Well I'm going to be controversial I am a minority but I do not like Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen!! I like Darkness on the edge of town album! I like Bruce Springsteen but I just don't like Born to run!! When I hear the title track I have to run!! Sorry for upsetting millions of people who have this album!!
An amazing song like Silver Springs cannot be put in a drawer. 'I know I could have loved you but you would not let me' is one of Stevie's greatest lines.
When I was in high school, there was a girl who claimed she was dating Lindsay Buckingham. Many of us were sceptical until we saw a Ferrari pull up with Lindsay behind the wheel. He took off with the girl. There's a story you won't get anywhere else. Sleep tight.
In a just world, "Why?," "Heroes Are Hard to Find," "Remember Me," and "Show Me a Smile" would have been Top 20 songs which would pop up on radio occasionally.
If the record was rawer, it would never have sold a gazillion copies. It's the production blend combined with the emotional heft that sent it off into the stratosphere. Of course, there are better records, more emotional records, grittier records, but few records that balance it all as well as Rumours. It's not perfect, but it strikes an emotional chord for many, unlike few records have ever done. There are strong feelings in the lyrics here, and the production makes it go down easy for the masses.
Exactly this. Rumours was the album that us teenagers could play to our parents and they liked it. Usually this would be a kiss of death, of course, but Rumours got away with it.
I love Rumours! When I discovered the album, I listened to The Chain probably 100 times 😄 But I don't see the problem with other people not liking it. We all have different tastes, which makes your channel that much more interesting!
In 1977 I was washing dishes in a restaurant on Maui. I slept in the restaurant as rent in Hawaii is insane. My boss would host visiting rockstars and often they would take up his offer to accommodate them. I met George Harrison. Half of the songs on Rumors owned the radiowaves. Fleetwood Mac (I owned a few of their earlier Peter Green albums back in the day) came to Maui to look for houses to buy and play a local concert. I snuck into the concert and left because besides the awesome rhythm section I couldn't stand watching Stevie Nick's performance - she's fine, I just don't like her performance, singing, dancing...Stevie, for a few weeks, would waft into the restaurant with her entourage of 5 or six folk. She always looked miserable, like she could barely hold an expression of indifference. I thought, this is the number one album on Earth and she's miserable. I made 2 bucks an hour and lived on leftovers and mangoes. John McVie (who I had seen in the Bluebreakers in 1969) would come in the late afternoon when there were few people about, sit in the long center table in the main dining room and he would nurse a drink for an hour, staring straight ahead, then he would leave. The employees like my music choices, I would keep the kitchen humming with Iggy Pop and Television and blues greats, all from my cassette collection.
those balls are older than this LP, he is wearing them in the "rattlesnake shake" video here on you tube. that video has Peter Green on vocals. Silver springs was played here in my area, so we knew it because Stevie got the Idea for the title when she saw a town in my state on the sign, which was "Silver Spring" MD.
I love all the apologists who just "now" decided Rumours sucks. 😆. It isn't my favorite album in the discography but it's a classic album for a reason. Solid gold
@keith I believe these “apologists apologizing” are closely, incestuously-akin to those “players only love you when they’re playing” players shamefully shamelessly-courting the approval of their hostess!..
To a certain degree, I can understand the ridicule of the songs on this album being bludgeoned to death with airplay. But it’s really no different from hundreds of other classic, legendary albums out of the 70s. Tensions were obviously high between band members and they were having to depend on that Southern California “ Snowball “ scene in order to get by. However Abby, you’ve provided some deeper insights to this piece than what I already knew. This album may have been an overplayed soap opera, but all things considered, I can appreciate the valiant efforts put forth by FM in releasing one of the most treasured albums of all time. And yet I’m still a fan of the Peter Green era as well. Go figure 😆. As always Abby, an excellent review !!
Oh Abby, you may have ruffled some feathers on this one girl. I was 20 when this one hit. Every girl loved it, and their boyfriends better have the 8-track or cassette for the car. The radio wore it out!! I never had it, but I thought it was very good for what it was. I see why it sold. The album before, 'Fleetwood Mac' was more for me. It's the first with Stevie and Lindsey in the band. I love it. Watch your back, I've heard "Rumors" of the Fleetwood Mac Fan Club putting out "hits" on people who've done much less. Abigail, we've all grown too fond of you to lose you now. Don't go out unescorted at night, young lady! 🤠
There's a saying that keeps coming back to me. "Don't shit where you eat" Your comment about "don't Fuck your bandmates" is very much along the same vein, if not more direct and to the point.
This was great, Abby. Your analysis is spot on. Can’t to hear you take on Tusk with Buckingham’s further madness, the USC marching band and further alchemical stimulation. 😂
Very interesting and thought-provoking perspective, thank you for that! It is fascinating how Rumors has consistently been widespread over so many decades and there is something about the artists' emotion and talent that will undoubtedly keep the album beloved by many. Personally, I love the album but also agree with your perspective and it has made me see the album in a new way, I need to listen to the alternate version to compare the mixing/feel of the work.
I had to back into Fleetwood Mac. They were so big in the 70s that you were almost required to get their albums just because they were so big. And I didn't really start buying albums until around '80 or 81 in my high school years. I loved Stevie's first solo album, and then went back and dug into the Fleetwood Mac albums. It's only much more recently that I started digging into the earlier pre-Buckingham Nicks albums. And the Buckingham Nicks album itself, before they joined Fleetwood Mac. I really like the 70-74 period, because you can clearly see a band in in development, and going through changes. You can see, album by album, Christine coming into her own as a songwriter, and feel the pain and regret that they didn't have more success with Bob Welch in the band.
Fun fact, You Make Loving Fun is about Dennis Wilson. He and Christine were dating at the time, and that opened up the chance for Lindsay Buckingham getting his hands on some Smile tapes that inspired the songs on Tusk
Love your video more than the record. This came out when I was just starting to work my way through college by doing radio airshifts at night, so I heard all the singles a million times. I thought they were okay; good pop songs, but I never had any strong feelings about them one way or the other. I was more into Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson at the time. I do recall that when "Tusk" came out, my partner George and I were doing a college morning show. The PD got the advance single, rushed in and told us to play it. George asked, "Have you listened to it?" He said no. George said, "I'm not playing a record that nobody's even heard yet. What if it stinks?" The PD insisted that we had to play it just because it was Fleetwood Mac's followup to "Rumours," but George didn't care. It was the first thing played after our show ended. It eventually stalled out at #8 on the charts so I think his refusal to let bands coast on past successes was correct. PS - In that photo of Lindsay where you said he's your type, he looks a bit like Cliff Campbell from the group Fair To Midland, who is my cousin.
Oh thank God someone who feels the same way I do about the album. This is pop music for cokeheads still stuck in the late 70s. Makes me so thankful that punk rock came along to kick it in the ass.
