Like during the pre-choruses when the guitars drop out to let an emphatic strike of the tom-tom ring out. Or how during the verses, one guitar’s feedback will be blaring in one ear while the other guitar plays a riff in the other. Everything section has a smooth transition into the next, from intro to verse to pre-chorus to chorus and the same again, but it turns out that the track is heavy and quite intense, which makes it all the more awesome.

If it wasn’t for this track, I don’t think I would have became as big a fan of Nine Black Alps as I ended up becoming. ‘Not Everyone’ was great, that was clear. The two songs I mentioned in the first paragraph were up in the air. But then it turned out that Nine Black Alps would be in the soundtrack of almost every game by EA that was released later in the year. I’m exaggerating of course. But ‘Cosmopolitan’ appeared in FIFA 06, and ‘Shot Down’ in Burnout Revenge. It only made sense that I got the album, based on how many good times those games and songs brought into my life. Good decision too, ’cause Everything Is is a personal 10/10 of mine. Doesn’t feel like it’s aged at all.