How do you bring fresh insights to some of the most accomplished, infectious pop recordings of the past 50 years? That's the main dilemma plaguing Just Tell Me That You Want Me, a new tribute album pairing mostly alt-pop artists with Fleetwood Mac songs.
While the collection aims to acknowledge the band throughout its evolving phases and lineups, it's worth noting that more than half of the 18 songs were written by Stevie Nicks, and the majority are drawn from the group's commercial and creative peak years, when Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham and Christine McVie were principal songwriters.
Not surprisingly, most acts fail to do justice to the melodic savvy or match the textural invention that made these tunes classics. The Kills turn Dreams into a lifeless dirge, and Best Coast messes around with the chords in Rihannon. But both tracks end up pale reflections of the originals, down to the dusky vocals. (Nicks is aped even more bluntly on Silver Springs and Gold Dust Woman.)
The New Pornogaphers offer a more buoyant reading of McVie's Think About Me, and there are engaging, atmospheric covers of Straight Back, Gypsy and the early, Peter Green-written instrumental Albatross. Still, one wonders how this project might have benefited had it put less emphasis on hip names and included more with at least some of Mac's mass appeal.
USA Today