Monday, August 14, 2017

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)

“Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac (1977)

Release Date: February 4, 1977
Produced by Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut
Genre: Soft-Rock, Pop-Rock, Pop, Classic Rock
Label: Warner Brothers

Chart Positions: #1 (US, UK, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa), #6 (Germany), #13 (France), #17 (Norway), #18 (Belgium), #19 (Sweden), #25 (Austria), #32 (Denmark), #33 (Japan), #79 (Switzerland)
Certifications: 2xDiamond (US, Canada), 13xPlatinum (Australia, New Zealand), 11xPlatinum (UK), Platinum (France, Hong Kong), 5xGold (Germany), Gold (Netherlands, South Africa, Spain)

Singles: “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” “You Make Lovin’ Fun”
Singles Certifications: “Go Your Own Way”: Silver (UK), Gold (US), “Dreams”: Silver (UK), Gold (US)

Other Charting Tracks: "The Chain" #81 (UK), #93 (Ireland), #6 (US Rock Digital Tracks), "Songbird" #115 (UK), "Never Going Back Again" #35 (US Rock Digital Tracks)
Best Tracks: All Tracks



By the time "Rumours" was released Fleetwood Mac had been in existence for near ten years and they did achieve success in the UK with four top ten hits and top ten top albums. But once 1971 rolled around the hits dried up for this British band lead by John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. What was the next move? They added a female vocalist, Christine mcVie (John's wife) and American guitarist, songwriter and singer Bob Welsh, who had been gaining a name with his band Head West. But not much really came of this new collaboration - although they were gaining a steady popularity in the US. Finally it was the end of 1974 and Bob Welch left the band. The band was in peril - they lost a bit of direction. It was New Year's Eve 1974 (going into 1975) that American's Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band. Lindsey Buckingham's and Stevie Nicks' influence was felt instaneously after joining. The album "Fleetwood Mac" was released in the summer of 1975 and was the band's first major worldwide hit. Though "Fleetwood Mac" was highly successful, it was the next album "Rumors" that went way over the top. It far surpassed all expectations.

When it came time for the band to record "Rumors" they were falling apart. 1975's "Fleetwood Mac" was such a huge success but with that success came turmoil. John and Christine's marriage ended, they began having problems in the summer of 1973 and as their music grew more successful the stress on their marriage also grew. Lindsey Buckingham's and Stevie Nicks' romantic relationship also ended. Their new found success and wealth led to heavy consumption of alcohol and drugs as well as deep misunderstandings. If that wasn't enough Mick Fleetwood and Stevie ended up having an affair - this just complicated things much further. With all this going on the challenges of recording an album seemed all the more heightened. Stevie Nicks had commented, "It took thirteen months to record and it took every bot of inner strength we had. It was very hard on us." Maybe it was all this drama that made "Rumours" the great album it is. The songs were brutally honest with the most personal and touching lyrics the band has written in their entire career - prior to and after "Rumors." As well the performances (both vocal and instrumentally) are deep and to the soul. The record has an inbred soul about it that soak right into your very being.

Christine McVie said, "We refused to let let our feelings derail our commitment to the music." In the end their commitment paid off with one of the most successful albums of the decade and of all-time. The album spent 31 non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the US albums chart and has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. The album won the Album of The Year Grammy Award along with being nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It also won two American Music Awards and one Juno.

When it came time to edit the album and test running orders for side one and two once again drama arose. Seeing that in 1976/1977 vinyl albums were limited to around 20 minutes per side some songs had to be eliminated and/or cut down in length. One such song to be eliminated was Stevie Nicks' "Silver Springs." The original version was over six minutes long and it was decided the song was too long for the album. This was done without Stevie's knowledge. Ken Caillat and Lindsey Buckingham later took Stevie out to the studio parking lot to break the news. To appease her they told her they were replacing the song with "I Don't want To Know," a song she had written a few years earlier. Nicks was furious with this news as she really loved "Silver Springs" and felt it was one of her best works.

Two months before "Rumours" was released Lindsey Buckingham's "Go Your Own Way" was released as a single and the band chose "Silver Springs" as it's b-side, hoping this would make Stevie happy. Instead it added insult to injury. Nicks' "masterpiece" had been relegated to b-side status and at that the a-side, written by Buckingham, was less than complimentary to her with lines such as "you can go your own way" and "shacking up is all you want to do."

