Monday, January 28, 2013

2-HR French program on Fleetwood Mac's Rumours Re-issue from RTL.be

French program on the re-release of Rumours.  Narrative and they play a really nice wide variety of Fleetwood Mac tunes going all the way back to the Peter Green era right up to this re-issue playing some of the live material contained.  Includes vintage interview snippets..



Fleetwood Mac STILL Undecided on Releasing New Music.

Rolling Stone Q&A: Fleetwood Mac on Reissuing 'Rumours' and Making New Music
'I am more appreciative of the fact that we are really family,' says Lindsey Buckingham
Rolling Stone
By Steve Appleford
January 28, 2013

What are your current recording plans?
Buckingham: When Stevie was on the road, and not long after her mom had passed away, Mick, John and I got together and we cut a bunch of tracks, and they turned out great. They were all done in Stevie's keys. They were done with her in mind. Subsequently, Stevie and I have gotten together, and she's sung on two of those. There's also another track that dates back to [pre-Fleetwood Mac project] Buckingham-Nicks that Stevie and I built up from scratch. There's a lot of stuff there. Some of this we will do in the show. We're not pushing it. We're just going to wait and see what everybody wants to hear.

I think we need to make Fleetwood Mac aware LOUD AND CLEAR that WE the fans want to hear NEW MUSIC!  Why isn't this getting through to them?!







Few expected the reunion of Fleetwood Mac's classic Seventies lineup back in 1997, and even fewer could have predicted it would still be going strong in 2013. On April 4th, in Columbus, Ohio, the band begin a North American tour with a set list that will include new songs. And on Tuesday comes the release of expanded editions of Rumours, their multi-platinum, career-defining disc from 1977.

"After all this time you would think there was nothing left to discover, nothing left to work out, no new chapters to be written. But that is not the case," singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham tells Rolling Stone.

Buckingham, drummer Mick Fleetwood and singer Stevie Nicks recently gathered for interviews in a huge, wood-paneled room at the Village Recorder, a legendary recording space in West Los Angeles. More than three decades earlier, the band spent 13 months there making the 1979 double album Tusk, the surprisingly experimental follow-up to Rumours.

"We have a connection with this building like we have with nothing else," said Nicks. "It's hallowed ground."

At the interview Nicks and Buckingham held hands, Fleetwood sitting beside them as votive candles flickered around the room. (Bassist John McVie stayed home, and former singer-keyboardist Christine McVie has been retired to the English countryside since 1998.)

Few expected the reunion of Fleetwood Mac's classic Seventies lineup back in 1997, and even fewer could have predicted it would still be going strong in 2013. On April 4th, in Columbus, Ohio, the band begin a North American tour with a set list that will include new songs. And on Tuesday comes the release of expanded editions of Rumours, their multi-platinum, career-defining disc from 1977.

Rolling Stone's cover story about the making of Rumours featured a photo of you all in bed together. Were the stories of romantic turmoil true?

Stevie Nicks: They're all true. [Laughter]

Lindsey Buckingham: That really was a lot of the appeal of Rumours. The music was wonderful, but the music was also authentic because it was two couples breaking up and writing dialogue to each other. It was also appealing because we were rising to the occasion to follow our destiny. So you had to live in denial, you had to learn to compartmentalize your emotions and do what needs to be done. It brought out the voyeur a little bit in everybody.

Nicks: Most people, when they break up, you don't see each other for a while. You hope that you don't run into that person ever at that point. In our situation, the breakups were going on, and we had to go to work the next day. It was very hard. You had to walk in with your head high and an open heart. We had to be very focused, and we knew that because no matter how hard it was on us – and it was awful – we still wanted to make a great record. Nobody was going to say, OK, I'll just quit.

You knew you were going to the studio at 2 [p.m.], and you knew you would be there until 3 or 4 in the morning. And you couldn't sit there at the board and glare at your ex-partner. You had to be a grownup. Even though there were a thousand people around us saying to do this or do that, we still had to gather together as a fivesome and say, "We're not going to let this beat us."

When you do the Rumours songs now, do any of those original feelings ever come back?

Buckingham: Oh, I hope not.

