Fleetwood Mac´s "Rumours" Album

I wanna thank Michelle of "Stray Cat Blues" for picking this piece of mine as one of her top three at her blog. If you haven´t discovered her blog already, you must cause it rocks. She has a passionate way of analysing music plus she is a huge Led Zep follower, so that´s enough for me. Go and check her blog and the other pieces. Trust me, you won´t regret it. Anyway, there was a contest and the rules were to pick up an album or a band, an artist, a song, a concert and just write about it. I had to go with Fleetwood Mac cause they inspire me too damn much. So, I want to THANK MICHELLE for loving this one and for encouriging me to write more. I´ve realised i hardly write here so I´ve decided i´ll do it more often cause i basically enjoy it. If you have nothing to do, you might wanna read it. Felt like sharing. After all if you haven´t heard this album yet, you don´t know what you´re missing. Enjoy!

"I would have picked the band but nobody would have stopped me with the paragraphs. Let´s see, two couples breaking up while recording an album definitely attracted my thirsty morbid curiosity of wanting to know how that could have turned out. Who would have said that such a painful process would become an exquisite masterpiece in the history of rock?. Ironically, their worst time in life brought out the best as regards music. Every song is a reflection of what they were experiencing, I admire the passion they had while writing and recording each one of those. This whole album was a fucking bittersweet soap opera with great harmonies around a mix of perfect acoustic and electric instrumentation. These five human beings were so different and yet musical soulmates. I have to admit that the whole “I love you, I hate you” background in those songs is like a turn on every time but when i hear the voices and the instruments combined with those lyrics, I´m in total awe.

In Rumours, Stevie Nicks voice was powerful and melodic. It was perfect, like honey dripped on velvet. She could be sweet like in “Dreams” or take it to the edge like in “Gold Dust Woman”. Christine McVie had a soft but smoked voice and she could handle those keyboards as an extension of her hands. Lindsey Buckingham had an acceptable voice but his real talent was on those guitar strings. No pick, just those fingernails almost bleeding with love, hate but mainly passion. He knew how to set any kind of guitar on fire. For me, he is one hell of an underrated guitar player. John McVie might have been the quiet one but you could tell his bass was part of his body. He never stopped playing it. He just knew when to play it soft but precise or rough like in “The Chain” when he steals the song completely even if it is for a few seconds. Mick Fleetwood is the last but not least. Even when he seems the lost link of the chain, he was the one who kept all those harmonies together just being an animal behind those drums. He was the essential extra spicy "dressing". In this album, each song is brilliant and has its special taste. I have my favorites like “Go Your Own Way”, “The Chain”, “Gold Dust Woman”, “You Make Loving Fun” or “Dreams”.“Fleetwood Mac” had talented musicians, singers and songwriters who sang from their experiences and emotions, mainly from their hearts. It was a moment in history when bands wanted to sell records and become rich and famous but at the same time it was a time when they gave everything from themselves just FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC. That´s why I love Rumours cause I feel that LOVE and I LOVE this record and these guys. I couldn´t live without it as much as I can´t live without good old rock n´roll. As said in Almost Famous:
“EXPERIENCE, ENJOY IT. JUST DON´T FALL FOR IT”