The release of "Go Your Own Way" saw an excited anticipation coming from Fleetwood Mac fans around the world. Fans got their first glance of what was just around the corner. This was the first Fleetwood Mac hit to be written by Lindsey Buckingham and to feature his lead vocals. In recording the drum parts for the song Lindsey Buckingham envisioned a pattern to similar to Charlie Watts' drum fills on the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man." Buckingham passed this idea to drummer Mick Fleetwood. In the studio Fleetwood did his best to mimic what he heard. But the result was far from what Watts had played. Despite the quirky rhythm and disoriented style Buckingham felt Mick's drum work was a perfect fit for the song. Mick credited his dyslexia for the eclectic drum patterns.

"Go Your Own Way" was Buckingham's message song to Stevie Nicks. In short he was telling her "go ahead date other men and live your miserable life. Buckingham was not one to mince words. He was pretty forward about how he felt and made it known to Stevie.

Lindsey Buckingham wrote or co-wrote four songs on the album and sang or shared lead vocals on six songs. Buckingham's voice was heard on the album more than anybody else's. He had the fortune of having the first single release and the opening track on the album. "Second Hand News," which began it's life as an acoustic demo titled "Strummer," saw "Rumours" beginning the tale of the break-up of the Nicks-Buckingham romance. Stevie Nicks commented that Lindsey's songs may have been a bit on the angry side, but they were honest. The first lyrics, "I know there's nothing to say, someone has taken my place," set the mood for the song. The aggressive drum beat symbolizes the songs angst. Buckingham wanted to infuse a slight disco beat similar to the chugging rhythms he heard in the Bee Gees' 1975 hit "Jive Talking'." Buckingham tried several different way to replicate that sound. He ended up pounding on the seat of a naugahyde chair in the studio and discovered the perfect time and sound for the song.

Lindsey Buckingham's "Second Hand News" was followed by Stevie Nicks' "Dreams," which in many ways was an answer to songs to the Buckingham song. Maybe Nicks' motive was not as intentional. In an effort to not rock the boat anymore than it had already been shaken Buckingham pretty much kept "Second Hand News" a secret from Stevie - until the last minute. Stevie's message wasn't quite as "in your face" as Lindsey's was. Stevie said she was trying to be philosophical and he was just plain mad. She used quite a bit of symbolism in her phrasing, but the message still came across loud and clear. In the opening line Stevie says, "Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom." Makes one wonder was it Mr. Buckingham that originate this breakup? Stevie follows it up with, "Well who am I to keep you down?" Possibly the split was a mutual agreement.

"Dreams" (1977)

Despite the fact that Stevie Nicks' presence and voice with Fleetwood Mac was a major driver of the success for both "Fleetwood Mac" and "Rumors," her participation was actually very low. She was the only band member that did not play an instrument on the album. She experienced a fair amount of down time between her parts. In the meantime Stevie would walk over to an unused studio down the hall from the Record Plant studio Fleetwood Mac recorded their sessions. This studio had been built for Sly Stone. Nicks would take her crocheting, electric piano, books and art as sources of stimulation. As she sat on a big black velvet bed that was set up that studio with red wall surrounding her, she wrote "Dreams," within ten minutes. Nicks often called "Go Your Own Way" and "Dreams" twin songs as they both chronicled the struggle to untangle their toxic romantic partnership from their wildly successful professional one.

"Dreams" was the second song on the album and became the second single. Where "Go Your Own Way" was a huge and memorable hit, "Dreams" was an even bigger hit sailing quickly to #1 and has the status of being Fleetwood Mac's only hit to top the US charts (the song their first of two #1 hits in Canada). This had to have been a great source of vindication for Stevie in that her song connected with more music listeners than Lindsey's did and though in many ways she was overshadowed by Christine McVie it was Stevie that wrote and sang the band's biggest hit.

The Buckingham/Nicks drama continued with the next song "Never Going Back Again." The lyrics were sparse in this song but once again in Lindsey Buckingham's style they were to the point. Basically he was talking about eh hurt and pain he experienced in love and that he will never go down that road again. The song was used as the b-side to "You Make Loving fun" on the UK pressing of the single.

