UnCut Magazine FM: The Ultimate Music Guide

[michelej1]

Introducing… Fleetwood Mac: The Ultimate Music Guide
John MulveySeptember 8, 20150

Read more at http://www.uncut.co.uk/uncut-editors...J2b4bGJ8Z3Q.99

Early 1969. California has been hit by a series of destructive floods, so bad that the international telephone operator is sceptical a connection can be made between London and Los Angeles. When the call goes through, however, the NME’s Nick Logan has a few demanding questions for the first leader of Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green. One is how Green’s band will sustain their reputation as blues purists in the wake of a big hit single, the expansive “Albatross”. Will their next single be another change from what their fans have come to expect?

“I don’t really care,” says Green, yawning. “I never have done really. We’ve never done what was expected of Fleetwood Mac – we’ve always done the opposite. We just do what we want to do.”

Thus begins the remarkable story of Fleetwood Mac – a saga unparalleled in rock, as our new Uncut Ultimate Music Guide dedicated to the band makes clear (on sale in the UK on Thursday Sept 10, but available to order now at our online shop). Over the next four and a half decades, the band’s history has often read like an infinite series of surprise plot twists, where radical upheavals arrive with every new album. Key members come and go, lost to religious cults and mental breakdowns, victims of multiple romantic traumas. Musical directions and locations change as frequently as the lineup: the blues evolve into the apotheosis of sophisticated pop; and a remote Hampshire commune is swapped for the LA highlife.

As the revealing features collected in this Ultimate Music Guide prove, the journalists of Uncut, NME and Melody Maker have been alongside Fleetwood Mac every step of the way. They documented the rise and fall of Peter Green’s band, the emergence of Christine McVie, the transitional lineups of the early ’70s, the dramatic arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and the glory and devastation that soon followed. “Being in Fleetwood Mac is more like being in group therapy,” noted the mostly redoubtable Mick Fleetwood in 1977, as he contemplated the seismic impact of “Rumours” and laid bare – not for the last time – the private lives of its key players.

Our Ultimate Music Guide, though, focuses on Fleetwood Mac’s extraordinary music as much as their intimate affairs. To that end, we’ve commissioned new, in-depth reviews of every single one of their albums, from lost gems to some of the biggest-selling releases of all time. Like everything about Fleetwood Mac, it makes for an uncommonly long and complicated story, but one that is never less than compelling.

“Looking back, it’s like listening to war stories,” Mick Fleetwood told Uncut in 2002. “But you have to remember there were people yelling in pain with their legs shot away. There’s blood and guts and disagreements still to this day. But that’s what makes it mean a ****.”


Read more at http://www.uncut.co.uk/uncut-editors...J2b4bGJ8Z3Q.99

[nicole21290]

Lovely. I was wondering if they'd ever get around to doing one of these. I've enjoyed and bought quite a number of their other guides.

[tango87]

About bleedin' time! I expected this to appear when they were here on tour - yet another opportunity missed... But better late than never. I've bought plenty of these before, and they're usually well worth it. Should make up for LIFE magazine.

[SisterNightroad]

Every time I see some awesome special number on Fleetwood Mac like this one I'm terribly envious of all of you because in my country I can't buy it!

[haleyd]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

Every time I see some awesome special number on Fleetwood Mac like this one I'm terribly envious of all of you because in my country I can't buy it!

Ditto!
Although it can be ordered online... Which I will certainly be doing. But then I have to wait incredibly long to get it rather than getting it at the store and having instant gratification lol!

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by haleyd

Ditto!
Although it can be ordered online... Which I will certainly be doing. But then I have to wait incredibly long to get it rather than getting it at the store and having instant gratification lol!

True, but since I live in a totally different continent the shipping costs would be outrageous.

I want everyone that has bought this to report/review as soon as they can please!

[elle]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

True, but since I live in a totally different continent the shipping costs would be outrageous.

I want everyone that has bought this to report/review as soon as they can please!

How is Italy on a different continent from the UK?

[SisterNightroad]

Oh, I initially thought it was a magazine from the United States.
However the point is the same, I can't pay 20 Euros for this now.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by tango87

About bleedin' time! I expected this to appear when they were here on tour - yet another opportunity missed... But better late than never. I've bought plenty of these before, and they're usually well worth it. Should make up for LIFE magazine.

Maybe it'll also make up for the well-intentioned but botched job in SHINDIG.

[nicole21290]

I've ordered the print copy (because that'll be a wait of less than a fortnight rather than the month or two til it reaches newsagencies here...) but I'm keeping an eye out for when it's released digitally as well. Will post some bits and pieces when that happens. I've pretty much always been happy with these editions Uncut does; even if I don't agree with the evaluations of the albums, say, they're generally well-considered and written.

[tango87]

Got this yesterday. It's pretty good, with equal space given over to all the different incarnations of the band. Some very interesting archive interviews and features, and new reviews of all the albums, which throw up some interesting opinions: for example, four stars for Empire State...

One very odd thing though, from Andy Gill's review of 'Rumours', discussing Stevie and Lindsey's lyrical exchanges:

'She only had to refer to "thunder" in 'Dreams' for him to snipe back "You can roll like thunder" in 'Go Your Own Way'...'

- how can you get the lyrics of one of the most famous songs from one of the most famous albums in the history of anything so very wrong? I can't even work out what he was mishearing...

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by tango87

Got this yesterday. It's pretty good, with equal space given over to all the different incarnations of the band. Some very interesting archive interviews and features, and new reviews of all the albums, which throw up some interesting opinions: for example, four stars for Empire State...

One very odd thing though, from Andy Gill's review of 'Rumours', discussing Stevie and Lindsey's lyrical exchanges:

'She only had to refer to "thunder" in 'Dreams' for him to snipe back "You can roll like thunder" in 'Go Your Own Way'...'

- how can you get the lyrics of one of the most famous songs from one of the most famous albums in the history of anything so very wrong? I can't even work out what he was mishearing...

I remember that in the earlier live versions of Go your own way Lindsey did sing "you can roll like thunder" instead of "you can call it on another lonely day", you can hear it on the 1975 New Orleans bootleg.
I bet that version has transpired on one of the Rumours reissues additional content.

[tango87]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

I remember that in the earlier live versions of Go your own way Lindsey did sing "you can roll like thunder" instead of "you can call it on another lonely day", you can hear it on the 1975 New Orleans bootleg.
I bet that version has transpired on one of the Rumours reissues additional content.

Well I did not know that. He's a proper FM geek!

[SisterNightroad]

I really love you Nicole.

[michelej1]

Thank you, Nicole. Priceless.

Michele