Nicks: I think the original feelings do come back. They take me right back to where we were. The songs morph a little bit every time we do them. Instrumentally, they morph. "Gold Dust Woman" is sometimes Indian. Sometimes it's just rock & roll. It travels, and all these songs do that. To me, they are always exciting. I never feel bored when we burst into one of our big hit songs, because what they were all written about was so heavy that they could never be boring.

What is it like to look closely at Rumours again so many years later?

Nicks: We've been waiting a long time to put this out. If you were a Fleetwood Mac fan, you get to hear the songs turn into the songs without a lot of overdubbing. It's very simple. When I listen to it, I think if I was 20 years old, I would definitely want to be in that band. There is something strangely timeless about it that makes you feel like it was just recorded last year. I now know why I went to Lindsey and said, "I think we should give this a chance. This is a really good band." It's quite an interesting group of crazy people that managed to meld their styles together.

Mick Fleetwood: The cause and effect of that album was so humongous – not only for us as musicians, but what it did and what it allowed for the journey. It was the start of something for sure – the enormity of everything we were faced with and were going to go through, and the opportunities, and the opportunities maybe blown and then retrieved. Now we're sitting here excited about going out and playing. This album wasn't the trigger for us doing this, but it's quite a story.

Nicks: It's pretty great that it's coming out at the same time.

Fleetwood: I'm glad it is. It wasn't planned that way at all.

Nicks: There's a lot of great stuff on it, and a lot of creepy, weird stuff that never got on an album – just cool stuff, little minute things, little snippets of stuff that's really intriguing.

Since it is coming out at the same time as your tour, will it affect your set list at all?

Nicks: There are a lot of songs on Rumours that are in the set no matter what. I think what will happen is we'll end up talking about it onstage. Most of those songs are in our set anyway. We'll just end up telling stories and talking about how these things happen. It's always fun to share that with your audience.

Fleetwood Mac's reunion in 1997 for The Dance live album was fairly unexpected, but you've managed to stay together ever since. How did that happen?

Nicks: The Dance was very strong, and I think it really opened up our eyes. We had been apart for a long time. I absolutely did not think Fleetwood Mac was coming back at that point. Then all of a sudden it was, and it was like, all our plans were canceled, everything was flipped over, and Fleetwood Mac was coming back.

Buckingham: I took off in '87 because –

Nicks: You quit.

Buckingham: [Nods] I quit because things were getting a little too crazy, and I wanted to try to get my feet back on the ground. We did Clinton's inauguration in '93, and that was sort of the catalyst and had a delayed reaction. I think by the time you cut to '96, when we contemplated doing The Dance, there had been enough time where we all settled down as people. The craziness that existed in '87 and '88 was gone. We were – for all intents and purposes – adults. I think the time apart helped us appreciate each other. The group has always been a group of people you can say maybe didn't belong in the same band together, but it's the synergy that makes it so magical. We were able to see that more clearly.

Lindsey had hesitated in the past to come back, so did something get resolved?

Buckingham: There were a number of false starts where I was trying to make solo albums. They would get constantly folded into group efforts. In retrospect I can say fair enough that you call yourself a band member and you've got to step up to the plate when the need arises. So that was an issue I had for a number of years that has come and gone. I am more appreciative of the fact that we know each other, we've been through so much together and we are really family.

Nicks: What else happened is I went into rehab on December 12th, 1993 and came out on the 27th of January – 47 days to come off of Klonopin. I nearly died. And I think one of the reasons that Lindsey left is because I was very, very high on this horrific tranquilizer. I didn't even make it to most of the recording sessions for [1987's] Tango in the Night. I was sick. And I think he was horribly worried that I was going to die. That's one of the reasons you [turns to Buckingham] wanted to quit. We had this huge tour and it was booked. We were at Chris' house and [Lindsey] stood up and said "I quit," and I – being so high and so messed up – just raged across the room and I wanted to kill him.

When I came out of rehab, I did a small three-month tour, and I got through it. I was going to be OK, and everyone knew I was going to be OK. And I think that's when Lindsey thought Fleetwood Mac could go on, because his beloved ex-girlfriend was not going to die. She was going to make it.

So everything since then has been different from what it was before?

Buckingham: It's still evolving, and that's the beauty of it too. I've known Stevie since high school. We were a couple for many, many years, and we've been a musical couple forever. After all this time you would think there was nothing left to discover, nothing left to work out, no new chapters to be written. But that is not the case – there are new chapters to be written. It's quite extraordinary.

