One in a short series covering well known and popular albums that I can not stand……..

What is wrong with Rumours ?

The first thing is that it is not Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood was and always will be the band with Peter Green, not a band without the man with the golden guitar. Yes, he was off somewhere on planet Green but to continue the band without him was like the Stones without Brian Jones (OK, like the Stones without Keef).

Something else I really, I mean really, disliked about this version of Mac was that they were so smug. Smugger than the smuggiest thing in the world. smugger than a cat that had all the cream and then found even more cream. I thought that they were a bit full of themselves……

As you will remember, Green was in Mayall’s Blues Breakers having replace Clapton. Mayall gave Green some time in a recording studio as a gift and with Fleetwood and McVie (who were also in the Blues Breakers) he recorded 5 songs and Fleetwood Mac were formed. They were a blues rock band. They were supberb.

With Rumours Mac placed themselves firmly at the forefront of soft rock. Soft rock, rock with a pretty face, tea and cumpet rock, rock without attitude. That is their main crime against rock.

Those, very personal objections aside what else is wrong with an album that contained so many hummable tunes?

The production is too slick, the harmonies too, well harmonic, the songs steeped in honey (with no lemon). Rock should be relevant and scratchy. It should make you think, not sleep. It should not be suitable to use a s lift (elevator) music. It should be music not musac.

I know that I am in a minority of 1. I know that Rolling Stone, Q, Mojo, and the rest of the universe all believe this to be one of the best records ever produced.

They are wrong.

Fleetwood Mac’s line-up consisted of guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham, drummer Mick Fleetwood, keyboardist and vocalist Christine McVie, bassist John McVie, and vocalist Stevie Nicks

Share on Facebook

On this day in 1967 Fleetwood Mac played their first gig, the 7th annual Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival at the Royal Windsor Racecourse, Berkshire, UK. The festival ran for 3 days and Mac shared the last day’s bill along with Cream, John Mayall, Chicken Shack, and Jeff beck among others.

The festival was plagued with PA problems. The local residents wanted it turned down, the performers and audience wanted it turned up………. (You would have thought by the 7th time the festival had been held they would have got it right). The following year the festival was moved to a site with fewer (or deaf) neighbours.

Evidently, Cream were the hit of the festival. I would have like dto have been there as Mick Taylor was playing with John mayall at that time and I always liked his playing. The previous days also saw Paul Jones and Aynsley Dunbar performing which I would have enjoyed. (Dunbar was later of The Mothers of Invention, Lou Reed, Whitesnake, and nearly of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Story is that Jimi could not decide between Mitch Mitchell and AD and so tossed a coin. MM won.)

Oh yes, what about John? John McVie did not belong to to Fleetwood Mac at the time and so he was not there. He only took over from Bob Brunner a month later. Which is all a bit odd as the Mac from Fleetwood came from the Mc in Vie, if you see what I mean.

If you want to hear just what all the fuss was about Peter Green’s blues playing then this is the album for you. Known as the dustbin and dog album, no idea why, it is, in my opinion Peter Green at his very best.

Share on Facebook