Interesting automotive-music experience this late afternoon..
First, the entirety of Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” on the sat radio as I drove thru town. Full blast, of course. Hopefully scared some tourists. Then, as I parked the car here at home, Fleetwood Mac’s “Sara.” Same station. Go figure.
I left it on, of course, and almost at full volume. Andrea’s 2006 HHR, that car’s stereo is still bitchin’. A long, long ways from 45 years ago, listening to “Sara” warble through an AM radio.
“And undoing… “
“Sara” doesn’t feature a wall of sound, it’s a <world> of sound. Instead of slamming into you, it draws you in. And keeps pulling. Damn, there’s so much packed into that song. I close my eyes and can still hear something new – on a really good stereo – so many plays later.
“Undoing the laces… “
I’m not a Fleetwood Mac fan, per se, and if I was — the late Christine McVie would’ve been my favorite. But damn, this song makes me appreciate Stevie fanatics’ fanaticism; I get it. She wrote “Sara,” developed it from a poem. They kept the demo vocal and piano in the final mix. Mick’s brushes, genius decision. Lindsey’s guitar, a moth trapped in a porch light housing… flitting here and there to the point where you can almost see a trail of notes in the air. The bass is perfect propulsion; background vocals, the sonic equivalent of cumulus clouds.
“Ethereal” or “lush” would be weak and insufficient adjectives. “Sara” is one of those songs in which the simple term “magic” is enough. The listener can take it from there.
(ps. That shortened “radio edit” – a crime. Always listen to the album version, thankfully played by DJs who care)