"Don't Stop," the album's third single release was written and sung by Christine McVie (she shared the lead vocals with Lindsey Buckingham). This song ended up being her biggest hit and may possibly be Fleetwood Mac's best known song overall. "Don't Stop" already a huge hit and known worldwide gained even more notoriety when US President Bill Clinton used the song as his campaign theme during his 1992 presidential campaign and was prominently featured at the 1992 Democratic national Convention. When Clinton won he convinced the group (who had disbanded) to reunite and perform at his inaugural ball in January 1993.

"Don't Stop" (1977)

"Don't Stop" reflects Christine's views after her eight year marriage to Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie ended. She took an optimistic approach realizing that yesterday's gone so keep on moving forward - don't stop thinking about tomorrow - don't stop it'll soon be here - don't you live in the past. This was a healthy song with a good healthy outlook about what the future has in store if you just keep on going forward and letting go of the past. This message she said was more directed to John to let him know that time will heal the wounds. Christine commented, "I'm definitely not a pessimist."

"Rumours" originally was going to be named "Yesterday's Gone" after the line in the song "Don't Stop." John McVie came up with the title "Rumours" after realizing there was a lot of talk going around in Hollywood about the personal drama Fleetwood Mac was experiencing.

Next up we find "Go Your Own Way" which was discussed earlier in this post. Nicks however commented, "I very much resented him (Lindsey Buckingham) telling the world that 'packing up, shacking' with other men was all I wanted to do.

The delicately penned Christine McVie tune "Songbird" closed side one of "Rumors" with a sense of beauty and feeling of passion. Though it was not released as a single "Songbird" is one of the most emotionally powerful songs on the album. Christine McVie was reaching inside for a state of mind that was missing in Fleetwood Mac at the moment. They were a unit that was able to produce a product but were lacking in the side of a true emotional bond and devotion to the heart and soul of the people with which they worked and had once loved. The professionalism was there, the angst was there, the love of the art was there... but the love of each was missing. Christine McVie wrote "Songbird" to recapture that love.

Christine said that during the recording of "Rumors", "Songbird" held Fleetwood Mac together during their hard times. Once they heard the song, they reflected on how much they had been through together and how much love they shared.

Christine wrote the song during a time of solitude in about thirty minute when she woke up at 3:30 in the morning with the idea in her head. She said it was alike gift from an angel. It's as if the song was a short and gentle prayer of love - love that she wished upon those around her and for herself. During the recording session, producer Ken Caillat wanted to capture the song's warmhearted melancholic energy and felt the song needed the ambience of a concert hall. The song was recorded in a one-night session in Berkeley at the University of California's Zellerbach Auditorium. Ken Caillat decided the song needed to remain as McVie played it for him initially - with a stripped down production - McVie's voice and her piano. In order to set the mood Caillat ordered a nine-foot Steinway piano to be set up in the auditorium and as a surprise for Christine had requested a bouquet of roses to placed on Christine's piano with three colored spotlights to illuminate them from above. When Christine arrived the house lights were dimmed so all she could see were the flowers and piano. She nearly broke into tears then started to play.

"Songbird" charted on the US Rock Digital Tracks chart in 2011 most likely due to a cover version done on the popular TV program "Glee."

Flipping the record over we find "The Chain" opening Side Two. "The Chain" is the only song that is written by all five members of the band - Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The song was a complicated undertaking as it was based on instrumentation from an unreleased Christine McVie demo called "Keep Me There" and a recording by Stevie Nicks which were both recut and heavily remixed and blended into the song. John McVie added his solo using a fretless bass guitar. The song was a combination of varying sources. Finally the lyrics came. Stevie brought some lyrics to the studio for the song which she felt would work really well. Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham liked what he saw and went to work to piece it together. Lindsey arranged and made a song out of all the bits and pieces the band had recorded over the past several months. The band ended up calling it "The Chain" because it was a bunch of pieces linked together.

"The Chain" (1977)

"The Chain" charted in 2009 in both the UK and Ireland after it had been reinstated as the BBC Formula One theme.

