Rumours is the eleventh studio album by English-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. Largely recorded in California in 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. The band wanted to expand on the commercial success of their eponymous 1975 album, but struggled with relationship breakups before recording started. The Rumours studio sessions were marked by hedonistic behaviour and interpersonal strife among band members, which shaped the album’s lyrics.
Recorded with the intention of making “a pop album”, the album’s music featured a pop rock and soft rock sound characterized by accented rhythms and electric keyboards such as the Fender Rhodes or Hammond B3 organ. The members partied and used cocaine for much of the recording sessions, and its completion was delayed by its mixing process, but was finished by the end of 1976. Following the album’s release, Fleetwood Mac undertook worldwide promotional tours. Rumours reached the top of both the US Billboard 200 and the United Kingdom Albums Chart, and became the band’s most successful release. The songs “Go Your Own Way”, “Dreams”, “Don’t Stop”, and “You Make Loving Fun” were released as singles, all of which reached the US top 10.
Having won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978, Rumours has since sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, and has received diamond certifications in several countries, including the United States, Canada, and Australia. The album garnered widespread acclaim from critics, with praise centred on its production quality and harmonies, which frequently relied on the interplay among three vocalists and has inspired the work of musical acts in different genres.
Often considered Fleetwood Mac’s best release, it has featured in several publications’ lists of the best albums of the 1970s and of all time. In 2004, Rumours was remastered and reissued with the addition of “Silver Springs”, which had been excluded from the original due to tension within the band, and a bonus CD of outtakes from the recording sessions. In 2018, the album was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry, being deemed “culturally, historically, or artistically significant” by the Library of Congress.
1. “Second Hand News” 2:56
2. “Dreams” Stevie Nicks 4:14
3. “Never Going Back Again” 2:14
4. “Don’t Stop” 3:13
5. “Go Your Own Way” 3:38
6. “Songbird” 3:20
7. “The Chain” 4:30
8. “You Make Loving Fun” 3:31
9. “I Don’t Want to Know” 3:15
10. “Oh Daddy” 3:56
11. “Gold Dust Woman” Nicks 4:56
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. The band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the world’s best-selling bands. In 1998, select members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2018, the band was declared MusiCares Person of the Year.
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Say You Will is the seventeenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 15 April 2003. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album since Kiln House in 1970 that did not include tracks written by vocalist/keyboardist Christine McVie, who had left the band in 1998. It was however the band’s first studio album since Time was released in 1995. Members Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and John McVie shared keyboard duties for the album, though Christine McVie is featured on two songs which had been originally recorded for an unreleased Lindsey Buckingham solo album (tracks 13 and 14). It also marks the first album in 16 years to feature Buckingham as a full time member.
The Dance is a live album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1997. It hailed the return of the band’s most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since 1987’s Tango in the Night a decade earlier. It was the first Fleetwood Mac release to top the U.S. album charts since 1982’s Mirage.
Behind the Mask is the 15th studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1990. It was the first album released by the band after the departure of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. He was replaced by Billy Burnette and Rick Vito, both guitar players, singers and songwriters. Fleetwood Mac thus became a six-piece band with four singer/songwriters. The album was not as successful as its predecessor, Tango in the Night, nor did it spawn any big hit singles although “Save Me” made the US Top 40, while “Love Is Dangerous” and “Skies the Limit” enjoyed some airplay. “Save Me” and “Skies the Limit” were much more successful in Canada, where they both reached the Top 30. Though it barely reached the US Top 20, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1 and achieved platinum status there. Following the album’s release and subsequent world tour, band members Stevie Nicks and Rick Vito left the band, though Nicks would rejoin in 1997.