10 Terrible Songs That ALMOST RUINED Great Albums
7. Keep Me There - Fleetwood Mac
As a working band, it becomes a bit difficult finding the best songs to put on an album. Since your bread and butter comes from writing day in and day out, sometimes even the best songs can start blending together after a while. If things had been different though, Keep Me There by Fleetwood Mac would have been the biggest waste of potential in radio rock history.
While the crux of this song by Christine McVie is perfectly serviceable for what it is, you can hear the germs of something even greater in the demos. Released later as a B-side, this version of the song became the blueprint for what became the Chain during the recording sessions, stripping away the initial verses and adding in Lindsey Buckingham's chorus and keeping John McVie's insanely hooky bass line.
The sessions ended up being so strenuous that The Chain almost didn't happen at all, instead considering Stevie Nicks' Silver Springs to take its place. As much as this song fits in with the raw emotion on display in Rumors, the Chain was what really ties the album together, with the band vowing to keep themselves together despite whatever hardship they may face. Still a good song, but when you're reaching for perfection, a good song isn't going to cut it at the end of the day.