You have some history in this studio.
Buckingham: We recorded Tusk in Studio D.

Nicks: Thirteen months. We were here a lot.

That was right after Rumours, so you had a lot of freedom.

Buckingham: That was my line in the sand, the Tusk album. It was clearly an undermining of what was expected of us.

Nicks: It was the opposite of Rumours.

Buckingham: It was an undermining of upholding the brand, which we now represented. It was also an undermining of what a lot of groups find themselves doing, which is painting themselves into a corner by doing only what's expected of them. It was a stand for art and for spontaneity and for the left side of the palette. It certainly did not perform commercially in the same way, nor would we have necessarily expected it to. It was a double album, for one thing. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Warner Bros. put that on in their boardroom and listened to it for the first time. Over time it has been vindicated as a piece of work. It has become a darling for the indie bands, or at least the mentality of what that represents.

Nicks: Studio D was covered with Polaroids and shrunken heads and angel wings, and all of our stuff was in there. You walked into that room and there were big massive tusks on each side of the board, and the board was called Tusk. All of those songs – "Save Me a Place," "Sara" – it became something so beautiful and so ahead of its time. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall too when they played it, because they had to be horrified. I was a little horrified myself over that 13-month period, but it was an experience. We were going to the top of the mountain, and it was very spiritual. And again, we were having serious relationship problems during Tusk, but when we went into that studio and saw those tusks, and all the amazing stuff we collected and brought in every day, we became part of a world that was fantastic.

What are your current recording plans?

Buckingham: When Stevie was on the road, and not long after her mom had passed away, Mick, John and I got together and we cut a bunch of tracks, and they turned out great. They were all done in Stevie's keys. They were done with her in mind. Subsequently, Stevie and I have gotten together, and she's sung on two of those. There's also another track that dates back to [pre-Fleetwood Mac project] Buckingham-Nicks that Stevie and I built up from scratch. There's a lot of stuff there. Some of this we will do in the show. We're not pushing it. We're just going to wait and see what everybody wants to hear.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

WIN a Trip for 2 To See FLEETWOOD MAC Live in LAS VEGAS


WIN A TRIP TO SEE FLEETWOOD MAC
Accommodation, grabaseat flights and tickets for two people to see Fleetwood Mac at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on the 26th May 2013... The Sound (New Zealand) have your chance to win this incredible trip just by listening to The Sound.

Every time you hear a Fleetwood Mac song play text the keyword ‘FM’ to 3920 and you’re in the draw to win!

Full Details Here

Fleetwood Mac 'Rumours' There’s never been a better time to celebrate the band and their gorgeous 11th album,

Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours: Why the under-30s still love it
Ahead of the release of a special boxset edition of the Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, James Lachno argues that the 1977 album has survived better than its punk rivals.
by James Lachno
Available Monday in the UK: iTunes | Amazon

This Monday, a three-disc, 35th anniversary boxset of Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 masterpiece Rumours will be released. There’s never been a better time to celebrate the band and their gorgeous 11th album, both of which are more popular and fashionable than ever.

For many music fans in their mid twenties, Rumours has been the soundtrack to large portions of our lives. During my childhood, it used to initiate a brief ceasefire between me and my sister as we squabbled during long car journeys, and in my teens, Songbird often featured on the giddily romantic mix CDs I made for girlfriends. Recently, Go Your Own Way and The Chain – better known as the BBC's Formula One theme tune – have become 2am favourites for bleary-eyed twentysomethings desperate to keep a house party going. By contrast, pioneering punk hits released in the same year such as God Save the Queen and White Riot never seem to get a look in.

But why is Rumours so beloved among my generation? Its resilient popularity is, of course, in part due to the timeless quality of the music, which is warm and sweetly melodic, with coruscating harmonies, breezy rhythms, and virtuoso guitar flourishes. By 1977, Fleetwood Mac had had almost a decade to hone their songcraft, via several line-up changes and subtle changes in style, and Rumours shows a band at the pinnacle of their pop powers. It’s an album that’s chock-full of potential singles, all lushly produced to create an almost faultless, glossy soft-rock sound. It’s sold 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the bestselling albums of all time, and everyone from family pop quartet The Corrs to Californian hardcore band NOFX have covered its songs. All of this is testament to its broad appeal.

