Classic Rock Album of the Day- Fleetwood Mac- Rumours (1977) ****
I have avoided (delayed) this review for the fact that I heard this thing so much in the late 1970's, and I got almost sick of it. If you lived in this era, and haven't heard at least a few of these songs, I can honestly say you must have lived under a rock. But leaving the fatigue factor aside, I will admit that this is a once in a decade masterpiece of song writing, and execution. If you were to put a finger on the reasoning of such sudden success, it was the obvious that the tandem of Buckingham and Nicks had wrestled artistic control from Fleetwood and the McVie(s). It shows in full content and style. And the band never looked back.
As mentioned earlier, this got played to death, and appealed to a wide variety of fans of rock, pop, and contemporary. I wil admit that if I hadn't heard this so much on the radio in the day, I would have rated it a tad higher. But with that, and listening to this in its entirety, it sure brought back lots of good and bad memeories. Many might say, it had a lot to do, with the soundtrack of life of 1977. It was almost impossible without a Fleetwoood Mac song hitting the radio in any given hour.
The album itself has nice and wide stylistic turns form strong rocking, to soulfoul ballads, to hard core Top 40 fodder. Yes the appeal was that wide. If you remember my Tusk review, I lamented that Buckingham is a terribly underated guitarist. No, not a top 5 kind of guy, but his stuff and its application is excellent.
Fun Fact: Rumours outsold the previous 11 Fleetwood Mac albums by a factor of 4X. 30M sales makes it the 7th highest sales of a studio album of all time. Now that is a legacy
Side 1-
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Second Hand News- Strong out of the gate, with a sexy interluding harmony by the lady herself. Wow, was I rver enamored with Ms.Nicks in the day. Others had a Farah Fawcett poster on the dorm wall. Mine was a hot and sweaty Stevie Nicks. Overall a nice hooked and rolling rocker. 5
Dreams- This was the bedrock of sexy singing that laid the ground work of her massively successful solo career. This ballad, IMO not her greatest still has a lot effect, and sold big time for the LP Still think she and Joplin had the sexiest voices of women in rock history. 7
Never Going Back- Buckingham loved doing almost 19th century like folk musical ditties that were very good, and a whole lot this style is more evident on Tusk. I liked them, and this is a good one on a great album 9
Don't Stop- Great hooked pop hit, that flooded the airwaves in 1977. Docked slightly for overplay, but any playlist from 1977 missing this, missed the boat.
3
Go Your Own Way- The great hit, though overplayed it deserves its legendary legacy. In the day, it seemed like the massively typical "Break Up" Song, though later on, I understand that was definitiely not the intent of Buckingham. Has the absolutle some bad ass guitar work, and Lindsey Buckingham at his best. The multi-string bar fretting solo-ing is not as easy as you think, 1
Song Bird- When Chris McVie died a while back, my first thoughts were listening to this particular tune, and it was pretty tough holding back the water works. This song even then in my mind was hauntingly beautiful. And now it rates higher now for me than then. 4
Side 2-
----------------
(Silver Springs)- a Reissue and skipping
The Chain- Another one of those 19th centrury like themed ballads, though more hard edged that I alway considered lower tier. Still, good but not their best 10
You Make Loving Fun- Missing from this YT video. Was a good standard rocking number sang by McVie. Lower tier on album, and really nothing to add in the effort 8
I Don't Want to Know- The real sleeper that wasn't adored by the masses, but had that feel that is what made Tusk such a great song. Buckingham's amazing acoustical almost in a Mandolinish harmonized choral floral explosion. I loved it 2
Oh Daddy- Weak McVie ballad- 11
Gold Dust Woman- Nicks turns the Sexy Dial up to "11". Love the 19th century vibe. I know Nicks is given full songwriting credit, but there is no doubt hearing Buckingham's influence. 6
I have avoided (delayed) this review for the fact that I heard this thing so much in the late 1970's, and I got almost sick of it. If you lived in this era, and haven't heard at least a few of these songs, I can honestly say you must have lived under a rock. But leaving the fatigue factor aside, I will admit that this is a once in a decade masterpiece of song writing, and execution. If you were to put a finger on the reasoning of such sudden success, it was the obvious that the tandem of Buckingham and Nicks had wrestled artistic control from Fleetwood and the McVie(s). It shows in full content and style. And the band never looked back.
As mentioned earlier, this got played to death, and appealed to a wide variety of fans of rock, pop, and contemporary. I wil admit that if I hadn't heard this so much on the radio in the day, I would have rated it a tad higher. But with that, and listening to this in its entirety, it sure brought back lots of good and bad memeories. Many might say, it had a lot to do, with the soundtrack of life of 1977. It was almost impossible without a Fleetwoood Mac song hitting the radio in any given hour.
The album itself has nice and wide stylistic turns form strong rocking, to soulfoul ballads, to hard core Top 40 fodder. Yes the appeal was that wide. If you remember my Tusk review, I lamented that Buckingham is a terribly underated guitarist. No, not a top 5 kind of guy, but his stuff and its application is excellent.
Fun Fact: Rumours outsold the previous 11 Fleetwood Mac albums by a factor of 4X. 30M sales makes it the 7th highest sales of a studio album of all time. Now that is a legacy
Side 1-
------------
Second Hand News- Strong out of the gate, with a sexy interluding harmony by the lady herself. Wow, was I rver enamored with Ms.Nicks in the day. Others had a Farah Fawcett poster on the dorm wall. Mine was a hot and sweaty Stevie Nicks. Overall a nice hooked and rolling rocker. 5
Dreams- This was the bedrock of sexy singing that laid the ground work of her massively successful solo career. This ballad, IMO not her greatest still has a lot effect, and sold big time for the LP Still think she and Joplin had the sexiest voices of women in rock history. 7
Never Going Back- Buckingham loved doing almost 19th century like folk musical ditties that were very good, and a whole lot this style is more evident on Tusk. I liked them, and this is a good one on a great album 9
Don't Stop- Great hooked pop hit, that flooded the airwaves in 1977. Docked slightly for overplay, but any playlist from 1977 missing this, missed the boat.
3
Go Your Own Way- The great hit, though overplayed it deserves its legendary legacy. In the day, it seemed like the massively typical "Break Up" Song, though later on, I understand that was definitiely not the intent of Buckingham. Has the absolutle some bad ass guitar work, and Lindsey Buckingham at his best. The multi-string bar fretting solo-ing is not as easy as you think, 1
Song Bird- When Chris McVie died a while back, my first thoughts were listening to this particular tune, and it was pretty tough holding back the water works. This song even then in my mind was hauntingly beautiful. And now it rates higher now for me than then. 4
Side 2-
----------------
(Silver Springs)- a Reissue and skipping
The Chain- Another one of those 19th centrury like themed ballads, though more hard edged that I alway considered lower tier. Still, good but not their best 10
You Make Loving Fun- Missing from this YT video. Was a good standard rocking number sang by McVie. Lower tier on album, and really nothing to add in the effort 8
I Don't Want to Know- The real sleeper that wasn't adored by the masses, but had that feel that is what made Tusk such a great song. Buckingham's amazing acoustical almost in a Mandolinish harmonized choral floral explosion. I loved it 2
Oh Daddy- Weak McVie ballad- 11
Gold Dust Woman- Nicks turns the Sexy Dial up to "11". Love the 19th century vibe. I know Nicks is given full songwriting credit, but there is no doubt hearing Buckingham's influence. 6
