How do you follow Rumours?
Fleetwood Mac released that 1977 classic to universal critical and popular acclaim, and did so on the heels of their self-titled album, which though overshadowed by Rumours, is just as jam-packed with essential material.
In 1979, at the peak of their popularity, and also the peak of the personal turmoil that had become part of their daily existence, Fleetwood Mac released Tusk.
Considering I was five when it was released, I’ve never known Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours as anything but a classic, record-breaking album. It is the 9th best-selling album in the United States and 10th in the world.
How great must it have been when this was just the new Fleetwood Mac album? When songs like ‘Dreams,’ ‘Go Your Own Way’ and ‘Don’t Stop’ emerged from your speakers for the first time, did they already sound like classics?
Here’s another of the 70s albums on my list. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours was released in early 1977 to critical acclaim and blockbuster sales. To date it has sold more than 19 million copies and stands as the 10th best selling album in U.S. history.
The album was famously recorded under the most tumultuous circumstances imaginable. The band members were falling in and out of love and in and out of bed with each other at an alarming rate, sometimes not speaking until they entered the studio to record the next song. On top of that, everybody was loaded on drugs and booze.
I have pretty much nothing to say about this song other than that I love it. I suppose that was bound to happen 495 songs into this little endeavor. I just hope it doesn’t start happening more often.
I thought of Fleetwood Mac recently when John Mayer talked about their influence on one of his new songs and, as usually happens when I think about Fleetwood Mac, I remembered how much I love their stuff. And I don’t think I need much more of an excuse than that to feature them on the blog.
So here’s one of my favorite songs from the classic Rumours album.
I’m starting to lose the battle of the YouTube copyright. Early on the challenge was coming up with things to write about each of the songs I chose but now the challenge is finding songs in the first place. Locating an album version of a song has become a convoluted scavenger hunt, and when I do unearth one I’m lucky if the clip isn’t pulled down before I get to feature it.
The exception seems to be live performances, which aren’t subject to the same copyright laws as recorded material. The problem there is that live shows, while often wonderful, remove song production from the equation and that’s a real shame.
Meet Me In Montauk 