Relive the album: "Fleetwood Mac"

[greatdarkwing]

Hey everyone!

In the next 4 days, try to find an hour to sit down and listen to "Fleetwood Mac". Relive the album in its entirety. When finished, please come back and post your thoughts on the album. It is encouraged that after you post it here, please post it on the Ledge's discography.

Thanks everyone, and I will look forward to hearing the your thoughts on the album(s)!

~Alex

[greatdarkwing]

I listened to the album an hour ago, and this album really is magical. Unfortunately, it is overshadowed by Rumours, but in certain ways I love this album more. Each member's contributions are haunting to say the least. The harmonies are so great, expecially on "World Turning" and "Rhiannon". Songs like "Crystal" and "Warm Ways" are especially great. I had to literally blow the dust off of this cd, but after this new listen, I am sure to keep in constant play for a while....


~Alex

[Somajoseph]

I was just listening to the "White Album" a few days ago and I really love it.
I bought the actual album in the spring of 1976 and I was 12 years old. I remember listening to the whole thing and pouring over the lyric sheet.
This music now brings back great memories of that summer. I remember they were playing most of the album on the radio back then, not just the singles. I would hear "Landslide", World Turning,Monday Morning, Warm Ways,Rhiannon,Over My Head, Say You Love Me. That's almost the whole album! I think the songs were great, and really transfered to the stage well. "Blue Letter" was always fun to hear live, just a fast, short rock song.
The funny thing is, is that I didnt even like "Rhiannon" when I first heard it-LOL. I remember liking "Sugar Daddy" alot.
This is still a great album to listen to definitely!

[BuGgZi]

i just listened to tusk...it was a good album but not the greatest...they could have done better...sara is amazing and so is its title song tusk...but i dont think that it was top quality at all.

[Cristian]

Fleetwood Mac was the second Fleetwood Mac album I got, right after Greatest Hits, and I was so well impressed. My still favorite Lindsey song ("Monday Morning") opens it, so why should I complain... his other contribution ("I'm So Afraid"), although easily surpassed by any live version (The Dance, for instance), is a terrific song nonetheless, and he does a great job doing that obscure cover of "Blue Letter" (great harmonies with Stevie) and co-writing "World Turning" (great harmonies with Christine). The newcomer singer also had two incredible songs: the bombastic "Rhiannon" (which, unlike "Afraid" is never going to be surpassed by any of the live versions!!!) and the heartfelt, lovely, acoustic "Landslide", and offers another number to Lindsey to sing, possibly her most beautiful 'pure love' song, "Crystal". I do have some complaints about Christine's tunes... I do believe she had so much better songs in the previous albums, and eventually in the posterior albums... her songs in here just seem a little weaker than, say, her contributions to Mystery To Me or Rumours. Anyway she writes my favorite song on the album ("Over My Head"), the catchy "Say You Love Me" and "Warm Ways", and that should be enough... I don't care that much for "Sugar Daddy", but it's fair acceptable. Cool harmonies throughout all the record. I would have thought that being Stevie a newcomer and not playing any instruments, the band would've given her a better chance to showcase her harmonies, but she's kind of restricted to a small field of action... But then again it's OK, as it's cool for the other songwriters to develop their own styles, too. Great album.


Song of the moment - Steal Your Heart Away

[BlueGrass]

Great album that was a pre-cursor to "Rumours." Lindsey and Stevie both shined with "Monday Mourning" and "Rhiannon." Christine came through. I like "Warm Ways" and "Sugar Daddy" the most of her work there.

[DownOnRodeo]

Top 3 Moments

Taken by, taken by the sky....
Bluegrass intro to World Turning
Say You Love Me

Can Do Without..

Monday Morning
Sugar Daddy


The Album

The folky harmonic greatness of Buckingham Nicks gets a solid farewell here with Rhiannon and Crystal, yet both songs feature a very strong Christine keyboard part, turning these songs into strong entries for the new lineup rather than misplaced leftovers of the BN catalogue.

This album is much-touted as Christine's coming into greatness as a songwriter; and it has always been in my mind that the fact this came about with the addition of Lindsey was more than a coincidence. Christine and Lindsey's shared affinity for masterful pop shines in its earliest stages with Warm Ways, Over My Head, and World Turning.

Lindsey sets the new rock foundations for the group with torturedI'm So Afraid, the rockin n rollin cover Blue Letter, and Stevie's Landslide sets a bar of songwriting even she has struggled to meet since.

[PenguinHead]

I recall getting the Fleetwood Mac album in 1977. After the initial impact of Rumours, I was interested in hearing more from the band. Image-wise, there was a lot of intrigue about the similarly-styled album covers. Those two albums definately seem like companions to one another.

I also remember being confused -- thinking Stevie was "Lindsey" and Lindsey was "Stevie!" An easy mistake given that their names are somewhat asexual. Apparently, being that I've read many news articles from that era, so were a lot of journalists.

