Here we are with another album that I used to play a lot – coupled with Fleetwood Mac the debut album that has some classic tracks on it as well (Monday Morning, Rhiannon, Say That You Love Me), but perhaps not quite as many as this one.
I think where Rumours has the edge is that there’s a more even mix of tracks written by Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie, whereas the first album was more heavily McVie. Not that she’s inferior to her American bandmates by any means, but the three of them each have very distinctive styles and having a broader mix means a more varied album.
For Buckingham, his best track on here is the barnstorming You Can Go Your Own Way, a powerhouse of a track that grabs you from the moment Mick Fleetwood's drum beat kicks in, just keeps going and never lets go. If you want a clear indication of the personal troubles going on in the band at the time, and why the album was called Rumours, check out live footage of the band at this time and the looks between Buckingham and Nicks – deadly! Also worth hunting down is the live version by The Cranberries, Dolores O’Riordan really manages to match Buckinghams’ scorching vocals.
McVie’s iconic song on here is the delicate and beautiful Songbird – just her on her piano (with a bit of backing acoustic guitar from Buckingham). This is another break-up song, one less acrimonious than You Can Go Your Own Way, but one where the love is still there in some form, and is arguably McVie's signature tune - certainly when she died it was barely off the radio for weeks.
NIcks’ best song overall is probably, for me, Rhiannon on the first album. On Rumours, Dreams is a nicely commercial one but I think Gold Dust Woman more neatly encapsulates her songwriting style, slightly meandering, slightly ethereal, vocals moving from soft to fierce, with Fleetwood giving an almost tribal beat towards the end – it becomes quite shamanic with howls and shrieks in the background.
Mick Fleetwood and John McVie get writing credits with all the band on The Chain, that strangely but iconically two-parter of a song (I’m guessing that the rhythm boys came up with the linking bit famously associated with Formula One racing to us Brits of a certain age).
I’ve returned to some old favourites and felt a bit underwhelmed, or that I’ve moved on long since. Sometimes, however, it’s like meeting an old friend and still having that spark between you, and this was one of those occasions. More so in that it reminded me of actual old friends too, and good times.
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