I like this album, but I appreciate your take on it. It's always refreshing to get a different perspective. Keep being your amazing self. You do such a great job with your content. Thank you!
@@BrendanJSmith The lineup was in close to perpetual change before 1975. It was a gradual change from blues to pop and that started while Peter was still in the band.
You're incorrect about Lindsey forbidding her from using it, it was Mick Fleetwood that wouldn't let her put it onto her "Timespace" album, because it was already planned to be released on Fleetwood Mac's "25 Years: The Chain" box set.
I’m fairly ambivalent about Rumours, it’s an album I have to be in the mood to listen to. I can certainly understand why it has achieved classic status. The songs are, in the main okay which paint a picture of the LA/West Coast scene at the time, and break ups always seem to get the creative juices flowing. If I recall correctly, it was a slow burner here in the UK and only in later years was its cultural relevance taken on board…but I might be mistaken about that as it was a long time ago. Congratulations, another really cool deep dive.
I got this album as a birthday present in '77 or '78. I stayed with marijuana use and never went on to harder drugs, unlike what people were saying at the time. And I attribute that to this album, hard to believe.
I admire you for your honest opinion on Rumours. I bought it upon release, loved it, and still enjoy it, like many ex-teenagers from the 70s. But music is no place for groupthink and dogmatic opinions. Keep on being an individual, as long as that’s still allowed.
All people remember is the final album They have absolutely no idea how stressful the whole process can be Particularly if you're brilliant guitar solo gets erased!🤯😭 And this happened all the time That irreplaceable moment was lost to carelessness in the studio.
My memory of this record is fused with the previous one. Back in '76 there was a live clip of the band doing Rhiannon which had this brilliant frenzied outro with Nicks screaming her lungs out. It got my attention but I didn't get the LP. Then in what seems about two minutes later this one came out. My brother and I were in adjacent rooms which, in form with old North Queensland standards featured walls that stopped short of the ceiling to enhance airflow. So, when Stephen, whose musical tastes were entirely determined by what other kids at school preferred, got a friend to tape both he listened to the cassette in a portable from the '60s with a scratchy speaker. And then he listened to it more. And more. When he wasn't listening to that he was waking me up with short wave radio casts of the cricket when Australia was playing in England (in U.K. time, of course). He was more violent than I was so I really had to let him and those who are allowed do. And he did. I was long on the path with punk by then so this was already sounding like old people's music to me (see also Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and I'm already exhausted from writing those names) so hearing Rumors like this was like witnessing the Hindenberg disaster every night until even Stephen got sick of it. Later, mixing with other musos who had taken the record up as a kind of indy rock template (no, they wouldn't be informed), I gave it another listen. Gave it a few minutes before visions of The Hindenberg returned in massive fiery torment. So, I dislike it for different reasons. Great video though. For which, thanks.
Having first really listened to this album via the 5.1 surrond DVD-Audio some 20 years ago, what I heard was spellbinding. I'm not the type to dig into the lyrics until later. So while I'm not disregarding their importance, this album for me is first and foremost a frankly wondrous creation of melody and harmony and expert songwriting and musicianship. Whether that or the production then turns out to be in the best service of the "breakup album" emotional/lyrical content is subjective, for sure. Stevie described "Dreams" as an "open and hopeful" response to "Go Your Own Way," personally I always heard it as a sort of darkly beguiling but resigned "just-you-wait-and-see." I think depending on how you hold that song and her delivery up to the light, the production can be considered quite lovely. But maybe the band would have agreed with you about too pretty, restrained, and reserved because at first they found it too boring to include. It sounds like you might have a crummy pressing; here's how one person described Dreams on a good pressing, "Ideally the bass is very prominent on this track. It should be way up in the mix, loud, tight and note-like, with the guitar and kick drum clearly separated. It absolutely drives the song; the copies that got the bass right on this track really came to life." A.k.a., not thin. The best pressings are considered demo-your way-too-expensive-system-for-your-friends quality. Anyway, great video as always, brave; mad respect.
BTW it's clearly not apples-to-apples, but if anyone really wants to hear more of what's going on on this album, highly recommend seeking out a band-approved (I'm not sure about this spatial audio stuff) surround mix. The songs really open up and breathe, while enveloping. It's a "you have to come hear this" moment.
Excellent points. Gold Dust Woman was the raw, unrestrained and imperfect (imperfections that strong emotions bring about) standard the whole album should have stuck to. 👍
My favorites: 1. Then Played On (the best Fleetwood Mac album) followed by 2. Future Games 3. Bare Trees and 4. Kiln House…the rest I don’t care for. What is in common? Danny Kirwan
Despite all the problems with the production of this album ,it still wound up selling 40 million copies worldwide making it the 6th best selling album of the 1970s and 9th all time . Lindsey was a perfectionist and a damn good song writer. Their intent was stated up front to make it a pop album and they made it one of the greatest of all time. I know Fleetwood Mac was not everyone's cup of tea but they put out some classic hits that millions of people loved .That can't be denied
I remember Henry Rollins saying he had a girlfriend briefly in the late 70's who "Took Rumors and Tusk really seriously" and was scared of his Ramones and Devo albums.
Hi Abigail, We got to see Stevie in concert last year, and the version of Gold Dust Woman was amazing the way the band stretched out. What a backing band! I am looking forward to the live Rumours record. Always look forward to your videos, thanks!
I find the "We're cheesy pop stars" statement of the album to be a moment of sarcasm from the Fleetwoods in view of the relationship problems. I dislike Parallel Lines for it's smoothery. Plastic Letters is my favourite Blondie.
You explained your point very well Abigail. I was Leary to hear someone sh*t on this 😂… but I totally get your point. Basically, it’s just not gritty enough to reflect the time the band was having outside the studio. Interesting take. Appreciate it. Also. Love your take on gold dust woman. It’s my fav track.
When I first saw the title I immediately sang it in my head to the tune of "I Don't Like Mondays" lmao. Great video, nice to finally see someone else who doesn't really get all the hype around this album.
I too prefer the live versions of the songs. It took me a while to fully embrace Rulers. The "tuxedo and limousine" production certainly functioned as a barrier for me. But I kept coming back to the album, mainly because of Christine McVie's out-of-this-world voice and her affirmative and almost peerless songwriting. (With the years, I've learned to put her right up with the best pop songwriters of that era, right on the same tier as Paul McCartney and the Bernie Taupin / Elton John combo, which were in actuality her neighbors on the charts.) And after a while I git used to the production and even get feelings of nostalgia from it since it is so typical of the late seventies / early eighties, which were the years of my early childhood. As always, it was a pleasure to get through your delicatefully distilled and carfully expressed feelings about the album. Thanks.