But there’s more to it than that: right now the hippest bands around all want to sound like Fleetwood Mac. What started in the late-2000s with US folk-rock revivalists such as Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver has built up a head of steam. Last year saw the release of fine albums from trendy US acts such as Best Coast and Sharon Von Etten that bore the unmistakable influence of Fleetwood Mac’s classic Seventies period, as did work from blockbuster pop artists Mumford and Sons and Taylor Swift. Barely a cigarette paper, meanwhile, can separate the sound of Stevie Nicks’s songs from Rumours and those of the BBC's feted Sound Of 2013 poll winners, Haim.


Back with Second Hand News: Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours
By Oliver Hancock

"Whether milking a cash-cow or hoping to disseminate their work to a new, younger audience, there is a sense that such an album is coming at the right time. The musicianship of the songs forms an interesting juxtaposition to the works of many of today’s new breed of guitar bands (From The Vaccines to Palma Violets), and, despite the recordings having inevitably aged, the songs themselves remain just as potent as they did in the 1970s."

Mythique Fleetwood Mac
Le Parisien (France)

Fleetwood Mac est toujours vivant. Après quarante-cinq ans d’existence, le groupe repart en tournée cette année et en profite pour ressortir l’un de ses chefs-d’oeuvre. Sorti en 1977, « Rumours » fut un triomphe artistique et commercial. Vendu à près de 40 millions d’exemplaires, le disque est traversé par une pop californienne où le soleil se teintait souvent de clair-obscur, à travers les classiques inusables « Go Your Own Way » ou « Dreams ». Sa nouvelle édition luxueuse en 3 CD est complétée par un disque live, enregistré en 1977, et une série de versions inédites. Fleetwood Mac « Rumours, édition Deluxe », Warner, 19,99 €. Sortie demain.


Fleetwood Mac 'Rumours' genudgivet i luksusudgave: Tidløs klasse
Af STEFFEN JUNGERSEN
BT

Året var 1977, og helvede var løs!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Win Tickets To Fleetwood Mac in Cleveland + Radio Pre-sale Info

Win Tickets To Fleetwood Mac Live in Cleveland with 98.5 WNCX 

Fleetwood Mac will be live in Cleveland June 15th at Quicken Loans Arena.

All this week listen to the Workforce at 98.5 WNCX during the winning times 9:25an, 1:25pm or 4:25pm for a chance to win a pair of tickets.

Also, one lucky Grand Prize winner will get a ticket upgrade!

Tickets for the show go on-sale Friday, February 1st at 10am at The Q Box Office, online, charge by phone at 888-894-9424 and all northern Ohio Discount Drug Marts.

98.5 also has an exclusive presale offer.  From Wednesday, January 30th at 10 am through Thursday, January 31st at 10 pm use Radio Promo Code "WNCX" at theqarena.com

Mick Fleetwood in his coat of many colours + Stevie Nicks and Lady A Update

Stevie Nicks with Lady Antebellum rehearsals have begun... Last night they got together at an undisclosed L.A. location.  The taping takes place this Tuesday... Lady Antebellum will appear on Jay Leno Monday night... Maybe they'll mention the CrossRoads collaboration with Stevie.  Lady Antebellum have just released a new single "Downtown". Stream it at The Green Room


Elsewhere... Mick was spotted in London today with his cool coat of many colours!


Q&A: Dave Grohl on His 'Sound City' Doc. Stevie Nicks on board for NYC Show

The Sound City Players are scheduled to play their next show in Los Angeles on January 31st, with other dates "coming soon in cool places," Grohl says. "The musicians have all really jumped on after the [Park City] show. I didn't know if Stevie [Nicks] was gonna be able to do New York, and after we did this she was like, 'I'm doing New York." Grohl says he'll keep crossing his fingers for an appearance from Paul McCartney.

Read the full Q&A with Dave Grohl at Rolling Stone

The movie debuts in theatres across North America beginning January 31st.  Check Soundcitymovie.com for a theatre in your city to see the documentary (includes Lindsey, Stevie and Mick)... It's basically a one night only event.

New Album Real to Reel with Stevie Nicks singing "“You Can’t Fix This” (Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee) available March 12th on iTunes

Hey #Canada WIN Fleetwood Mac Rumours Deluxe Box Set from


WIN DELUXE BOX SET
Vinyl 95.3FM

Vinyl 95.3FM is giving you an opportunity to win Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" Super Deluxe Box Set.

