Fleetwood Mac– 483, 482

ALBUMS: Rumours (1977): Mystery to Me (1973)

MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$$

Fleetwood Mac  was another ‘soundtrack-of-high-school record for me, it was 1977 andI I was 17. The girls liked this record because it was relationship oriented, albeit, broken ones. And it was melodic. The boys loved it because Stevie Nicks was a good looking, sultry singer. And the band could rock. In other you wouldn’t go wrong on date night with t is cassette. Unless you listen too closely to the words,  but  most didn’t do that,  it seems.

I have two of their albums on vinyl. The world renowned ‘Rumours’ and the lesser known ‘Mystery to Me,’ an album before the arrival of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. I am told by purists that the older Fleetwood Mac with  Peter Green was the  best, but I’m not familiar with it. I have seen Green on best guitarists lists over the years.

On ‘Mystery’ there’s a song called ‘Hypnotized’ that people I’ve played it for fall in love with upon first listen. But few can guess that it’s Fleetwood Mac. The ethereal song summons a semi-tropical hazy glaze. It’s the best thing on this album other than the wild cover art featuring a baboon -like creature painting his lips with coconut oil? Dunno, but it fits the hypnotic vibe. As for Rumours what can you say. An album in the realm of classic like Carol King’s ‘Tapestry’ or Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon.’

fleetwood.jpeg

Practically every song is a hit and high quality and man I got tired of hearing them on every single radio station all day and all night back in the late 1970’s.

Lindsey Buckingham — 614

ALBUM: Law and Order (1981)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$

A little fun. Disjointed. Not sure there was a direction. Random Play. (and you know I’m OK with that.)

Lindsey Buckingham was a key vocalist, songwriter and guitar player for Fleetwood Mac, one of the most successful bands in the 70’s and 80’s if not all time. This album sounds  like a collection of Tusk and Rumours outtakes — which is not a bad thing, really. Rumours  is a classic and its success both critically and commercially is in that rarefied air where the Beatles roam.

There’s just a lack of fluidity on this  when you have a Tusk-like song Bwana, with its hints of Africa followed by a mild Fleetwood Mac b-sider-like song, Trouble. Pretty, though it is.

Shadows of the West, which oddly is the only song on the album without its lyrics printed on the sleeve has an interesting line: The setting of the sun scares me to death’ and it made me think of an opposite sentiment by the Rolling Stones  in the song ‘Rocks Off.’

The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.

Maybe that’s why the differences between the Stones and the Mac are night and day.

But the teetering album, almost toppled by silliness, recovers with a  splendific version ‘A Satisfied Man’ (see Below) Classic.

Last verse:

When life has ended, my time has run out
My friends and my loved ones, I’ll leave, there’s no doubt
But there’s one thing for certain, when it comes my time
I’ll leave this old world with a satisfied mind

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.