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Fleetwood Mac has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including almost 50 million in the United States.
The current tour, which features Saturday’s stop at The Q, celebrates the 35th anniversary reissue of "Rumours," the breakthrough album by the lineup that featured founding members Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie — the Fleetwood and Mac in the name — along with Christine McVie on keys, Lindsey Buckingham on guitar and Stevie Nicks on vocals.
Sadly, Christine McVie, who was married to John when she joined the band, left the group in 1998, the year they were inducted into the Rock Hall.
Not so sadly, Fleetwood Mac is continuing to produce music. GOOD music. The band has a new EP out, appropriately enough called "Extended Play," that features four songs — "Miss Fantasy," "It Takes Time," "Without You" and "Sad Angel."
The EP has a rollicking, more acoustic feel to it that’s reminiscent of the days when Nicks and Buckingham were a duo, before they joined Fleetwood Mac. Which sort of fits, because "Without You" is actually a remake of a tune they recorded back in those days.
Buckingham sings lead on all four songs, and there are hints of Nicks on "Angel" and, obviously, "Without You." But John McVie’s voice is curiously absent, and the EP does suffer from the absence of Christine McVie, both vocally and on piano.
But that’s all relative. Comparing Fleetwood Mac’s sound to anyone else’s sound is like comparing Little League to the Majors. The foursome really is in a different league. That in mind, the worst thing about this EP is that it’s an EP, with only four songs, and the best thing is that its very presence portends the issue of a full album.
Cha-ching.
By Chuck Yarborough