"You Make Loving Fun" was the fourth and last single released from "Rumors." Despite the fact that the album had already sold millions of copies throughout the US, "You Make Loving Fun" was still a huge hit and sold well reaching #9 in the US and #7 in Canada. The song was another one of Christine McVie's uplifting tunes. She wrote it about her boyfriend at the time, Curry Grant, who was the lighting director for Fleetwood Mac. In order to avoid any emotional flair up Christine told then husband John McVie that the song was about her dog. John later found out it was about Grant, with whom Christine was having an affair.

The next track "I Don't Want To Know" was written by Stevie Nicks in 1974 before joining Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham and Nicks never recorded the Buddy Holly influenced song officially but did perform it live in concert a few times.

The story of "I Don't Want To Know" begins with the song "Silver Springs. Written by Stevie Nicks "Silver Springs" was left off the album due to the fact, that at over six minutes, it was simply too long. Back in the seventies on a vinyl album you could fit only about 22 minutes of music per side. In order to include "Silver Springs" the band would have had to cut at least 30 seconds off of all the other songs on the album. The band and producers really wanted to see the song included on the album but it was not feasible. Instead without Stevie's knowledge it was decided to include "I Don't Want To Know." They were hoping to please Nicks by including another of her songs. Instead she was upset that she had been kept in the dark until the last minute. The news was broken to her when it was time to record the vocals.

"Silver Springs" was used for the b-side of the album's first single "Go Your Own Way" and received some attention and airplay at that point.

Christine McVie had a gift for writing songs that tug at those heart strings and "Oh Daddy" is one of those wonderfully beautiful songs. This poignant song was written about Mick Fleetwood and his wife Jenny Boyd, who had just gotten back together. The band's nickname for Mick was "The Big Daddy" as he was the only father in the band, with two daughters. Stevie Nicks wrote the lines, "and I can't walk away from you baby, if I tried." In 1979 Natalie Cole recorded an effectively moving rendition of the song.

Listening to "Rumours" in it's entirety back in 1977 was an experience, it was a journey through life and emotion. Each song brought out different sorts of emotions. There was pain, hurt, anger, joy, love, beauty and more pain. But more fulfilling than even the journey of emotions was the music itself, the fine tuned musicianship, the powerful vocals and the energy brought forth through the music. Each song built from the one before it. There was not one loser in the bunch. And here we are at the end of this exceptional album. We have just finished listening to ten excellent songs and we are now at the last song of the album. Will expectations are high - will Fleetwood Mac impress or will the album end on an even keel - not really impressing but also not really disappointing?

This brings us to "Gold Dust Woman," the end of the album. It's hard to top ten top rate songs but Fleetwood Mac did it - they truly saved the best for last. I feel the two biggest prizes in an album are the opening track and the closing track. The opener sets the mood of the album and the closing track leaves the lasting impression. The two newest members had those honors - Lindsey Buckingham had the opener while Stevie Nicks got the closing. This is not to play down any of the other songs because they are all equally great but there is usually a reason for the choices of opening and closing songs (anyway in albums that are carefully crafted - and it is evident that "Rumours" was a carefully crafted album).

"Gold Dust Woman" was written by Stevie Nicks and she also sings the soulful lead vocal. The song was inspired by Los Angeles and the hardships of living in such a metropolis. The lyrics focus on her cocaine addiction. The song is built on a free jazz frame in which each musician in which each musician develops their own progressions in the song.

In a 2017 Rolling Stone Magazine review of "Rumours" Andrew Unterberger wrote, "Nicks has openly admitted that she has no idea what Rumors' mystical closing track is even about, which is probably one of the reasons it's played such a large part in building the frontwoman's own gypsy-woman mythology. With it's reset-like production, guitar riffs spilling from everywhere like sand through the song's fingers, and Stevie's uniquely possessed vocals, Gold Dust Woman is as alluring and enigmatic as it's singer - a note of anti-closure for the LP to end on, the mysteries of love and life forever unknowable."

Now the album is over and we ponder do we play it again or neatly tuck it back in it's case and reminisce on each great tune. Ah why not let's play it again... it really is that great.

Fleetwood Mac (1977)






FLEETWOOD MAC

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