There are a great many highly overrated albums out there, but I passionately believe that “Rumours” is not one of them. It deserves every bit of praise that it has gotten over the years, but different strokes for different folks and all. However, might I suggest trying out the 2-LP 45 RPM cut that was released a few years back? It was repressed recently and it’s an absolute revelation. It truly makes you hear and appreciate the music and all of its wondrous layers in a completely new way. It’s full of the depth and richness that I’ve never heard the album have before prior to this particular remaster… I’m rarely completely blown away by a vinyl remaster/reissue but this one had my jaw on the floor. At around $50, it’s a bit pricey yes, but worth absolutely every penny. Though I’m not sure how willing you’d be to drop that kind of cash on an album you don’t care for just to try it out in a new way, haha. Maybe a friend will have a copy that you can give a spin some day.
I have an English early pressing on white vinyl that plays so well, it develops the intricacies of the performances to a dergee that cannot be ignored. , so although the songs are overplayed into tedium, after a few moments of play, the sonics of the album catches me up and I become engrossed in the performances, every time.
that 45 rpm record was cut by kevin gray, so of course it sounds stellar! i would also recommend (and this _might_ be heresy, idk) the 2001 dvd-a remaster for it's slight rejig of the album in order to include "silver springs"
Yay contrary views! I've always considered this to be a covertly semi-psychedelic album. I think that keyboard at the top of "Don't Stop" that sounds stringy is the ARP String Ensemble - found in lots of 1970s-80s recordings such as Elton's Someone Saved My Life Tonight or Zebra: Who's Behind The Door. You just showed us that you can do a great overview even for albums you don't like. Just think of that door swinging wide open! :) Great job. - G
1978 was the year the 60s were officially dead and the success of Rumours being officially categorized as "soft rock" helped herald in that tragedy. All it needed was some guitar feedback somewhere. Rock and roll could've been saved!
I've never cared much for Fleetwood Mac. My kids, however, astonishingly, LOVE them. After hearing them listen to their stuff a lot I have grown to appreciate it and actually love some of their work. Still not a band I would call one of my favorites though. In general I much prefer the Peter Green incarnation because circa 1970 blues rock is my wheelhouse, but that's an entirely different band that just has the same name. But "Landslide" - man, what a song.
They used over 300 reels for this album. That’s enough for 600-800 songs easily. Because they (Stevie) couldn’t get a vocal track right and they couldn’t agree on arrangements. Cocaine is a helluva drug
Wow, I finally feel like I’m not alone in the Universe! I’ve always thought that Rumors just sounded like overproduced, soulless Corporate Rock, the perfect example of why Punk needed to happen. Whenever I look at any of those lists of the Top 100 (or whatever) Albums of All Time, Rumors is invariably the highest-ranking I actively don’t like (with Joni Mitchell’s Blue always being the highest rated album I’m unfamiliar with. I know, I will definitely get around to delving into Joni Mitchell’s catalog one of these days). …Of course I still own a copy of Rumors anyway, you kind of have to, I think it’s the law that every alum collection of more than, like, twenty records must have a copy of Rumors in it. Just like a generation before Rumors came out, every record collection had to have a copy of Whipped Cream & Other Delights by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass for some reason.
Lindsey probably objected to’Silver Springs’ to be included on Rumours, but it was Mick Fleetwood who didn’t let Stevie Nicks to release it on her ‘Timespace’ compilation so it could be used in their box set; Lindsey was out of the band at that time. So Mick was the Big A-hole on that particular moment…😅
I have to agree Abbi, I like the songs, I hate the lack of cohesiveness and the "rumours" package. Subjective because it's one of the most popular albums of the 70s. Just good to hear from you what I've been thinking for years. Excellent review.
I love the early Peter Green Fleetwood Mac, but I have heard Fleetwood Mac too many times. I can't really even listen to later Fleetwood Mac. Listen to the 1968 Fleetwood if you haven't.
Yes. I remember when this first came out. I was stationed in Hawaii. The rock roll FM station played. Everyone was into Fleetwood Mac, and told how good they are. So I ended up buying it. You are right, it had some songs that were, alright, and some I did not like at all. If I would have heard the whole album before I bought it, I never would havr bought it. There is a short song I don't remember which album it was on, that Nicks wasn't on called Rattlesnake Shake, that I liked. Dave in Sierra Vista AZ
rattlesnake shake was the first self-titled record! since retitled to peter green's fleetwood mac. they were a great little blues band then, jeremy spencer was the MVP of that lineup for sure. a shame about the cult stuff.
It's a good maybe even in some way's 'great' album, but I never understood why it has the universal die hard appeal that it does? No matter how much I like it, I can't think of any other Fleetwood Mac album that I've ever even been tempted to own. I don't know if it's just me, but I really didn't notice until a few years back that Stevie Nicks really can't sing. About a year ago I repurchased "Rumours" along with the 'alternate' takes version, because I felt I needed it in my collection. After I got them I realized that I would probably never listen to them. I might want to look into the "Rumours Live" that you mentioned. However, if I was going to make a comparison, I'd say the early albums by Heart run circles around anything by Fleetwood Mac, and they put out 6-stellar albums before they fell off.
My parents used to crank this on the Pinto when we headed to Malibu to hang out with Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards. I've known a lot of interesting people.
Got to admit even though I’m more of a metal head i thought it was a perfect album . On par with Carol King Tapestry,. So saw the description and instantly got ready to defend but in a moment of clarity realized i just might learn something And I did . Dropped some knowledge on your viewers today .🤘
this girl i've been dating for a few months knows i collect records andd she gifted me rumours by fleetwood mac i'm grateful of course but i didn't have the courage to tell her i've never got the rumours hype and i think it's really meh, thanks abby for making me feel seen
Mick Fleetwood's "balls" appear on at least one other FM picture... The one I'm thinking about is during Peter Green's FM era... MF had a thing about balls, I guess... EDIT: Actually it's on another album... Look closely: th-cam.com/video/Jovgg9Fwby0/w-d-xo.html
I grew up with this on the radio, so every note etched on my brain, but... ten years ago I attended mini-reunion with Lyndsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, and I was so disappointed, because they played their obligatory hits and even their own deep cut gems with all the passion of a cruise ship cover band. SO WEIRD.
@abigaildevoe Don't let the album's reputation lead you away from the real heart of the band. They were stone romantics, always wanting more from love and life. The bitterness that sometimes washed over them was just the result of disappointment, the sorrow that comes from loving too hard, giving too much, always wanting more. Clapton felt that way once, supposedly, and came out with Layla (it was once my favorite album). But you know how much BS was caught up in Layla, and Clapton went on to be the most anal-retentive of guitar gods. Fleetwood Mac have carried their blazing torches for years - like I said above, you want raw emotion, turn to Say You Will. But Rumours was buoyed by its hopefulness, the feeling that there was good love, and good sex, somewhere around the corner.
