What is YOUR Fleetwood Mac album?

WatchChain · #1 12-10-2023, 05:40 PM

First, I love this discussion because we now live in an extremely fragmented world of sound bites, snippets, jingles, and short attention span.

The concept of a recorded album reads like a great, classic novel. A list of songs that tell a story to document a moment in time. When played in sequence, they create a tone and mood that is euphoric. Coupled with cover art, photographs and liner notes, albums are an enriching experience. Fast forward to now - we have definitely lost something. Great albums are becoming a rare breed.

My Mac albums are the first 4 from the most renowned lineup, which remain the best - Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, Tusk, and Mirage. Though there are absolutely some shining moments in post-1982 recordings, nothing else has come close to the brilliance of these 4 albums.

David · #2 12-11-2023, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WatchChain

The concept of a recorded album reads like a great, classic novel. A list of songs that tell a story to document a moment in time. When played in sequence, they create a tone and mood that is euphoric. Coupled with cover art, photographs and liner notes, albums are an enriching experience. Fast forward to now - we have definitely lost something. Great albums are becoming a rare breed.

I can vouch for that perspective. I was very much of that generation that consumed the whole album in a sitting. The cliché of sitting on the floor, following along with the lyric sleeve, is the truth. We really did think of albums that way. We bought 45s, but that was a very different experience, and not as deep of a connection. In fact, there isn’t much talk about this, but one of the weird sensations we used to have was mentally placing the single (which was on the radio a month or two before the album was available) on the full album in an auditory way — we sometimes were disappointed about where the single was put on the album. Something usually felt wrong about it.

I knew the white album from AM radio, and I even knew “Hypnotized” and a few others. I was dragged to a Mac concert in late summer 1976, didn’t much turn on to the live experience, but did go nuts over the “Go Your Own Way” single a few months later. Rumours was released, and I bought it after keeping my friend’s vinyl copy for a few too many weeks. So Rumours was the first Mac album I owned — I got my 1975 vinyl a little bit after Rumours. I bought the vinyls for Tusk, Live, Mirage, Law and Order, Bella Donna, The Visitor, The Wild Heart, I’m Not Me, and I think that’s about it for my full-album vinyl experience. Everything since then has been just a collection of individual tracks for me, even Say You Will.

sue · #3 12-11-2023, 03:00 PM

My favourite chapter of Fleetwood Mac is the very early Peter Green era..
But my best loved Album has to be Rumours.
I had lost touch with them in the early 70s and didn’t listen to them at all.
Then, wham I heard Go your own way and Dreams on the radio.
I was re hooked and bought Rumours March 1977.

**jbrownsjr** · #4 12-12-2023, 03:55 PM

I'm gonna go with Mirage.

I started with Heroes because my Uncle had it. But I had no idea until 1977 to connect dots. Then in 1982 I bought Mirage and became an addict. A really bad addict. I fell in love with Christine. She was so chill and such a pro. I immediately said to myself, "That's the lady I want to be!"