Absolutely Fleetwood Mac

[WildeSilas]

Nice to find other FM fans on the forum! I'm not a completist when it comes to them, but Buckingham's guitar tone on Fleetwood Mac and Rumors is one of my favorites things to listen to. So much variety and obvious care to find just the right sound for each song.

If you don't the (2nd?) self-titled album (the one with Stevie and Lindsey), the track "Landslide" is one of the greatest songs you've ever heard. I think Nicks wrote the lyrics and they are eerily beyond her years. Perfect description of middle-age and all the conflicting thoughts and emotions that accompany it. Beautiful song, and again, just a fantastic guitar tone.

[KevShmev]

Landslide is great, but I'll always take Rhiannon from that record, and Monday Morning is quite nice as well.

But my favorite FM song will always be Dreams (the live version from The Dance being my preferred version).  I love Gypsy like crazy, too.

[Dave_Manchester]

Mega bump alert.

I'm late to it but Lindsey Buckingham's solo album from last year is wonderful. He's over 70 but his voice is as young as ever and his finger-picking is still top-notch. Tunes like I Don't Mind, On The Wrong Side and Blind Love are as good as anything from his entire solo output.  The man's a treasure.

And with that I'll let this thread lie fallow for another 11 years.

[The Curious Orange]

Lindsey's recently cancelled date at the London Palladium has been rescheduled to 01 October, looks like I will be seeing him after all! i was pretty sure this would never be rescheduled - the last time he cancelled UK shows they were never rearranged.

Fleetwood Mac would be my favourite band of all time bar the facts:

- They've only recorded 5 albums. I'm talking about the Rumours line up here, I appreciate the earlier and later line ups just fine, but it's that classic Lindsey/Stevie/Christine line up that's the one that matters. They only released less than 5 hours of studio music, and much as I love it, it's hard to compete with bands who've released more. I know the recent remasters have added studio out-takes and the like, and its been a joy to hear them, but there are reasons why most of that stuff ended up on the cutting room floor. The studio run-throughs of Hold Me and Juliet are just joyous, though.

- I've only seen them live once. Technically, I've seen them many times, but the full Rumours line up? Only once. The Mirage Tour never came to Europe. The Tango in the Night Tour lacked Lindsey. By the time he returned, they did The Dance tour in North America, but by the time they hit Europe, Christine had gone. It wasn't until 2015 that I got to see the "Five Fireflies", and it remains one of the best shows I've ever been to. We were promised another tour, but then Lindsey was gone again. I know these guys hate each other, but many legacy rock bands hate each other and still manage to keep it together on stage for a few hours. Seems the Mac don't have that much respect for their fans. I mean, seriously, who was thinking "I really love Fleetwood Mac, and all, but they'd be like soooo much better with that guy from Crowded House and the guitarist from Tom Petty's band"?

- Mick is a money-grubbing dick.

[soupytwist]

We were promised another tour, but then Lindsey was gone again. I know these guys hate each other, but many legacy rock bands hate each other and still manage to keep it together on stage for a few hours. Seems the Mac don't have that much respect for their fans. I mean, seriously, who was thinking "I really love Fleetwood Mac, and all, but they'd be like soooo much better with that guy from Crowded House and the guitarist from Tom Petty's band"?

I saw them in London on that last tour, happy to tick the box of seeing them, but yeah Campbell and Finn weren't who we wanted to see (at those prices too) - also included a cover of each of there bands in the setlist.  Free Falling was cool, but Don't Dream It's Over is a terrible song.

[KevShmev]

- Mick is a money-grubbing dick.

Based on everything I have heard, Mick Fleetwood spends his money as fast as he makes it, so I am not sure he is a money-grubbing dick so much as he always needs money. And since he likely makes very little money on royalties (I think The Chain, which the band all co-wrote, is the only hit where he had a writing credit), he doesn't have that windfall of money coming in regularly, so he always needs to tour to make more money, and he is always willing to do whatever to make it happen.  I am sure he knew that FM with Stevie would be a bigger draw than FM without Stevie a few years ago which is why he sided with her over Lindsey in the dispute that saw Buckingham get fired, and then why he started slurping Lindsey again once it sounded like Stevie didn't want to do any more touring any time soon.  Mick goes where the money is, because he needs it.

[Lonk]

Mega bump alert.

I'm late to it but Lindsey Buckingham's solo album from last year is wonderful. He's over 70 but his voice is as young as ever and his finger-picking is still top-notch. Tunes like I Don't Mind, On The Wrong Side and Blind Love are as good as anything from his entire solo output.  The man's a treasure.