Interesting take... I am not a big Mac fan, but I can't deny that this album is just filled with bangers, I mean, there isn't really filler, just some songs that aren't played on the radio as much. Maybe people have just gotten tired of it due to overplaying (I have) but it's an amazing collection of songs with an actual theme and 3 great singers/5 great musicians at their peak. My least favorite classic album is probably Sgt Peppers. I know it is a classic for obvious reasons but I just don't like most of it. Even the best song (A Day In The Life) is far from the best Beatles song
As a high-schooler in the late 70s, Rumors was inescapable. It was everywhere on the radio, so I didn't bother buying the album until much later. A local DJ, here in Austin, would play "Silver Spring" on the radio now and then and I thought it was amazing. When they came out with the boxed set, it mystified me why it wasn't included. Now I know why!
I love this album but agree with attacks on it. Definitely heard a major difference from the original record to the remastered CD but had no idea about the masters being messed up. I don't know which Fleetwood Mac album I like better their first album, "Then Play On", "Rumours" or "Tusk". RIP Peter Green.
I prefer the earlier versions of the band. Then Play On is a psych/blues/folk/rock masterpiece, Kiln House is a nice whirl of 50s rock and early 70s songwriting, Future Games is a gorgeous relaxing drift through a summer day. Their early singles sometimes get overlooked for not being on albums, Bare Trees is awesome for melancholic classic rock, and Mystery to Me is great for more a polished sound. It's incredible how this band transformed from album to album, and I think too many people disregard the iterations of the band that aren't like Rumours.
It's a product of its time...certainly within the greatest 10 albums of the 70s. Millions upon millions upon millions can't be wrong. Sure, they can be fooled sometimes...but this one was worthy. Personally, I prefer the album they made just before this one.
i enjoyed rumours. sold 45 million. i disagree. lindsey buckingham is not a blank head abby. ken calliat is father of singer colbie calliat. hood video otherwise. good review
I'm not a Mac fanboy, but this album embodies the best that FM ever got..... a downhill slide from there with many personnel changes. They became a group with no face. I just bought a Japanese pressing of this album; my first "Rumours" album. It is incredibly well-mastered and has virtually no surface noise. Before this, I had just "Bare Trees"....which although has a few good songs, is generally considered a 'weird' album. There are remastered versions of "Rumours".....even one set in 45rpm which is supposed to be fantastic. Meh..... I'll put my Japanese pressing against it. The 1977 US version of "Rumours" is not very well mastered....in fact, it's an insult to the actual material. If you have even the slightest interest in FM, "Rumours" is the album to have. Then you could work down to maybe some live concert versions of their hits. They could have become greater if not for the constant personnel changes. Like "America" the airplay on this album back in the day would make you tend to hate it.....hard to get away from that. But......over time and not listening to the radio anymore, that has softened. Honestly, I would not have bought this album back in the day because of all the airplay and pop popularity. Now, it just takes me back to things I was doing in my life at the time. And also, "Bare Trees" was a resounding disappointment purchase. As far as albums I hate that I bought...most anything with "Three Dog Night", "Lovin' Spoonfuls", "ELO" and "Rare Bird"/As Your Mind Flies By....oh and "Toto". There's a lot more, but I didn't buy them. The litmus test of an album is, if you only like one or two songs on it, you got screwed.
Tusk, which I really like, has become so beloved (after long neglect) that it's probably slightly overrated now. I think Mirage is their mid/late-era album that's most often sold short. Admittedly it doesn't cohere thematically as an album in the way some of their others do, but the songs are quite good. And yes, the personnel changes were quite damaging, right up to the most recent. I'm a huge Neil Finn fan but that last lineup just did not work for me.
I've heard that Christine McVie wrote Songbird in like 15 minutes. I dont know if that's true, but i can believe it. Pianists are generally great writers, and her talent is undeniable.
what classic album do you just not like? comment below!
The Wall by Pink Floyd
Any of Bruce spreengsten álbum
The Eagles hotel California no matter what I've tried just can't get into it
Floyd's Animals! Everyone loves it & I just don't get it.
Well I'm going to be controversial I am a minority but I do not like Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen!! I like Darkness on the edge of town album! I like Bruce Springsteen but I just don't like Born to run!! When I hear the title track I have to run!! Sorry for upsetting millions of people who have this album!!
An amazing song like Silver Springs cannot be put in a drawer. 'I know I could have loved you but you would not let me' is one of Stevie's greatest lines.
When I was in high school, there was a girl who claimed she was dating Lindsay Buckingham. Many of us were sceptical until we saw a Ferrari pull up with Lindsay behind the wheel. He took off with the girl.
There's a story you won't get anywhere else. Sleep tight.
Someone at my school claimed the same about Glenn Tillbrook from Squeeze, but he never pulled up in a Ferrari.
Lindsay Buckingham is many things. A groomer is not one of them.
@@BrendanJSmithHigh School contains eighteen year olds. Bit of a leap
Christine is truly the unsung heroine of all... loved her from the first hearing, singing in the Morning Rain.
In a just world, "Why?," "Heroes Are Hard to Find," "Remember Me," and "Show Me a Smile" would have been Top 20 songs which would pop up on radio occasionally.
Yes!@@archieleechjb
Her voice is angelic.. "As Long As you Follow"
You said it! Spot on. She was the MVP.
@@archieleechjbLoved her pre Buck/Nick's stuff. Spare me a little was a grateful tune.
If the record was rawer, it would never have sold a gazillion copies. It's the production blend combined with the emotional heft that sent it off into the stratosphere. Of course, there are better records, more emotional records, grittier records, but few records that balance it all as well as Rumours. It's not perfect, but it strikes an emotional chord for many, unlike few records have ever done. There are strong feelings in the lyrics here, and the production makes it go down easy for the masses.
Exactly this. Rumours was the album that us teenagers could play to our parents and they liked it. Usually this would be a kiss of death, of course, but Rumours got away with it.
I love Rumours! When I discovered the album, I listened to The Chain probably 100 times 😄 But I don't see the problem with other people not liking it. We all have different tastes, which makes your channel that much more interesting!
Here's a strange thing....even though I agree with everything you said, I actually like this album even more after hearing your review.
the video of Silver Spring is so awesome the way she sings --you'll never get away----the look in her eyes speaks voluminously
yes 1997 silver springs was incredible
In 1977 I was washing dishes in a restaurant on Maui. I slept in the restaurant as rent in Hawaii is insane. My boss would host visiting rockstars and often they would take up his offer to accommodate them. I met George Harrison. Half of the songs on Rumors owned the radiowaves. Fleetwood Mac (I owned a few of their earlier Peter Green albums back in the day) came to Maui to look for houses to buy and play a local concert. I snuck into the concert and left because besides the awesome rhythm section I couldn't stand watching Stevie Nick's performance - she's fine, I just don't like her performance, singing, dancing...Stevie, for a few weeks, would waft into the restaurant with her entourage of 5 or six folk. She always looked miserable, like she could barely hold an expression of indifference. I thought, this is the number one album on Earth and she's miserable. I made 2 bucks an hour and lived on leftovers and mangoes. John McVie (who I had seen in the Bluebreakers in 1969) would come in the late afternoon when there were few people about, sit in the long center table in the main dining room and he would nurse a drink for an hour, staring straight ahead, then he would leave. The employees like my music choices, I would keep the kitchen humming with Iggy Pop and Television and blues greats, all from my cassette collection.
