christine mcvie Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Fleetwood Mac “Rumors”

sfilzen — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 18:17:26 +0000

Fleetwood Mac “Rumors” 1977. Spinning what’s considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time today in honor of Christine McVie who died yesterday, November 30th. Rumors was the band’s 11th studio LP and 45 years later still remains one of the best-selling records of all-time. It hit #1 in the US and UK (among many other countries) and continued to re-chart throughout subsequent years, including in 2022 at #30 in the US. I was a relative latecomer to the awesomeness that is Rumors, a near-perfect record that absolutely sounds best on vinyl, that format giving it the warmth and depth that was intended in its recording. I’m sure I heard it on the radio in the 70’s and 80’s but it wasn’t til college in the late 80’s/early 90’s that I started to listen to Rumors in its entirety. It started with some guys I hung out with who listened to it a lot while partying and culminated with the 1992 presidential election of Bill Clinton: my roommate and I threw an epic election night party at our apartment and you bet we all danced and sang our asses off to “Don’t Stop,” Clinton’s official election-night song. (Fleetwood Mac then performed it live at Clinton’s inauguration in ’93.) “Don’t Stop” is a Christine McVie-penned track; the single was a hit, going to #3 in the US. It’s a glorious, feel-great anthem that McVie wrote about her separation from her husband, John McVie. Christine McVie also wrote “You Make Loving Fun” which is about the affair she was having with the band’s lighting director; she told John McVie the song was about their dog (the split that inspired “Don’t Stop” now completely understandable). She also wrote the beautiful ballad “Songbird” and “Oh Daddy.” My other non-Christine McVie top tracks are pretty much the rest of the record, but more than the others: “Second Hand News,” “Never Going Back Again,” “Go Your Own Way” (it hit #10 in the US), “I Don’t Want to Know” and “The Chain” which is the only track on Rumors that credits all five band members for writing. “The Chain” is wickedly dark song that the band basically spliced together from a bunch of previously rejected songs. I just realized that is pretty much the entirety of the record. Rumors really is perfect.

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Fleetwood Mac “Fleetwood Mac”

sfilzen — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 18:08:46 +0000

Fleetwood Mac “Fleetwood Mac” 1975. I’m spinning Fleetwood Mac’s 10th studio LP today, January 14th, to celebrate Dave Grohl’s 50th birthday (b. 1969). Why??? Well, I’ve already written about all the Nirvana vinyl we have in the Vault and we don’t have any Foo Fighters. But Grohl, as a member of Nirvana, recorded part of Nevermind at Sound City Studios, the recording studio in L.A. at which Fleetwood Mac was recorded. He also purchased a bunch of recording equipment from the studio when it closed in 2011, including the infamous Neve 2028 mixing console, and then made a documentary about the studio in 2013. So it’s a stretch but right now it’s all I’ve got. Happy birthday Dave Grohl!

Anyway, Fleetwood Mac went to #1 on the Billboard chart and even though it was released in ‘75, it was still the second biggest selling album in ‘76 and the 10th biggest in ‘77, and then the band re-released it in ‘78 after the massive success of Rumours. It was the band’s first record to feature Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, Buckingham replacing Bob Welch on guitar and vocals after his departure following the ‘74 album Heroes Are Hard to Find. The first single from Fleetwood Mac was a UK-only release, “Warm Ways.” The second single, “Over My Head,” was released in both the US and the UK (though not at the same time) and it went to #20 on the Hot 100 chart. It’s a Christine McVie-penned track and, honestly, hers tend not to be my favorite. I far prefer the Stevie Nicks written tracks, including the third single, “Rhiannon,” which went to #11 in the US and #46 in the UK. (I also really love “Landslide,” a non-single track – but widely known and wildly popular – on Fleetwood Mac written by Nicks). The final single from the LP was “Say You Love Me” by Christine McVie, which went to #11 in the US and #40 in the UK. It’s better, in my opinion, than “Over My Head,” but still pretty tame soft rock as compared to the more witchy tracks by Nicks. Also of note are the tracks “Monday Morning” (written by Buckingham) and the blues-rock “World Turning” (written first by Fleetwood Mac founding member Peter Green and reworked for Fleetwood Mac by Buckingham and McVie).

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