And with that I'll let this thread lie fallow for another 11 years.

I'll have to check it out, sounds promising.

[Stadler]

Lindsey's recently cancelled date at the London Palladium has been rescheduled to 01 October, looks like I will be seeing him after all! i was pretty sure this would never be rescheduled - the last time he cancelled UK shows they were never rearranged.

Fleetwood Mac would be my favourite band of all time bar the facts:

- They've only recorded 5 albums. I'm talking about the Rumours line up here, I appreciate the earlier and later line ups just fine, but it's that classic Lindsey/Stevie/Christine line up that's the one that matters. They only released less than 5 hours of studio music, and much as I love it, it's hard to compete with bands who've released more. I know the recent remasters have added studio out-takes and the like, and its been a joy to hear them, but there are reasons why most of that stuff ended up on the cutting room floor. The studio run-throughs of Hold Me and Juliet are just joyous, though.

- I've only seen them live once. Technically, I've seen them many times, but the full Rumours line up? Only once. The Mirage Tour never came to Europe. The Tango in the Night Tour lacked Lindsey. By the time he returned, they did The Dance tour in North America, but by the time they hit Europe, Christine had gone. It wasn't until 2015 that I got to see the "Five Fireflies", and it remains one of the best shows I've ever been to. We were promised another tour, but then Lindsey was gone again. I know these guys hate each other, but many legacy rock bands hate each other and still manage to keep it together on stage for a few hours. Seems the Mac don't have that much respect for their fans. I mean, seriously, who was thinking "I really love Fleetwood Mac, and all, but they'd be like soooo much better with that guy from Crowded House and the guitarist from Tom Petty's band"?

- Mick is a money-grubbing dick.

I think there may be truth there - though I personally lean towards "he needs to tour to make bank" - but I think we're being overly kind to both Lindsey and Stevie here (and to a lesser extent, Christine).  As much as I love his music, and as much as I think he's a true genius, Lindsey is, on ANY standard, flighty.  I know we look at bands and ensembles as sacred and unique, but at the end of the day, they are workplaces, and other people depend on them.  Hundreds, in the case of a band like U2 or the Stones.  So to have one bandmember that can't be relied on to show up or be present, it's no small matter.  I know it's popular to say "there's no Mac without Lindsey!", or "there's no Kiss without Ace and Peter!" or "give Bill Ward the signable contract!" I almost always side with the band.  I absolutely understand why Black Sabbath wouldn't want to schedule a 10-month world tour playing 10,000 seat venues and wonder if Bill was going to be able to play or not.  I saw Kiss on Peter's last tour with Kiss and he SUCKED.  It is the one show out of over 350 where I'm convinced there was a guy behind the stage playing along.  It was embarrassing.  Why dedicate tens of millions of dollars of investment on someone that is only concerned about themselves?

[HOF]

- I've only seen them live once. Technically, I've seen them many times, but the full Rumours line up? Only once. The Mirage Tour never came to Europe. The Tango in the Night Tour lacked Lindsey. By the time he returned, they did The Dance tour in North America, but by the time they hit Europe, Christine had gone. It wasn't until 2015 that I got to see the "Five Fireflies", and it remains one of the best shows I've ever been to. We were promised another tour, but then Lindsey was gone again. I know these guys hate each other, but many legacy rock bands hate each other and still manage to keep it together on stage for a few hours. Seems the Mac don't have that much respect for their fans. I mean, seriously, who was thinking "I really love Fleetwood Mac, and all, but they'd be like soooo much better with that guy from Crowded House and the guitarist from Tom Petty's band"?

- Mick is a money-grubbing dick.

Neil Finn is a legend, and FM were dang fortunate to be able to play with him!

[Dave_Manchester]

Don't Dream It's Over is a terrible song.

Yikes! One of my favourite songs of all time. If Rolling Stone were to ever hire me to compile one of their ludicrous 1000 Songs To Hear Before You Die lists it'd make the top 50. For me it's in the canon of great pop tunes. But it's all tastes and opinions of course.

As for the broader issue of Lindsey's role in the band - if I faced a choice between seeing Fleetwood Mac with either Lindsey or Stevie, I'd pick Lindsey without hesitation (both would be ideal of course, a la The Dance). Hell they needed TWO guitarists to replace the man, that's the level of his genius. Lindsey gave a wonderful interview to CBS a few years back about why he was booted from the band (spoiler alert: he has no idea) and this clip touches on his complicated relationship with Stevie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HZUDrSX1x8

Personally I think she's never really forgiven him for Go Your Own Way. "I wrote you Dreams and you replied that shackin' up is all I wanna do??" The song 'Come' on the brilliant Say You Will album (admittedly a very crude song) also massively pissed her off apparently.

