All I ever really want to listen to is Fleetwood Mac, and I am NOT talking about the Peter Green years.  I'm talking the full-on 70s, shawl wearing, twirling, super chemistry, exposed chest hair with gold chains, cokehead Buckingham/Nicks era. There is no comparison.


Sitting here all day, I have had the self titled Fleetwood Mac CD on repeat. I have heard these songs since my birth. I bet my mom listened to this record while she was pregnant with me. These songs are ingrained in me. There is not a bad track on this record, but my favorites on  this and all their records are always the Stevie Nicks tunes. Some of the earliest memories of my life are these songs, trying to sing along, trying to understand the words, thinking how weird it is that "children grow older" as sung in "Landslide" and how I was gonna grow up soon (this was when I was about 5 maybe?). Yikes!

"Crystal" is one of the best songs Miss Stevie ever wrote, in my opinion. First of all, the name of the song, "Crystal," is just so damn classic for a song by Stevie. You know it's her right away. Then there are the beautiful lyrics about a multidimensional, all encompassing and almost scarily polarizing love. I love how the song starts so quietly and goes on forever, fading and fading.

I am also really into the fact that somehow it was decided that Lindsey Buckingham would have to sing this one, though Stevie wrote it. She sings backing vocals to his lead. I'd love to know the inside story on how that decision was made. Considering that they were still going out at the time but their decade-ish long love affair was only a year or so from coming to an end, it's an intense listen, at least for me cause I'm a silly dreamer and I like to imagine how crazy and deep their relationship must have been. If you watch footage of recent Fleetwood Mac shows, you can still see the chemistry between Buckingham and Nicks and how they play off of one another and flirt with their eyes. I enjoy that.

If you have not yet seen the DVD that expounds upon the making of most people's favorite Fleetwood Mac record, Rumours, I highly recommend it! It's called Classic Albums:  Fleetwood Mac Rumours and it's radical. Usually I think these kind of DVDs are cheesy and uninformative but this one is the opposite-- it leaves you wanting more! There are all kinds of dishy stories in there and all the band members are interviewed along with studio technicians. The album was recorded mostly at the fabulous Record Plant in Sausalito, CA., and the band (as most people know) was suffering internally from the breakups of Buckingham and Nicks, Christine McVie and John McVie and even Mick Fleetwood and his wife. All that discomfort and pain led to one fantastic record!

Anyway, the DVD is super great for a gossip hound like me who likes to know all the technical details of what recording the record was like but also what was going on behind the scenes. Apparently Stevie wrote "Dreams" during a moment of respite with her Rhodes on a giant four poster bed that Sly Stone had had dragged into one of the studios there. 

Isn't it almost always true that bands with multiple songwriters and multiple lead vocalists are the best but also the most plagued by drama? The Beatles, The Band, Love (and Fleetwood Mac of course) come to mind immediately and there are plenty more. I like a band with some variety and vitality and when no one in particular is in charge it seems to bring about a certain chemistry that is unusual and exciting.