Say You Will - Fleetwood Mac
Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
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  1. Uncut
    80
    Tusk this isn't, but Tusk it doesn't need to be. In an age of off-the-shelf LInda Perry pop, the Mac keep the mainstream interesting. [May 2003, p.98]
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  2. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    While the album's highlights shine brightly, the absence of the group's least heralded songwriter [Christine McVie] ultimately proves a significant obstacle.
  3. E! Online
    75
    While the lyrics range from the stale to the surreal, the band's vibe still gels where it counts.
  4. Blender
    60
    Start the 18-song album in the middle, and embarrassments like Nicks's "Illume (9-11)" reced behind love songs that exorcise pain with an accusatory chorus and a skein of guitars. [May 2003, p.116]
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  5. All Music Guide
    60
    There are too many songs, simply too much to make Say You Will work, even if there is enough to admire to make you wish it did.
  6. Rolling Stone
    60
    The album is a randomly sequenced display of Fleetwood Mac's best instincts: Buckingham's bittersweet tunes about playing for keeps; Nicks' tough, swirly songs about fragile and wicked women; and the experiments the group can't stop indulging in.
  7. The A.V. Club
    60
    The record shows too many signs of superstar pretension, from the thick liner notes to the grueling 76-minute length.
  8. Dot Music
    50
    If you're a fan, there's enough of what you expect from the Mac here not to disappoint.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 45 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. Droppo
    9
    The only thing that bothers me about this album is the lack of radio play that it got. Besides hearing "Peacekeeper" and "Say You Will" a few times in retail stores over their intercom music system, I rarely heard anything being played over the radio. Three or four songs could have been cut out and included on the bonus disc for the special edition, but all the rest are up to the standard that one would expect from one of the biggest bands in the history of rock music. They don't try to rehash the old sounds of the Big Mac Attack era of Rumours, but who in their right mind would expect Lindsey Buckinham to take part in anything like that. He was already over Rumours by the time Tusk was being produced. This is where Fleetwood Mac stood in 2003 with an album of great new material, take it or leave it as they were. Anyone who wants to compare it to their previous albums should stick to a best of collection and miss out on new brilliant guitar work, still great harmonies, and the expected catchy rock melodies. Say You Will could not have been produced by the Fleetwood Mac of the Rumour timeframe because Lindsey was not ready to play guitar like this yet and there is a modernity of tone that was not yet imagined back then. The soaring, blistering solos in "Murrow Turning Over in his Grave" and "Come" are almost on an Eddie Van Halen level and the stellar acoustic finger picking in songs like "Red Rover" and "Say Goodbye" are new guitar sounds that no one else can produce other than Buckingham in the post Tango in the Night era. Don't compare, just listen and enjoy what they have grown into.… Full Review »
  2. Frank
    10
    this is there best album since Tusk. almost everysong on this is great, Murrow Turning Over in His Grave and Smile At You are amazeing.
  3. jyotirmayad
    7
    The band really tried hard to do a good album without Christine and sometimes it works (Goodbye Baby, Steal Your Heart Away) and other times it doesn't (Red Rover). I like to listen to it though.… Full Review »
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