[soupytwist]

Don't Dream It's Over is a terrible song.

Yikes! One of my favourite songs of all time. If Rolling Stone were to ever hire me to compile one of their ludicrous 1000 Songs To Hear Before You Die lists it'd make the top 50. For me it's in the canon of great pop tunes. But it's all tastes and opinions of course.

Ha!  Definitely not one for me, although I'm probably in the minority as the Fleetwood crowd certainly lapped it up, loads of lighters/mobiles in the air during it.

[KevShmev]

While it would certainly seem weird to hear it at a Fleetwood Mac concert, I am totally on board with Don't Dream It's Over being a great song.  That is one of those perfect songs I never get tired of hearing.

[WilliamMunny]

Huge Lindsey fan here—in fact, he's probably had the most influence on my guitar playing over the past ten years of any guitarist.

Echoing much of what everyone else has said, the 'Rumours' lineup is such a powerhouse, and while I have perused the Peter Green-era and the post-Lindsey era, I have little use for the band sans it's three primary songwriters.

The Dance was dropped when I was 17, and while my parents had spun Rumours countless times during my youth, The Dance rekindled my love for the band. To this day, it remains one of my most listened-to live albums (might be the most, but defintely top-3).

It's a stellar performance, and it contains my go-to definitive versions of "Big Love," "The Chain," and "You Make Loving Fun" (by god, that switch to half-time in the chorus is so genius I can't stand the album-version anymore!)

[Dave_Manchester]

The Dance is indeed fantastic, the VHS (dating myself) was probably my most watched music tape back in the day. But I wish the CD version had included the performances of Silver Springs, Go Insane (superb acoustic rendition), Songbird and Gold Dust Woman. I get they were pushed for CD space but I could have easily lived without the 2 new songs, Temporary One and My Little Demon.

[WilliamMunny]

The Dance is indeed fantastic, the VHS (dating myself) was probably my most watched music tape back in the day. But I wish the CD version had included the performances of Silver Springs, Go Insane (superb acoustic rendition), Songbird and Gold Dust Woman. I get they were pushed for CD space but I could have easily lived without the 2 new songs, Temporary One and My Little Demon.

That's a great call, especially with "Gold Dust Woman."

With streaming, there is no reason the complete show shouldn't be restored.

[The Curious Orange]

I think you mean Gypsy - Silver Springs is on the CD. Over my Head is the other song they missed off the CD. It was one of the reasons I bought a DVD player, it's a great show, even if a little clinical. The 1980 Live album is, for me, the definitive live document of that band, even if too many of the hits are missing and Not That Funny goes on too long. That version of Rhiannon makes up for a lot...
That was the album that made me want to pick up a guitar and learn how to play it...

[KevShmev]

I liked the new songs on The Dance, so I was glad they were included.

Gypsy is my favorite FM song, and one I feel would be impossible to totally nail live, so I am almost glad it wasn't included.

I will say, though, that Dreams has long been my 2nd favorite FM song, and the version on The Dance is why; Lindsey's guitar work just seems a little sharper.  That is one of many songs that has a bit more oomph on that live recording than on the original.  Everywhere is another. The original sounds like they are all half asleep when singing and playing it, but on The Dance, it sprung to life.  I also love Go Your Own Way with that extended intro, and I think that live version of Tusk absolutely annihilates the original.

[KevShmev]

I forgot to mention I'm So Afraid. That version on The Dance is bananas, although I can imagine there have to be some later 70s live versions where his guitar solo is even more frenetic.

[Setlist Scotty]

Dunno why I clicked this thread as I'm by no means a big FM fan (I don't own any of their music whatsoever) although I like some of the hits and have familiarity with their history. But reading some of the posts lead me down a rabbit hole and while looking at the band's personnel, I noticed that Brett Tuggle was a long-time touring member of the band. Clicking the link to his Wikipedia page, I discovered that he died yesterday.  :'(

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/brett-tuggle-dead/

[The Curious Orange]

Oh that is sad.

Tuggle was dismissed from Fleetwood Mac in 2018 after 21 years of service. He said he believed it was because Nicks thought he was too close to the recently ousted Buckingham. "In the end, I think, Stevie thought I was more in Lindsey's camp," he surmised. "But I tried to be Switzerland to all the principles in the Mac. I felt like that was my job."

Says it all.

