Fleetwood Mac RETRO ISSUE: Rumours by: Tom Perry Mon:08-Oct-07 Label: Warner Year: 1977 WB rating 94 out of 100

For understanding’s sake, let’s just clarify that Rumours has been produced by a band that is best referred to as Fleetwood Mac II. Fleetwood Mac I was a revolving door of a band who achieved moderate success in the British charts over the past decade. They were a good, but not great band, one who demanded respect for their determination; their solid, riff-heavy blues more gutsy than original. But now only bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood remain from this line-up – original leader Peter Green is gone, Bob Welch, Danny Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer also having moved on.

Fleetwood Mac II commenced with the entry of three key names; keyboardist Christine McVie (partner of bassist John) and rock ‘n’ roll’s golden couple, Stephanie ‘Stevie’ Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. With the new personnel came a new sound and in 1975 this incarnation brought us the blockbuster release Fleetwood Mac (just to baffle the hell out of fans who already owned a copy of Fleetwood Mac I’s 1967 work called Fleetwood Mac). Radio stations across the world lapped it up – you would have been hard-pressed to not tune your FM dial without hearing, at the very least, ‘Over my Head’, ‘Rhiannon’ or ‘Landslide’.

Success is quite clearly, however, a double-edged sword. Whilst Fleetwood Mac II has truly found worldwide popularity, the complex, integrated web of relationships that now make up the band has gone in the opposite direction. The group’s two key couplings – Buckingham/Nicks and McVie/McVie have both parted company, and tales of infighting and bitterness fill the pages of Rolling Stone. Regardless, not only have they reached the high bar set by their self-titled album of two years ago, Fleetwood Mac have absolutely leapt over it – Rumours is a remarkable accomplishment.

A rich, deep pop record that will provide songwriters everywhere with new heroes in Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie, the collective and individual talents make the complex look remarkably simple – and make the simple sound remarkably complex. One of the most frequent criticisms that is bandied about when reviewing popular music is that it can often “all sound the same”. Rumours is the polar opposite. Each track stands out as its own entity (hence the reason they are radio’s darlings) yet works as a cohesive whole.

This lack of a distinctive ‘sound’ stems from the band’s independent personalities. Listeners may feel as if they’re hearing each songwriter’s solo work, but this has benefits with the role of ‘leader’ changing every three-and-a-half minutes. In some instances this could be a negative, sounding like a band being driven by ego. And while to a certain extent Fleetwood Mac is, what it also means is that each ego is placed in competition with the others and this creative tension has created striking results.

It is genuinely hard to select highlights from Rumours; it’s a record full of them. Buckingham’s ‘I Don’t Want To Know’ and ‘Second Hand News’ possess a positive country-infused energy, the latter enhanced by some terrific rock rhythms from skinsman Mick Fleetwood. McVie’s sensational ‘Don’t Stop’ is also a positivist work, but with much more grandeur and ambition. Its opening builds into what seems to be the final farewell from a road movie, and one that’s fairly obviously a reflection of her relationship with bassist and now ex-husband, John.

The break-up analysis continues with ‘Dreams’, Stevie Nicks’ triumph. It is a remarkable piece of heart-filled songwriting, and plays perfectly to the singer’s beautifully raspy vocals. Like McVie’s ‘Don’t Stop’, we’re given a powerful insight into Nicks’ separation with Buckingham, ending their eight years of marriage:
   
“Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom. Well who am I to keep you down? It's only right that you should play the way you feel it.

“But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness like a heartbeat drives you mad. In the stillness of remembering what you had. And what you lost”

On first impressions ‘The Chain’ and ‘Go Your Own Way’ are the most collaborative of all the tunes on Rumours – ‘The Chain’ being the only track with equal songwriting credits. ‘Go Your Own Way’ is, however, quite clearly stamped with Buckingham’s name. If Nicks is content with the break up, Buckingham clearly isn’t; the song is full of wonderfully veiled spite and it works brilliantly.

The troubled times that have hit the personal lives of this band are the single greatest asset to their individual songwriting talents. Because now more than ever, as they suffer through a difficult time together, Fleetwood Mac are delving deep into the most personal aspects of themselves, this catharsis made more intriguing by the interconnectedness of these emotions. As a listener, one feels like a close confidant to each of the individual members, their stories told so vividly that it is impossible to not appreciate their complexity, but alluring familiarity.