Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' at 35: Still the 'perfect album'

[michelej1]

Boston Herald readers had to write about what they liked on Rumours to win a contest giveaway. Here's a little write up on the results:

http://bostonherald.com/entertainmen...od_macs_winner

By Jed Gottlieb, February 12, 2012

Good to see so many Guestlisted readers are devoted to the Mac. They're kind of the ultimate band: pop with amazing rock guitar solos, or rock with amazing pop hooks, and baby boomers and hipsters both adore them (as they should).

Here are a few of my favorite suggestions from last week's "Rumours" giveaway (it was hard even to find a few comments to single out, they were all so awesome).

From Beth:


"Go Your Own Way" is THE quintessential Fleetwood Mac song because it is an allegory of the band's struggles within their own relationships. You can feel their passion, anger, resentment, love, lust, jealousy and pain when you hear that song -- it just fires you up! That said, "Songbird" and "As Long as You Follow" are my favorites -- I walked down the aisle at my wedding to a pianist playing "Songbird." It's ethereal and romantic. How do I pick just one? Impossible task!

From Pinky:


When I was 9, my uncle bought my brother and I Walkmans. Problem was we didn’t own any tapes, so we rummaged around in his car and found The Bangles (my brother) and "Tango in the Night" (me). I listened to that tape until I wore it out. No exaggeration, my grasp on how life worked was from that tape. Of course, there were more mind explosions to come once I dug around and found "Rumours." But really, among the gob-stopping glory of “Silver Springs” and “Go Your Own Way” et al, the song that cuts to the bone has to be "Beautiful Child." I mean what the devil is she singing about? It’s sexy, it’s haunting, it’s pretty, it’s a little pervy. You don’t know the scenario, but man, you KNOW those feelings…Your eyes say yes/ But you don't say yes…I wait for you to say, just go. It’s the most miserable lullaby ever written. Glorious.

But Mike wins this one:


"Tusk" the weirdest song single ever? Kinda reminds me of the Stones when they released "we love you". There's no hook, it's powered by an unwavering tribal drum beat and a freakin' marching band blasts its way through the last part of the song. And don't even bother trying to figure out what it's about. If nothing else,it represents a radical change from the bands pop music hit singles mode which may have turned some fans off but I loved. possibly their best moment in the studio!"