To my knowledge, they performed most of this album in concert:

Monday Morning
Blue Letter
Over My Head
Rhiannon
Say You Love Me
Landslide
World Turning
I'm So Afraid


Only Warm Ways, Crystal and Sugar Daddy were left out.

Of these songs...I see a lot of people mentioned that they don't care for Sugar Daddy. I love that song! It has an indescribable sultry mood, and embodies the essence of Christine's appeal. I also love the mix of piano and organ. In the catalog of Christine's songs, the lyrics are most unusual. In most of her songs she's looking for or trying to keep love around. Here, it's the complete opposite: "I'm not asking for love."

Structure wise, it departs somewhat from the traditional verse/choruse/verse/chorus format. While "All that I want is someone to take care of me....I'm not asking for love, just a little sympathy" is essentially the chorus, it's delivered more as a bridge to the verses. Plus, it has some unique little flourishes, like the beeping car horn and Christine's laugh at the end. A neglected gem in my mind.

After hearing Stevie's remake of Crystal, it made me realize how great the song could be if it was performed live by the group. I image them doing it accompanied by a string section for some reason!

A great album. I agree with a previous post. It has been completely overshadowed by Rumours.

[Tango]

First you love me then you get on down the line, but I don't mind! Really, I don't mind.

I am playing this album, again, as I type a response. The music is beautiful, simple, and, at times, energetic.

I LOVE Monday Morning. I've got to get some peace in MY mind. I'd love to hear this during the tour. I think World Turning would be fitting too, as all our worlds are spinning right now. Crystal, that's another song I would love to see Lindsey step up to the microphone and perform LIVE. I love Blue Letter. I ain't waiting, com' on! Lindsey's contributions are very strong throughout the album.

Stevie's just as strong, and she has gotten a lot of airplay and performances out of her songs as well. Rhiannon is certainly one of the tops songs that I have always loved since this album came out. Just hearing the opening guitar makes me grin. I love Rhiannon. Stevie gets writing props for Crystal as well! Landslide: Stevie said this is the song that just doesn't seem to go away. Can I handle the seasons of my life? I don't know. I don't know either, Stevie.

This album is as strong as Rumours in my mind. And playing it through makes me realize WHY I love this band. It's magic! Thank you for the thread!

[Wayne2]

...is the worst FM track i've heard.

Otherwise, it's a solid album.

[sulamith]

I got this album after I was given Rumours as a gift for my 14th birthday in 77. I liked Rumours so much, and I had heard Rhiannon, Over My Head, and Say You Love Me so much on the radio, that I wanted the other album, too.

I am also one of the ones who thought Stevie was Lindsey, and vice versa!

Ahh, the pre-MTV years..........
When all you had to go by was that album cover, and you would sit in your room and stare at it for hours!

I can recall listening to certain groups and liking their music and having NO IDEA what they looked like because their picture wasn't on the cover.

It was a time when image wasn't everything.

But having just said that, the image of Stevie did grab me. It wasn't really her clothes, or her cooler-than-cool minimalist shag 'do that made me pay attention to her, because it was the 70's and everybody dressed that way. It was her lyrics, her phrasing, and the emotion in that less-than-perfect voice of hers.

I was so glad to get "Fleetwood Mac" because I felt like I was getting a second helping of something really good.

I also foolishly thought, for a long time, that it was their "first" album! I know! Don't throw monkey **** at me! I was a kid and didn't know any better!

I really can't say there is a song on it I hate. I don't particularly care for Lindsey's high voice on ISA. I didn't like that one at all until I heard it live. I also much prefer the BN version of Crystal now, but I only heard the BN record a few years ago. I really like the oboe outro on that versus the keyboard on the FM version.
Sugar Daddy is OK, but I didn't understand for alot of years, until I went to college, what it meant to serve a drink "neet"! haha!! Leave it to Christine to come up with a line like that!

I listen to "Fleetwood Mac" a good bit. It and Rumours are companions in my mind, also, just like someone else said. They are like a couple of old comfy slippers. No matter what other musical territory I may venture into, I always come back to my comfort zone, which is this early FM stuff.

I hope "Say You Will" fits in nicely and gets just as much spin time, but I still miss those big LP covers, dang it!

-Sharon

[macmar71]

The White Album as Christine called it was the last album I purchased featuring the five fireflies line-up. I bought it in 1985 on vinyl
Even though the album cover and back photo don't blow me away, the songs inside do. I love the opening Monday Morning which was a bit different to adjust to since the first version I heard was on the Live album. World Turning is a greaat collaboration between Lindsey and Christine which would continue on for many great songs over the years. Crystal and I'm So Afraid are also stunning and can you tell I am a bit sweet on Lindsey
I love Warm Ways and Landslide which are so mellow and soothe the soul, they conjure up very picturesque scenery.
It remains a classic and stands the test of time. It really brought us to this moment didn't it!
I look forward to the next reviews
from everyone