[Cool Chris]

I remember The Dance being really popular with a bunch of my friends when it came out, even those I wouldn't have normally thought of as classic rock fans. I never bought it but I remember watching the performance a few times and really enjoying it. I knew (and liked) many of the songs via classic rock radio, though wouldn't have considered myself a fan. I considered buying the CD but was put out by it not including my favorite of theirs, Gold Dust Woman. My takeaways at the time:

* Goddamn is Lindsay a beast on the guitar. How is he playing those notes to precision, while singing?!
* Some sweet bass lines in these songs.
* My favorite scene was after Tusk when Mick stands up and shakes hands with a couple of the band members. Just seemed like a nice, sincere moment.

[The Curious Orange]

Slipped me by, but Mirage just turned 40 last week. Very much the hidden gem in the band's catalogue.

[HOF]

Christine McVie has passed away after a brief illness. Not a huge FM fan but still sad.

https://twitter.com/fleetwoodmac/status/1598036525903941632?s=46&t=tiunJcYAN_Hso6uKnG8nkQ

https://twitter.com/christine_mcvie/status/1598034200804085762?s=46&t=tiunJcYAN_Hso6uKnG8nkQ

[Dublagent66]

RIP 

[jammindude]

Christine McVie has passed away after a brief illness. Not a huge FM fan but still sad.

https://twitter.com/fleetwoodmac/status/1598036525903941632?s=46&t=tiunJcYAN_Hso6uKnG8nkQ

https://twitter.com/christine_mcvie/status/1598034200804085762?s=46&t=tiunJcYAN_Hso6uKnG8nkQ

Wow. I know she was 79, but I still didn’t see that coming. RIP

[El Barto]

I forgot to mention I'm So Afraid. That version on The Dance is bananas, although I can imagine there have to be some later 70s live versions where his guitar solo is even more frenetic.

Not much of a FM fan at all, but that is one helluva song. This is the best live rendition I've found, and you're right about the era. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5kOzGwsHXw

[TAC]

Wow, that was awesome. I don't ever recall hearing that song before.

[Samsara]

RIP Christine.

When I went down a FM rabbit hole last year, I surfaced with the opinion that she was the not-so-secret weapon that truly grounded that tumultuous band. Sad that she is no longer with us. But she left us with an incredible catalog of music. 

[Orbert]

Bummer.  "Songbird" was the first song I learned for my most recent (now defunct) band.  I always thought her songs were the most "pure".  Usually just voice and piano, pretty much as she wrote them.  No singing about crap that other people did to you or whatever, just stuff that was important to her.

[pg1067]

Wow, that was awesome. I don't ever recall hearing that song before.

I don't think I have either, but that's a GREAT video with sound WAY beyond what one would expect from the time.  THAT is LIVE.  That's the sort of thing I'm going to do if time travel is ever invented.

[KevShmev]

C McVie always seemed to be the least by far about the drama when it comes to FM's classic lineup. R.I.P.

That live version of I'm Not Afraid that Barto posted is awesome.  A lot of newer bands could learn a thing or two by watching that when it comes to playing totally live and letting it rip.

[DragonAttack]

I’ll second the kudos as to that ‘I’m So Afraid’ live performance.  A side of them I’d never seen or heard before. The band was beyond mega hot during my college days.

And then came ‘Tusk’. Oy.

Had no idea she was 79. And until hearing an interview from a few years ago, had no clue that she was British.

She always seemed to be above the chaos and mayhem that surrounded the band.

[Harmony]

I love all eras of FM.  Future Games is one of my favorite albums.

By all accounts, Ms. McVie was a humble, giving human and a class act.  I know it's cliche because famous musicians are posting their tributes but I've seen so many today say that she was one of those rock and roll women who lifted up everyone around her.  I heard Christopher Cross talking about her today on NPR - he opened for FM concerts all through the 80s and they were good friends.  He said she didn't even know how talented she was.  She sang on one of his records and she repeatedly asked him if she sounded ok.  He was like, "Are you kidding!  You sound like Christine McVie!"   

[Cool Chris]

I forgot to mention I'm So Afraid. That version on The Dance is bananas, although I can imagine there have to be some later 70s live versions where his guitar solo is even more frenetic.

Not much of a FM fan at all, but that is one helluva song. This is the best live rendition I've found, and you're right about the era. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5kOzGwsHXw

Knew what the video was before I clicked the link. Top notch.

[mike099]

Speaking of the song Songbird, there is a documentary on the making of the album Rumours.  One of the guys in the studio thought of the idea to put a grand piano in an empty concert hall and record her playing the song rather than recording the song in a studio.