Art courts misery, not to mention staying up all night all the time on cocaine.
I love every era of Fleetwood Mac. If i hadn't heard rumours, i never would have listened to their early stuff.
I think Rumours is perfect in every way, it is what it is, couldn’t imagine it any other way.
Same here. Perfect album
Perfect album. I totally enjoyed this episode. You are such a great hostess. Thanks!
I like how you can talk in all caps but you’re not really screaming.
those balls are older than this LP, he is wearing them in the "rattlesnake shake" video here on you tube. that video has Peter Green on vocals. Silver springs was played here in my area, so we knew it because Stevie got the Idea for the title when she saw a town in my state on the sign, which was "Silver Spring" MD.
I love all the apologists who just "now" decided Rumours sucks. 😆. It isn't my favorite album in the discography but it's a classic album for a reason. Solid gold
@keith I believe these “apologists apologizing” are closely, incestuously-akin to those “players only love you when they’re playing” players shamefully shamelessly-courting the approval of their hostess!..
To a certain degree, I can understand the ridicule of the songs on this album being bludgeoned to death with airplay. But it’s really no different from hundreds of other classic, legendary albums out of the 70s.
Tensions were obviously high between band members and they were having to depend on that Southern California “ Snowball “ scene in order to get by. However Abby, you’ve provided some deeper insights to this piece than what I already knew. This album may have been an overplayed soap opera, but all things considered, I can appreciate the valiant efforts put forth by FM in releasing one of the most treasured albums of all time. And yet I’m still a fan of the Peter Green era as well. Go figure 😆. As always Abby, an excellent review !!
Oh Abby, you may have ruffled some feathers on this one girl. I was 20 when this one hit. Every girl loved it, and their boyfriends better have the 8-track or cassette for the car. The radio wore it out!! I never had it, but I thought it was very good for what it was. I see why it sold. The album before, 'Fleetwood Mac' was more for me. It's the first with Stevie and Lindsey in the band. I love it. Watch your back, I've heard "Rumors" of the Fleetwood Mac Fan Club putting out "hits" on people who've done much less. Abigail, we've all grown too fond of you to lose you now. Don't go out unescorted at night, young lady! 🤠
There's a saying that keeps coming back to me. "Don't shit where you eat" Your comment about "don't Fuck your bandmates" is very much along the same vein, if not more direct and to the point.
And actually Silver Spring is one of my favourite Macsongs. I had a lovely time in that city in 1977, and I'm a constantly heartbroken witch.
Favorite Mac albums are definitely Bare Trees & Future Games. Danny Kirwan was incredible! Rip Danny
You said it !
My two favorites as well!
Both very beautiful,"Cerebral" albums.
exaclty mine too. agree on Danny.
freely 100.degess here today so delving into records repkaced the sleeve on bare trees
This was great, Abby. Your analysis is spot on. Can’t to hear you take on Tusk with Buckingham’s further madness, the USC marching band and further alchemical stimulation. 😂
Very interesting and thought-provoking perspective, thank you for that! It is fascinating how Rumors has consistently been widespread over so many decades and there is something about the artists' emotion and talent that will undoubtedly keep the album beloved by many. Personally, I love the album but also agree with your perspective and it has made me see the album in a new way, I need to listen to the alternate version to compare the mixing/feel of the work.
I had to back into Fleetwood Mac. They were so big in the 70s that you were almost required to get their albums just because they were so big. And I didn't really start buying albums until around '80 or 81 in my high school years. I loved Stevie's first solo album, and then went back and dug into the Fleetwood Mac albums. It's only much more recently that I started digging into the earlier pre-Buckingham Nicks albums. And the Buckingham Nicks album itself, before they joined Fleetwood Mac. I really like the 70-74 period, because you can clearly see a band in in development, and going through changes. You can see, album by album, Christine coming into her own as a songwriter, and feel the pain and regret that they didn't have more success with Bob Welch in the band.
Fun fact, You Make Loving Fun is about Dennis Wilson. He and Christine were dating at the time, and that opened up the chance for Lindsay Buckingham getting his hands on some Smile tapes that inspired the songs on Tusk
Actually, it was inspired by an affair Christine McVie had with the band's lighting director, Curry Grant.
@randyoleson I think so but she also dated dennis around this time and that relationship was also hard on her.
Love your video more than the record. This came out when I was just starting to work my way through college by doing radio airshifts at night, so I heard all the singles a million times. I thought they were okay; good pop songs, but I never had any strong feelings about them one way or the other. I was more into Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson at the time.
I do recall that when "Tusk" came out, my partner George and I were doing a college morning show. The PD got the advance single, rushed in and told us to play it. George asked, "Have you listened to it?" He said no. George said, "I'm not playing a record that nobody's even heard yet. What if it stinks?" The PD insisted that we had to play it just because it was Fleetwood Mac's followup to "Rumours," but George didn't care. It was the first thing played after our show ended. It eventually stalled out at #8 on the charts so I think his refusal to let bands coast on past successes was correct.
PS - In that photo of Lindsay where you said he's your type, he looks a bit like Cliff Campbell from the group Fair To Midland, who is my cousin.
Oh thank God someone who feels the same way I do about the album. This is pop music for cokeheads still stuck in the late 70s. Makes me so thankful that punk rock came along to kick it in the ass.
At least it ain't disco!
I wonder if the silver spoon reference was about the subject being born into wealth? It just hit me after all these years.
I like this album, but I appreciate your take on it. It's always refreshing to get a different perspective. Keep being your amazing self. You do such a great job with your content. Thank you!
Also, I enjoy how much of a clever person you are with these lyrical insights. I think you’re usually very much dead on.
Their fan base felt let down when they changed from a blues rock band to a pop rock band.
Pre-1975 Fleetwood Mac and post-1975 Fleetwood Mac are basically two different bands.
@@BrendanJSmith The Peter Green original band was completely stellar in every way ..... The Rumours " POPPY " version MAKES ME WANNA VOMIT !!!!
That happened years before Buckingham & Nicks joined.
@@BrendanJSmith The lineup was in close to perpetual change before 1975. It was a gradual change from blues to pop and that started while Peter was still in the band.
