Relive the album: "Rumours"

[greatdarkwing]

Alright guys, in case you don't know the drift, we will be posting thoughts on the 5 Buckingham/Nicks albums from here until April 15th....reliving them....Try to find an hour in the next four days to sit down and listen to "Rumours", then come back and post your thoughts....such as first reactions.....stand-out tracks....favorite moments....and anything else!

~Alex

[DownOnRodeo]

Top Three Moments

The scorching solo and outro to Go Your Own Way
The manic second half of Gold Dust Woman

Don't.....Don't break the spell, it will be different and you know it will
Yooo-oo-oou....You make lovin fun....

Can Do Without...

Second Hand News
I Don't Wanna Know (Both good but too chirpy for my liking )
Oh Daddy



The Album

What's better than a multi-platinum debut (Fleetwood Mac)? A follow-up that becomes the best-selling album of all time (Rumours).

Magical in songsmanship and production, these eleven tracks set a new worldwide standard in platinum pop. The drumming is tight, and there is a multitude of parts to each arrangement, unlike future sparse arrangements with Lindsey at the helm.

Dreams proved to be not just a great song, but the Mac's greatest ever, if US Billboard Top 100 charts are anything to go by. Never Going Back Again picks up where Landslide left off, showcasing the beautiful, raw intricacies of Lindsey's acoustic guitar work under a pretty song. His dobro work on The Chain is another signature element, along with the last minute acoustic guitar addition to Go Your Own Way.

Rumours is Christine's best Fleetwood Mac work until TITN comes around. Songbird is an intimate "lullaby" that endears the listener to the singer's soothing soul voice, as well as her understated keyboard talents. Don't Stop is the one of only a few Fleetwood Mac songs from the Buckingham era that relies on strings, or string synths. It's somewhat against Lindsey's modus operandi to use strings in arrangements I think. But here they pay dividends, proved again and again by the test of time as radio listeners and US voters alike are taken smitten by Don't Stop's dancy shuffle, honky tonk piano, and androgenous vocal lead mix of Lindsey and Christine.

You Make Lovin Fun is the song that got me interested in Fleetwood Mac - 'miracles', 'magic', and that tinkly bell thing. This song was arranged masterfully, but the vocal arrangment and performance by Christine is the real gold.

The group kisses goodbye the mainstream gloss of Rumours and embraces Tusk's edge of insanity with the two-part enduring classic Gold Dust Woman. The saga at first highlights that magic Rumours vocal chorus sound, then gives way to furious devilry of aggressive acoustic guitar parts, violent percussion, and banshee-like wailing. Sublime!

[BlueGrass]

This is the perfect pop record.

It is very well put together and produced. Every song is great so there is no use on going through all.

[strandinthewind]

I love all of the songs on this record. But, I think the live version of "You Make Lovin' Fun" is the best for me. The incredbile "I've got a feeling its time to try yie yie" coupled with Stevie's elated look during this part sends me into orbit everytime I see/hear it. I think this is in the Rumors documentary.

[seteca]

The greatest album of all time....it totally speaks for itself. Every single song is a "highlight". My favourite moments are: the bass part and solo of The Chain, the solo on GYOW, the incredible harmonies on The Chain and Dreams, that opening guitar part of SHN, the whole of GDW.

[wondergirl9847]

What seteca said. LOL

I just listened to this yesterday in the car on my way to my grandmother's 80th birthday party!

This album transcends time...it doesn't sound dated and it's always a fresh listen. I was thinking tho, about how Lindsey says that Rumours to him is no great accomplishment because the soap opera that was their lives took over and the music became secondary. I can't imagine how frustrating that is for him to look back on how Rumours is (I think) the second biggest selling album of all time and yet, he sees it as a fluke. When I listen to Rumours, I think of my parents...but not in 1977...today. So, there remains the relevancy of this AWESOME album.

[Cristian]

Surely deserves the popultarity it has gained through the years. It shows how pop music must be made, with all the cliches that the very phrase means. Stevie's ethereal lyrics in "Dreams" (the higlight of the album, no matter how overplayed it is) and in "Gold Dust Woman" give the whole thing an environment of darkness mixed with light that is just delightful. Lindsey's production skills work perfectly on those songs, and in all the album, converting what could be a decent song ("You Make Loving Fun") into a pop anthem, a shuffle ("Don't Stop") into another pop anthem, and so on... I suppose Ken Calliat and Richard Dashut deserve credit for that, too. Christine delivers her best set of compositions since Mystery To Me, in my opinion, and, along with those two great tracks, she sings my favorite song on the album, and one of my faves of all time: the delicate "Songbird". It still holds the record of being the one and only song that made me cry with the first listen... yes, I was going through a horrible period in my life when I first heard it, so it was kind of a consolation and a way to take most of the pain away... it worked. This album had songs which I could relate to... the sweet ironies on "Second Hand News", the incredibly poignant and short lyrics on "Never Going Back Again" and the stricking "Go Your Own Way" are just amazing songs... What am I forgetting? "Oh Daddy"! The terrific Christine anthem of peace of mind... one of her best lyrics; and "The Chain" which is like a summary of life. That tribal dance must be one of the greatest songs of all time in the history of rock and roll. Only "I Don't Want To Know" does not do anything for me, and I could live without it easily... "Silver Springs" deserves that spot so much...

OK, done.


Song of the moment - Paper Doll