Vinyl VIPs have an exclusive opportunity to win this prize pack!

The Super Deluxe 4CD/1DVD/1LP Set comes in a beautiful, 12x12 box and includes the remastered version of the original album including B-side “Silver Springs”, a disc of previously unreleased live performances from the 1977 tour, newly compiled recording sessions, the DVD of the 1977 promo film “Rosebud” and the 1-LP vinyl of the original album. It also includes new liner notes by David Wild, plus a track-by-track “in their own words” where the band talks about each song. This is an ultimate, expanded edition of one of the greatest albums ever made!

Contest closes February 11th at 11am.

More details at Vinyl 95.3 FM


WIN TICKETS TO SEE FLEETWOOD MAC IN OTTAWA - APRIL 23rd
Folks in Arnprior, Ontario here's your chance to win Fleetwood Mac tickets to the Ottawa show April 23, 2013.  Simply visit the following retailers and fill out your FREE ballot... Easy!  Not sure when the draw date is but I'm sure the ArnpriorToday.ca or 107.7myFM will provide that info.

Some 35 years after their legendary "Rumours" album was released, Fleetwood Mac will roll into Scotiabank Place April 23rd, and YOU could be there with ArnpriorToday.ca and Arnprior's 107.7 myFM!  WINNING IS EASY - simply fill out your FREE ballot at one of these local businesses:

Tickets to see Fleetwood Mac in Ottawa available from Capital Tickets
McAllister Ford
5362 Madawaska Blvd.

PCS Computers
46 Madawaska St.

Northern Credit Union
211 Madawaska Blvd.

Sears Arnprior
Arnprior Shopping Centre

Reid Bros. Motor Sales
149 Madawaska Blvd.

Sports Zone
Arnprior Shopping Centre

RONA
236 Madawaska Blvd.

Mather Insurance & Real Estate
159 John St., Downtown Arnprior

Nick Smith Centre
77 James St., Arnprior

Friday, January 25, 2013

NEW Merchandise Combo's Available For Fleetwood Mac

Some great merchandise combos on offer over at Fleetwoodmac.com. Rumours Deluxe and Expanded Editions + a T-Shirt or Poster!  Would have preferred a poster with a photo vs just the logo.  Check it out at Fleetwoodmac.com

Fleetwood Mac 'Rumours' Pitch-perfect pop before they went their own way ★★★★★

Album review: 
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours: Super Deluxe Remastered Version (Rhino)
ANDY GILL
Independent UK

It speaks volumes about the enduring quality of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours – here repackaged in an expanded heritage edition comprising, in its most lavish format, four CDs, one DVD and audiophile vinyl album – that not even the twin taints of appropriation as Top Gear theme and political anthem have managed to diminish its appeal. It remains one of pop's most impervious generational touchstones.

Rumours represents, along with The Eagles Greatest Hits, the high-water mark of America's Seventies rock-culture expansion, the quintessence of a counter-cultural mindset lured into coke-fuelled hedonism. Its very sound, with those winsome melodies, those West Coast harmonies, and that rhythm section lagging fractionally, imperceptibly behind the beat conjures a fantasy world of luxurious, liberal excess and Californication, captured with sleek perfection.

The album's story is well-known now, rock's premier case of strife bringing forth sweetness, as Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham batted the tattered remnants of their relationship back and forth in song. She had only to refer to “thunder” in “Dreams”, for him to snipe back “You can roll like thunder” in “Go Your Own Way” – but both songs are equally sublime, as too are Christine McVie's attempts to cheer the troops up in songs like “Don't Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun”.

Heaven only knows how they managed to remain focused (and civil) enough to bring the project to such glorious fruition, a process here sketched out across two CDs of revealing demos and outtakes, the best of which may be Buckingham's exquisite “Brushes” – the original demo for “Never Going Back Again” – on which his delicate, lace-like threads of multi-tracked guitar intertwine with the crystalline sparkle of dulcimer or harp.

Hearing the band develop its definitive voice in these performances, one's interest is sharply piqued for the imminent reformation tour: it may not be as intriguing as Bowie's comeback, but there's a peculiar magic in operation here that deserves treasuring.