Tom Ross, a major music agent at CAA, came up with the idea to put Buckingham Nicks into Fleetwood Mac and the rest is history
You're incorrect about Lindsey forbidding her from using it, it was Mick Fleetwood that wouldn't let her put it onto her "Timespace" album, because it was already planned to be released on Fleetwood Mac's "25 Years: The Chain" box set.
I’m fairly ambivalent about Rumours, it’s an album I have to be in the mood to listen to. I can certainly understand why it has achieved classic status. The songs are, in the main okay which paint a picture of the LA/West Coast scene at the time, and break ups always seem to get the creative juices flowing.
If I recall correctly, it was a slow burner here in the UK and only in later years was its cultural relevance taken on board…but I might be mistaken about that as it was a long time ago.
Congratulations, another really cool deep dive.
I got this album as a birthday present in '77 or '78. I stayed with marijuana use and never went on to harder drugs, unlike what people were saying at the time. And I attribute that to this album, hard to believe.
"she's not like most girls" ...... This is why Im an Abby Lifer... thank you for being honest and thorough... keep on being you ...
I admire you for your honest opinion on Rumours. I bought it upon release, loved it, and still enjoy it, like many ex-teenagers from the 70s. But music is no place for groupthink and dogmatic opinions. Keep on being an individual, as long as that’s still allowed.
All people remember is the final album
They have absolutely no idea how stressful the whole process can be
Particularly if you're brilliant guitar solo gets erased!🤯😭
And this happened all the time
That irreplaceable moment was lost to carelessness in the studio.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinions and bad reviews of albums can be really fun to write and read.
My memory of this record is fused with the previous one. Back in '76 there was a live clip of the band doing Rhiannon which had this brilliant frenzied outro with Nicks screaming her lungs out. It got my attention but I didn't get the LP. Then in what seems about two minutes later this one came out. My brother and I were in adjacent rooms which, in form with old North Queensland standards featured walls that stopped short of the ceiling to enhance airflow. So, when Stephen, whose musical tastes were entirely determined by what other kids at school preferred, got a friend to tape both he listened to the cassette in a portable from the '60s with a scratchy speaker. And then he listened to it more. And more. When he wasn't listening to that he was waking me up with short wave radio casts of the cricket when Australia was playing in England (in U.K. time, of course). He was more violent than I was so I really had to let him and those who are allowed do. And he did. I was long on the path with punk by then so this was already sounding like old people's music to me (see also Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and I'm already exhausted from writing those names) so hearing Rumors like this was like witnessing the Hindenberg disaster every night until even Stephen got sick of it. Later, mixing with other musos who had taken the record up as a kind of indy rock template (no, they wouldn't be informed), I gave it another listen. Gave it a few minutes before visions of The Hindenberg returned in massive fiery torment. So, I dislike it for different reasons. Great video though. For which, thanks.
Having first really listened to this album via the 5.1 surrond DVD-Audio some 20 years ago, what I heard was spellbinding. I'm not the type to dig into the lyrics until later. So while I'm not disregarding their importance, this album for me is first and foremost a frankly wondrous creation of melody and harmony and expert songwriting and musicianship. Whether that or the production then turns out to be in the best service of the "breakup album" emotional/lyrical content is subjective, for sure. Stevie described "Dreams" as an "open and hopeful" response to "Go Your Own Way," personally I always heard it as a sort of darkly beguiling but resigned "just-you-wait-and-see." I think depending on how you hold that song and her delivery up to the light, the production can be considered quite lovely. But maybe the band would have agreed with you about too pretty, restrained, and reserved because at first they found it too boring to include. It sounds like you might have a crummy pressing; here's how one person described Dreams on a good pressing, "Ideally the bass is very prominent on this track. It should be way up in the mix, loud, tight and note-like, with the guitar and kick drum clearly separated. It absolutely drives the song; the copies that got the bass right on this track really came to life." A.k.a., not thin. The best pressings are considered demo-your way-too-expensive-system-for-your-friends quality. Anyway, great video as always, brave; mad respect.
BTW it's clearly not apples-to-apples, but if anyone really wants to hear more of what's going on on this album, highly recommend seeking out a band-approved (I'm not sure about this spatial audio stuff) surround mix. The songs really open up and breathe, while enveloping. It's a "you have to come hear this" moment.
yeah that disc is amazing, if perhaps a touch bright for some (not nearly as bright as some of the 80s vinyl cuts though!)
I thought it would have been funny if she said "my personal favorites are none of these songs I hate this album."
Excellent points. Gold Dust Woman was the raw, unrestrained and imperfect (imperfections that strong emotions bring about) standard the whole album should have stuck to. 👍
My favorites: 1. Then Played On (the best Fleetwood Mac album) followed by 2. Future Games 3. Bare Trees and 4. Kiln House…the rest I don’t care for. What is in common? Danny Kirwan
the danny kirwan era is my favorite too!
All the excess on Rumours lead to the total artistic collapse of Tusk.
Despite all the problems with the production of this album ,it still wound up selling 40 million copies worldwide making it the 6th best selling album of the 1970s and 9th all time .
Lindsey was a perfectionist and a damn good song writer. Their intent was stated up front to make it a pop album and they made it one of the greatest of all time.
I know Fleetwood Mac was not everyone's cup of tea but they put out some classic hits that millions of people loved .That can't be denied
1977 many young males were saying thank god for Punk Rock.
I remember Henry Rollins saying he had a girlfriend briefly in the late 70's who "Took Rumors and Tusk really seriously" and was scared of his Ramones and Devo albums.
Stevie Nicks is a self-involved drama queen.
@j Yes, absolutely, and a very talented one…
Hi Abigail, We got to see Stevie in concert last year, and the version of Gold Dust Woman was amazing the way the band stretched out. What a backing band! I am looking forward to the live Rumours record. Always look forward to your videos, thanks!
I find the "We're cheesy pop stars" statement of the album to be a moment of sarcasm from the Fleetwoods in view of the relationship problems. I dislike Parallel Lines for it's smoothery. Plastic Letters is my favourite Blondie.
Your my kind of girl I love Fleetwood before Nicks and Buckingham
I heard a rumor you don’t like rumors 🤓
Something about Dreams. Maybe the ache of the guitar work. Kind of funny how Silver Springs gets on a classic record! Thanks for the review.
You explained your point very well Abigail. I was Leary to hear someone sh*t on this 😂… but I totally get your point. Basically, it’s just not gritty enough to reflect the time the band was having outside the studio. Interesting take. Appreciate it.
Also. Love your take on gold dust woman. It’s my fav track.
When I first saw the title I immediately sang it in my head to the tune of "I Don't Like Mondays" lmao. Great video, nice to finally see someone else who doesn't really get all the hype around this album.
