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There are many, many albums I treasure the existence of, and appeal for a multitude of reasons, but there is one that I find emotionally touching as well as having a nostalgic value, that is also a creatively strong collection. It’s by a classic band who were around in the halcyon days of the ‘60s, although the line up had changed several times by the time of this LP. So it’s not a Beatles album, or Bowie. It’s not Led Zeppelin or Dylan. It’s not a particularly ‘trendy’ album either. Infact when it was released it was pretty much the epitome of the AOR that punk was trying to blast away. The realisation that this album was a strong favourite came to me when I was thinking of a recent romance and I thought, "You make loving fun". I started to hum the song and realised what I’d always secretly known- Fleetwood Mac’s "Rumours" is an absolutely fantastic album. I first heard "Rumours" in 1988, over a decade after it was released, and it sounded like an album out of time and at odds with the Fleetwood Mac I knew through "Tango in the night". Still, I could tell it was a good album and I instantly recognised the opening of "The Chain" as the music from the BBC’s Formula 1 racing programmes. Of course, the album sold millions worldwide, and once held a record for the most weeks on the UK album chart (not sure if that still stands). It certainly spent about 4 months at no.1 in the States. But it felt like music from another time and place in 1988, with the echoes of something deeper going on. The something deeper was the five people in Fleetwood Mac and their relationships (either with each other, or with outsiders), and I think that’s the clue to why this album still means something to me. Fleetwood Mac formed in the late ‘60s and found success as a blues rock band. Their biggest single is still 1968’s instrumental "Albatross" (their only UK no.1 hit). Then of course, guitarist Peter Green went ‘round the bend a bit and set the precedent for all Mac guitarists. The most famous line up made their vinyl debut in 1975 after founders Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and ex-wife Christine hooked up with Californians Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Lindsay and Nicks were involved in a romantic relationship then of course. (Oh…take it easy, boys…. Lindsay is a bloke). By then The Mac were an American (based) soft rock group that bore only a passing resemblance to Green’s Brit-blues combo. Yet for many, this is where the Fleetwood Mac soap opera started getting interesting, in a mire of trashed emotions and drug addiction with the plastic world of sunny California as a backdrop It was all about love and hate, then. The "Fleetwood Mac" album must have been a breeze to make compared to the grief that went into making "Rumours". You could argue that if nobody in the band had had designs on each other, we wouldn’t have got such a great record. It wasn’t created in a melting pot of fidelity, that’s for sure. Stevie and Lindsey were separating for good, and Christine was musing on her past relationship with John. Meanwhile Mick Fleetwood was going through his own bitter seperation. That album was the sound of divorce on wax. Even in 1977, I suppose "Rumours" was an album out of time. It didn’t have anything to do with Disco or Punk- the two most prominent styles of the day. It sounded rather dated back then, a bit more 1967 than ’77, with it’s laid back sun-kissed harmonies. But if the music had the half forgotten kiss of the summer of love, there was no love being lost between some of the band. Yet that added to their talent for this outing, rather than taking something away. One thing to keep in mind, you see, is what a good band Fleetwood Mac were and are (especially in this incarnation). Whatever chaos there was between them, in the studio this was a band working in beautiful harmony. "Rumours" is a bitter sweet collection of confession, blame, regret and possible reconciliation. It’s the sound of love gone wrong, put there by a group of talented but damaged individuals. " Well, here you go again", sings Nicks a the very beginning of the album, "you say you want your freedom". But what price for freedom? It’s a question many of us will hear in our own lives at some point and when we do it’s oddly pleasing to hear what Fleetwood Mac made of it all. If you open your heart enough you run the risk of being hurt and often that can mean being hurt badly. You may also hurt other people. "Rumours" is all about that. Songs like "Songbird" and "Dreams" are so perfectly poignant, that the tears can sometimes threaten to roll. Yet with "Don’t stop" there’s hope for the future and a promise for a brighter tomorrow. Just like real life, if you want it. A wonderful record, then, and one to learn from, both this year, and every time you fall in and out of love. Also, when a band can still record and tour together over twenty years later, and make good music, you know that it was love that made "Rumours" special and love that keeps people together, even after so much pain. For all they probably had to forgive themselves for, I don’t think they need to feel guilty about "Rumours".
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