Download: Don't Stop; Go Your Own Way; Dreams; The Chain; You Make Loving Fun


Extra TV - Video! Fleetwood Mac Talks Band Reunion Stevie Nicks weighs in on Lance Armstrong Scandal

“Extra’s” Jerry Penacoli sat down with Fleetwood Mac; Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Mick Fleetwood to talk about the band getting back together and returning to the stage for their seventeenth tour.

Nicks also commented on friend Sheryl Crow’s relationship with Lance Armstrong, and the doping scandal. Watch the interview to find out what she had to say.
video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Fleetwood Mac Rumours Reviews + Mick Fleetwood Interview

Photo by Sam Emerson
35 years of Rumours: Will a reissue add to Fleetwood Mac’s classic album?
By STUART BATHGATE

It’s 35 years since the release of Rumours, but will yet another version add anything to the classic, asks Stuart Bathgate, or are reissues just a cynical ploy by record companies to capitalise on our memories?

YOU bought the record. You’ve got the CD. Perhaps, in the early days of the Walkman, you also had it on tape. All in all, you might well reckon you’ve done your bit by Rumours, Fleetwood Mac’s classic 1977 album. Bought it, bought it again, bought it a third time and given at least two versions to the charity shop.

Ah, but you don’t have the expanded or the deluxe 35th anniversary edition, do you? And you want them, don’t you? Or at least, that’s what the band and their record company hope.

More than 40 million copies of Rumours, in its various guises, have been sold to date, and now the aim is to shift a few more when those two new versions are released on Monday. Which, incidentally, as you may have noticed, is almost a month after the 35th anniversary ended. They always did take their time getting projects finished, Fleetwood Mac, and this one has been no different.

Great article... Check out the rest at Scotsman.com

Fleetwood Mac: Rumour has it
The New Zealand Herald
By Scott Kara

"Fleetwood says the band is looking to return to New Zealand at the end of the year or early 2014"


Out of the pain of love turned sour came an album that has entranced the world for 35 years, writes Scott Kara

Mick Fleetwood was perhaps in the best position to see how rock 'n' roll's most famous soap opera unfolded during the writing and recording of Rumours.

He was, as he explains in his dapper and chatty drawl on the phone from his home on the island of Maui in Hawaii, the only one in the group not in a relationship with one of their bandmates.

Check out the full interview with Mick at The New Zealand Herald

This article is also a full page spread in the January 26th issue.





Rumours are true — the Mac are as good as ever
Day and Night - Ireland January 25, 2013
★★★★✩

With Fleetwood Mac set to embark on a major world tour this year, it’s little surprise that their best-selling album has been dusted down and repackaged for a new generation.

Released in 1977, Rumours has shifted in excess of 40 million copies to date and continues to resonate as perhaps the quintessential break-up album. 

Each of the five members who formed the band’s “classic line-up” in the mid-1970s was going through the wringer emotionally. John and Christine McVie’s eight-year marriage had hit the rocks. The much younger couple, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, had drifted apart to such an extent that they were barely talking. And Mick Fleetwood, who had founded a very, very different incarnation of the group 10 years earlier, was coming to terms with the fact that the mother of his two children had been having an affair with his best friend.

Listen to the songs anew all these years later and it’s remarkable just how candidly their travails are laid bare. There’s jealousy, bitterness, regret, pain and passion throughout.

And there are allusions to other preoccupations, too, not least Nicks’s well-documented issues with cocaine.

The evergreen quartet of Go Your Own Way, Dreams, Don’t Stop and The Chain demonstrate just how capable the quintet were at mining mass-appeal pop with a message.

And the success of these singles played a major role in the album’s phenomenal popularity.

Yet — as was the case with those other late-70s purveyors of break-up pop, Abba — Fleetwood Mac didn’t always keep a close watch on the quality control. A handful of tracks haven’t aged well and some feel slight, not least Oh Daddy — McVie's good natured ode to the band’s avuncular figure, Mick Fleetwood.

Even the additional material that comes with this three-disc anniversary edition, including early demos and alternate takes, cannot hide the fact that the album is far from perfect.

Buckingham put it well some time ago when he noted: “It was unnerving to see something that became a real phenomenon, when the music itself didn't necessarily warrant it.” 

KEY TRACKS Dreams (Take 2); Songbird (Demo)