Do a Big Lebowski spoof.. "Jesus man, can you change the channel? I had a rough night and I f@cking hate Fleetwood Mac"
I too prefer the live versions of the songs. It took me a while to fully embrace Rulers. The "tuxedo and limousine" production certainly functioned as a barrier for me. But I kept coming back to the album, mainly because of Christine McVie's out-of-this-world voice and her affirmative and almost peerless songwriting. (With the years, I've learned to put her right up with the best pop songwriters of that era, right on the same tier as Paul McCartney and the Bernie Taupin / Elton John combo, which were in actuality her neighbors on the charts.) And after a while I git used to the production and even get feelings of nostalgia from it since it is so typical of the late seventies / early eighties, which were the years of my early childhood. As always, it was a pleasure to get through your delicatefully distilled and carfully expressed feelings about the album. Thanks.
There are a great many highly overrated albums out there, but I passionately believe that “Rumours” is not one of them. It deserves every bit of praise that it has gotten over the years, but different strokes for different folks and all.
However, might I suggest trying out the 2-LP 45 RPM cut that was released a few years back? It was repressed recently and it’s an absolute revelation. It truly makes you hear and appreciate the music and all of its wondrous layers in a completely new way. It’s full of the depth and richness that I’ve never heard the album have before prior to this particular remaster… I’m rarely completely blown away by a vinyl remaster/reissue but this one had my jaw on the floor. At around $50, it’s a bit pricey yes, but worth absolutely every penny. Though I’m not sure how willing you’d be to drop that kind of cash on an album you don’t care for just to try it out in a new way, haha. Maybe a friend will have a copy that you can give a spin some day.
I have an English early pressing on white vinyl that plays so well, it develops the intricacies of the performances to a dergee that cannot be ignored. , so although the songs are overplayed into tedium, after a few moments of play, the sonics of the album catches me up and I become engrossed in the performances, every time.
that 45 rpm record was cut by kevin gray, so of course it sounds stellar! i would also recommend (and this _might_ be heresy, idk) the 2001 dvd-a remaster for it's slight rejig of the album in order to include "silver springs"
Whether it's Peter Green era Mac or Buckingham Nicks era I like my Mac in small doses. The greatest hits albums for both eras are my go tos.
Thank You! Glad I'm not the only one who holds this opinion
A Ghirlandaio reference???
Abby, I hope you have a long life with your channel.
You are must-watch viewing every week, and you get better and better.
thanks! the ghirlandaio nod was bound to happen eventually haha
The part where you say “I am a child of divorce!” Is funny because I’m also a child of divorce. There, I said it. Feel better now. 😆😂
same lol
Yay contrary views! I've always considered this to be a covertly semi-psychedelic album. I think that keyboard at the top of "Don't Stop" that sounds stringy is the ARP String Ensemble - found in lots of 1970s-80s recordings such as Elton's Someone Saved My Life Tonight or Zebra: Who's Behind The Door.
You just showed us that you can do a great overview even for albums you don't like. Just think of that door swinging wide open! :) Great job. - G
1978 was the year the 60s were officially dead and the success of Rumours being officially categorized as "soft rock" helped herald in that tragedy. All it needed was some guitar feedback somewhere. Rock and roll could've been saved!
I've never cared much for Fleetwood Mac. My kids, however, astonishingly, LOVE them. After hearing them listen to their stuff a lot I have grown to appreciate it and actually love some of their work. Still not a band I would call one of my favorites though. In general I much prefer the Peter Green incarnation because circa 1970 blues rock is my wheelhouse, but that's an entirely different band that just has the same name. But "Landslide" - man, what a song.
I saw them live during this time and they were a great live band!
The chain rules!!!25:34
They used over 300 reels for this album. That’s enough for 600-800 songs easily. Because they (Stevie) couldn’t get a vocal track right and they couldn’t agree on arrangements. Cocaine is a helluva drug
I love this album but I think it could definitely benefit from a track listing shuffle around
Rumours does future the awesome track ..The Chain ⛓️ ..Love The Bass 🔊
Wow, I finally feel like I’m not alone in the Universe! I’ve always thought that Rumors just sounded like overproduced, soulless Corporate Rock, the perfect example of why Punk needed to happen. Whenever I look at any of those lists of the Top 100 (or whatever) Albums of All Time, Rumors is invariably the highest-ranking I actively don’t like (with Joni Mitchell’s Blue always being the highest rated album I’m unfamiliar with. I know, I will definitely get around to delving into Joni Mitchell’s catalog one of these days).
…Of course I still own a copy of Rumors anyway, you kind of have to, I think it’s the law that every alum collection of more than, like, twenty records must have a copy of Rumors in it. Just like a generation before Rumors came out, every record collection had to have a copy of Whipped Cream & Other Delights by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass for some reason.
The reason is the cover photo.
Lindsey probably objected to’Silver Springs’ to be included on Rumours, but it was Mick Fleetwood who didn’t let Stevie Nicks to release it on her ‘Timespace’ compilation so it could be used in their box set; Lindsey was out of the band at that time. So Mick was the Big A-hole on that particular moment…😅
I have to agree Abbi, I like the songs, I hate the lack of cohesiveness and the "rumours" package.
Subjective because it's one of the most popular albums of the 70s.
Just good to hear from you what I've been thinking for years.
Excellent review.
I love the early Peter Green Fleetwood Mac, but I have heard Fleetwood Mac too many times. I can't really even listen to later Fleetwood Mac. Listen to the 1968 Fleetwood if you haven't.
Yes. I remember when this first came out. I was stationed in Hawaii. The rock roll FM station played. Everyone was into Fleetwood Mac, and told how good they are. So I ended up buying it. You are right, it had some songs that were, alright, and some I did not like at all. If I would have heard the whole album before I bought it, I never would havr bought it. There is a short song I don't remember which album it was on, that Nicks wasn't on called Rattlesnake Shake, that I liked. Dave in Sierra Vista AZ
rattlesnake shake was the first self-titled record! since retitled to peter green's fleetwood mac. they were a great little blues band then, jeremy spencer was the MVP of that lineup for sure.
a shame about the cult stuff.
It's a good maybe even in some way's 'great' album, but I never understood why it has the universal die hard appeal that it does? No matter how much I like it, I can't think of any other Fleetwood Mac album that I've ever even been tempted to own. I don't know if it's just me, but I really didn't notice until a few years back that Stevie Nicks really can't sing. About a year ago I repurchased "Rumours" along with the 'alternate' takes version, because I felt I needed it in my collection. After I got them I realized that I would probably never listen to them. I might want to look into the "Rumours Live" that you mentioned. However, if I was going to make a comparison, I'd say the early albums by Heart run circles around anything by Fleetwood Mac, and they put out 6-stellar albums before they fell off.
My parents used to crank this on the Pinto when we headed to Malibu to hang out with Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards. I've known a lot of interesting people.
