Often referred to as ‘The White Album’, Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled wonder of a record sold over four and half million copies and turned out three top twenty singles.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Fleetwood Mac
ALBUM: Fleetwood Mac
LABEL: Warner Bros
SERIAL: MS 2225
YEAR: 1975
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA, England
LINEUP: Stevie Nicks – vocals * Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, vocals * Christine McVie – keyboards, synthesizer, vocals * John McVie – bass * Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion
TRACK LISTING: 01 Monday Morning * 02 Warm Ways * 03 Blue Letter * 04 Rhiannon * 05 Over My Head * 06 Crystal * 07 Say You Love Me * 08 Landslide * 09 World Turning * 10 Sugar Daddy * 11 I’m So Afraid
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
After five good to excellent albums of new agey pop rock beginning with 1971’s languid ‘Future Games’, I don’t think anyone was prepared for what the fairly unknown songwriting duo of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham would bring to yet another revamped Fleetwood Mac line-up.
Hideous cover aside, 1974’s ‘Heroes Are Hard To Find’ was an fine effort with Bob Welch coming into his own as a songwriter, but exhaustion was cited as the reason for his departure later that year which found Mick Fleetwood looking for a replacement guitarist and fresh ideas.
It was producer Keith Olsen that first introduced Fleetwood to Buckingham and Nicks, who together released an Olsen produced 1973 album that didn’t exactly storm up the charts, but Fleetwood liked what he heard and rock and roll would never be the same.
The Songs
Often referred to as ‘The White Album’, this self-titled wonder of a record sold over four and half million copies and turned out three top twenty singles. The punchy ‘Monday Morning’ opens the album with Buckingham’s instantly recognizable vocals and was a carry over from the early Buckingham-Nicks days, but Christine McVie holds her own as one of the more unique female voices in rock.
There’s a plethora of tasty material including the breezy Caribbean influenced ‘Warm Ways’, the record’s first single ‘Over My Head’ and the catchy as heck toe-tapper ‘Say You Love Me’. Of course the most well known cut here and in the Fleetwood Mac oeuvre is the Nicks jewel ‘Rhiannon’ which was written during her early 70’s stint with then boyfriend Buckingham.
It remains Nicks signature song laying the foundation for a prolific solo career during the 1980’s and her trademark image as a mystical romantic in platform boots. Her other stunner is the acoustic ‘Landslide’ with Stevie’s baby-coo voice sounding older than her years and deservedly remains a staple on classic rock radio. Lastly, special mention for ‘World Turning’ and the brilliant ‘I’m So Afraid’ which is one of Buckingham’s best tunes, not to mention one of the heaviest cuts this line-up of Fleetwood Mac put to tape.
In Summary
A heavy tour schedule followed well into 1976 while the relationships between Buckingham and Nicks as well as Christine and John McVie soured resulting in what was to become one of the biggest selling albums of the decade – ‘Rumours’. With that album my interest in Fleetwood Mac waned, perhaps attributed to FM radio overkill where there was no escape from ‘Dreams’, ‘Go Your Own Way’ and ‘Don’t Stop’ among others. Although the experimental 1979 album ‘Tusk’ and 1982’s ‘Mirage’ had some interesting moments, Fleetwood Mac’s better days were and still are long behind them.
Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
