ILYOS are proud to present the Australian premiere of this early version of "Landslide", taken from the forthcoming release of Fleetwood Mac: Deluxe Edition which is a new expansive re-issue of their iconic 1975 album, out on January 19th and available to pre-order here. 

This now iconic Stevie Nicks song was the first of her compositions to be recorded by Fleetwood Mac. 

Nicks says she wrote this song while contemplating either going back to school or continuing professionally with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, at a time when she and Buckingham were not getting along. She wrote the song while visiting Aspen, Colorado, sitting in a friend's living room "looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us ... at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways".

There's a raw fragility of Stevie's voice in this version. A simplicity in the poetry that contrasts with the intricate guitars to create a magical dynamic between the players. 

The legacy of "Landslide" is immense. The song itself has been covered many times, most notably and commercially successful by 90s alt-rock band, the Smashing Pumpkins and Americana/Country Queens, the Dixie Chicks, however other versions exist by artists as diverse as Tori Amos, Miley Cyrus, Lady Antebellum, Bush and Paramore. There are currently also seven Fleetwood Mac versions of the song recorded in different live formats including one on Stevie's 'Best of' record, Crystal Visions, recorded with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. 

The Smashing Pumpkins recorded an acoustic cover that was featured as the B-side to their 1994 single "Disarm" and later on their B-side collection Pisces Iscariot. The cover went on to be one of the band's most-beloved tracks and even had the approval of Nicks herself. As she told fans during a 1998 online chat with SonicNet, "There's nothing more pleasing to a songwriter than someone else doing one of their songs. Landslide also led me to being friends with Billy Corgan and the possibility that we'll work together," she said of the Smashing Pumpkins frontman. "Over this song, there's been this incredible connection ... he reached out ... I believe that my poetry is really meant for everyone, no matter what age."

Dixie Chicks covered "Landslide" on their 2002 album Home and it was released in 2002 as the album's second single. This rendition, featuring the group's trademark two-and-three-part harmonies reached the Top 10 of both the Billboard Hot 100 (#7) and Hot Country Songs charts (#2) as well as several other charts. It became the Dixie Chicks' only #1 single (to date) on the adult contemporary chart. Lead singer Natalie Maines said she was attracted, in part, to the song because she was then the same age that Nicks was when she initially performed it. Thsi version has been certified Gold by ARIA in Australia and has matched the commercial success of the original in terms of sales. 

Fleetwood Mac: Deluxe Edition is out on Friday 19th January, and you can read more about it's extra expanded inclusions, here, and pre-order your copy here.

In the meantime, while you wait for it to arrive, get stuck into our I Like: Fleetwood Mac playlist on Spotify...