Boy Abby, do I ever agree! The only (post PG) FM album I can really enjoy is Bare Trees.
Got to admit even though I’m more of a metal head i thought it was a perfect album . On par with Carol King Tapestry,.
So saw the description and instantly got ready to defend but in a moment of clarity realized i just might learn something
And I did . Dropped some knowledge on your viewers today .🤘
Yes.
Gold dust woman is my favorite track
Brilliant review (and yeah, Tusk > Rumors).
this girl i've been dating for a few months knows i collect records andd she gifted me rumours by fleetwood mac
i'm grateful of course but i didn't have the courage to tell her i've never got the rumours hype and i think it's really meh, thanks abby for making me feel seen
Mick Fleetwood's "balls" appear on at least one other FM picture... The one I'm thinking about is during Peter Green's FM era... MF had a thing about balls, I guess...
EDIT: Actually it's on another album... Look closely:
th-cam.com/video/Jovgg9Fwby0/w-d-xo.html
BOSTON! Never have, never will!
I just wanna say that I am a big fan of Fantano moments.
I grew up with this on the radio, so every note etched on my brain, but... ten years ago I attended mini-reunion with Lyndsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, and I was so disappointed, because they played their obligatory hits and even their own deep cut gems with all the passion of a cruise ship cover band. SO WEIRD.
YEEAHH! I thought I was the only one!
@abigaildevoe Don't let the album's reputation lead you away from the real heart of the band. They were stone romantics, always wanting more from love and life. The bitterness that sometimes washed over them was just the result of disappointment, the sorrow that comes from loving too hard, giving too much, always wanting more. Clapton felt that way once, supposedly, and came out with Layla (it was once my favorite album). But you know how much BS was caught up in Layla, and Clapton went on to be the most anal-retentive of guitar gods. Fleetwood Mac have carried their blazing torches for years - like I said above, you want raw emotion, turn to Say You Will. But Rumours was buoyed by its hopefulness, the feeling that there was good love, and good sex, somewhere around the corner.
Interesting take... I am not a big Mac fan, but I can't deny that this album is just filled with bangers, I mean, there isn't really filler, just some songs that aren't played on the radio as much. Maybe people have just gotten tired of it due to overplaying (I have) but it's an amazing collection of songs with an actual theme and 3 great singers/5 great musicians at their peak.
My least favorite classic album is probably Sgt Peppers. I know it is a classic for obvious reasons but I just don't like most of it. Even the best song (A Day In The Life) is far from the best Beatles song
The D R A M A
They were an example of why the Ramones were needed.
The Peter Green Mac is earthy blues and pure stripped down blues not unlike the bowery boys' ultimatum 53&3rd.
No, they really weren't. The late '70s punk movement was more an antithesis to indulgent prog rock, arena rock, and disco.
As a high-schooler in the late 70s, Rumors was inescapable. It was everywhere on the radio, so I didn't bother buying the album until much later. A local DJ, here in Austin, would play "Silver Spring" on the radio now and then and I thought it was amazing. When they came out with the boxed set, it mystified me why it wasn't included. Now I know why!
What’s next, “the Mona Lisa isn’t art”?! 😆
i would love to know what point in the video you commented this, was it before or after the da vinci line??
@@abigaildevoe I’m just joking btw, it’s fine if you don’t like Rumours 🙂
The modern 2011 Kevin Grey Pallas pressings don’t sound thin, you probably have a bad sounding record, but yes, this album is polished.
this album is quite pissy to cut onto vinyl, i think
I love this album but agree with attacks on it. Definitely heard a major difference from the original record to the remastered CD but had no idea about the masters being messed up.
I don't know which Fleetwood Mac album I like better their first album, "Then Play On", "Rumours" or "Tusk". RIP Peter Green.
RIP Christine McVie too. She was my favorite song writer from the band and I forgot about her passing.
I prefer the earlier versions of the band. Then Play On is a psych/blues/folk/rock masterpiece, Kiln House is a nice whirl of 50s rock and early 70s songwriting, Future Games is a gorgeous relaxing drift through a summer day. Their early singles sometimes get overlooked for not being on albums, Bare Trees is awesome for melancholic classic rock, and Mystery to Me is great for more a polished sound.
It's incredible how this band transformed from album to album, and I think too many people disregard the iterations of the band that aren't like Rumours.
I'm obsessed with your kaleidoscope/austin powers transitions. You really nailed a great aesthetic with these
It's a product of its time...certainly within the greatest 10 albums of the 70s. Millions upon millions upon millions can't be wrong. Sure, they can be fooled sometimes...but this one was worthy. Personally, I prefer the album they made just before this one.
It's a very good album that suffers from two things: overproduction and bigness. I prefer its predecessor and its follow-up, Tusk.
i enjoyed rumours. sold 45 million. i disagree. lindsey buckingham is not a blank head abby. ken calliat is father of singer colbie calliat. hood video otherwise. good review
I'm not a Mac fanboy, but this album embodies the best that FM ever got..... a downhill slide from there with many personnel changes. They became a group with no face. I just bought a Japanese pressing of this album; my first "Rumours" album. It is incredibly well-mastered and has virtually no surface noise. Before this, I had just "Bare Trees"....which although has a few good songs, is generally considered a 'weird' album. There are remastered versions of "Rumours".....even one set in 45rpm which is supposed to be fantastic. Meh..... I'll put my Japanese pressing against it. The 1977 US version of "Rumours" is not very well mastered....in fact, it's an insult to the actual material.
If you have even the slightest interest in FM, "Rumours" is the album to have. Then you could work down to maybe some live concert versions of their hits. They could have become greater if not for the constant personnel changes. Like "America" the airplay on this album back in the day would make you tend to hate it.....hard to get away from that. But......over time and not listening to the radio anymore, that has softened. Honestly, I would not have bought this album back in the day because of all the airplay and pop popularity. Now, it just takes me back to things I was doing in my life at the time. And also, "Bare Trees" was a resounding disappointment purchase.
As far as albums I hate that I bought...most anything with "Three Dog Night", "Lovin' Spoonfuls", "ELO" and "Rare Bird"/As Your Mind Flies By....oh and "Toto". There's a lot more, but I didn't buy them. The litmus test of an album is, if you only like one or two songs on it, you got screwed.
Tusk, which I really like, has become so beloved (after long neglect) that it's probably slightly overrated now. I think Mirage is their mid/late-era album that's most often sold short. Admittedly it doesn't cohere thematically as an album in the way some of their others do, but the songs are quite good.
And yes, the personnel changes were quite damaging, right up to the most recent. I'm a huge Neil Finn fan but that last lineup just did not work for me.
I've heard that Christine McVie wrote Songbird in like 15 minutes. I dont know if that's true, but i can believe it. Pianists are generally great writers, and her talent is undeniable.
Hell yes I knew you had good taste