This incredible album turned 40 yesterday - Fleetwood Mac's Rumours from 1977. From beginning to end it's about as perfect a pop record as you can get - its timeless songs have moved us, made us sing and dance, and you'll know every one of the lyrics even after all these years.
"The truth about Rumours, is that Rumours was the truth" - Stevie Nicks
Rumours was a deeply personal album, made while the group was going through intense internal dramas - Christine and John McVie had separated, and Christine was seeing a lighting director. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were not getting along (to put it nicely). Mick Fleetwood had separated from his wife and took comfort in Nicks’ arms. Conversations were kept to the task at hand - recording the album. Rumours should have been a disaster. These factors make it even more incredible that such a cohesive album came about - or perhaps these factors explain it...
Despite the inner turmoil that created such intensely personal songs, the record still felt like your own private soundtrack to your life, everyone could find something of themselves in it. Love and loss and personal drama, draped in the shiny veil of the hedonism of the times...and plenty of cocaine. As Pitchfork puts it so well, it is "pop with a gleaming surface that has something complicated, desperate, and dark resonating underneath".
On that note, we've put together a bit of a "best of" Fleetwood Mac playlist that will go down a treat on this sunny Sunday...enjoy!
- RB
