February 4, 2020

20,000 vinyl LP 207: Fleetwood Mac ~ Rumors

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vinyl LP front cover
design by Desmond Strobel
cover photo by Herbert W. Worthington
photo of front cover by Styrous®


I was dancing at the Hungry i on Broadway in 1977 (link below) when I discovered Rumours; the album was released on February 4 of that year. Perhaps it's because I used a few of the songs in my act, but it became my favorite album by the group.          


vinyl LP back cover 
back cover photos by Herbert W. Worthington
photo of back cover by Styrous®


I used the music from the album for an Apache-style act because of the lyrics (links bleow). I didn't realized it at the time but they reflected what was happening in the lives of the band. The members of Fleetwood Mac were experiencing emotional upheavals while recording the Rumours album. Mick Fleetwood was going through a divorce. John McVie was separating from his wife Christine McVie. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were ending their eight-year relationship. "We had to go through this elaborate exercise of denial," explained Buckingham to Blender magazine, "keeping our personal feelings in one corner of the room while trying to be professional in the other."       

According to Barry Walsh of Slant Magazine, Fleetwood Mac drew on romantic dysfunction and personal turmoil to create a timeless, five-star record. Patrick McKay of Stylus Magazine wrote, "What distinguishes Rumours—what makes it art—is the contradiction between its cheerful surface and its anguished heart. Here is a radio-friendly record about anger, recrimination, and loss."       


vinyl LP record sleeve
record sleeve photos by Herbert W. Worthington
photo of record sleeve by Styrous®
        
Second Hand News is a FAST song with a terrific beat that is great to dance to and it was the perfect opener for the set. "I know there's nothing to say/Someone has taken my place" set the mood for the piece.    

Dreams, written by Stevie Nicks, would usually follow News for a fast but sensual strip with great musical highlights that nicely accentuated the disposal of each garment as we alternately forcefully/sensually stripped each other (but not completely) in dramatic counterpoint to the lyrics, "You want your freedom".      

Dreams reached the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 18, 1977, and held it for one week. On the Adult Contemporary chart, Dreams was Fleetwood Mac's highest charting single during the 1970s when it reached number 11. In the United Kingdom, Dreams went to number 24, staying in the top 40 for eight weeks. Since its initial release, Dreams has reentered the charts on various occasions. It picked up two additional weeks on the UK charts in 2011 following the airing of the Glee Rumours episode. In 2018, Dreams returned to the Billboard charts at the number-fourteen spot on their Rock Songs Chart, re popularized by a viral tweet.         
            


vinyl LP record sleeve
record sleeve photos by Herbert W. Worthington
photo of record sleeve by Styrous®


The Chain, written by the entire group, is a moderate speed, mellow rock song that has a nice, quiet interlude with a slow Dobro guitar played by Buckingham that greatly accentuated a slow, sensual strip that picked up speed to whisk the audience off to delightful adventures of the imagination.   
     
Oh, Daddy was the final song for the set. With it's slow beat and dramatic sonic highlights it was the perfect song to end a love act.         


 
vinyl LP gatefold interior
back cover photos by Herbert W. Worthington
photo of back cover by Styrous®


Rumours became Fleetwood Mac's second US number one record. It stayed at the top of the Billboard 200 for 31 non-consecutive weeks, while also reaching number one in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In May 2011 it re-entered Billboard 200 chart at number 11, and the Australian ARIA chart at number 2, due to several songs from the album being used for the Rumours episode of the American TV series Glee. The album was certified platinum in America and the UK within months of release after one million units and 300,000 units were shipped respectively. All three major US trade publicationsBillboard, Cash Box, and Record World—named it Album of the Year for 1977. After a debut at number seven, Rumours peaked at the top of the UK Albums Chart in January 1978, becoming Fleetwood Mac's first number one album in the country. In February, the band and co-producers Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut won the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. By March, the album had sold over 10 million copies worldwide, including over eight million in the US alone.       

By 1980, 13 million copies of Rumours had been sold worldwide. As of 2013, sales were over 40 million copies. As of October 2019, Rumours has spent 800 weeks in the UK Top 100 album chart and is the 11th best-selling album in UK history and is certified 13× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, the equivalent of 3.9 million units shipped. The record has received a Diamond Award from the Recording Industry Association of America for a 20× platinum certification or 20 million copies shipped, making it, as of 2012, the joint fifth best-selling album in US history (by number of copies shipped).       


photographer unknown


Fleetwood Mac


       
vinyl LP, side 1
photo by Styrous®


vinyl LP lable, side 1
photo by Styrous®




vinyl LP, side  2
photo by Styrous®


vinyl LP lable, side 2
photo by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Second Hand News, written by Lindsey Buckingham - 2:43
A2 - Dreams, written by Stevie Nicks - 4:14
A3 - Never Going Back Again, written by Lindsey Buckingham - 2:02
A4 - Don't Stop, written by Christine McVie - 3:11
A5 - Go Your Own Way, written by Lindsey Buckingham - 3:38
A6 - Songbird, written by Christine McVie - 3:20

Side 1:

B1 - The Chain, written by McVie*, McVie*, Buckingham*, Fleetwood*, Nicks* - 4:28
B2 - You Make Loving Fun, written by Christine McVie- 3:31
B3 - I Don't Want To Know, written by Stevie Nicks - 3:11
B4 - Oh Daddy, written by Christine McVie - 3:54
B5 - Gold Dust Woman, written by Stevie Nicks- 4:51

Companies, etc.

    Record Company – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
    Copyright (c) – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
    Phonographic Copyright (p) – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
    Copyright (c) – Gentoo Music, Inc.
    Recorded At – Record Plant, Sausalito
    Recorded At – Wally Heider Recording Studio, Los Angeles
    Recorded At – Criteria Recording Studios
    Recorded At – Davlen Sound Studios
    Recorded At – Record Plant, Los Angeles
    Mixed At – Record Plant, Los Angeles
    Mixed At – Sound City Studios
    Mastered At – Capitol Mastering
    Pressed By – Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Los Angeles

Credits:

    Artwork [Hand Lettering] – Larry Vigon, Vigon Nahas Vigon
    Bass – John McVie
    Design – Desmond Strobel
    Drums, Percussion – Mick Fleetwood
    Engineer – Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut
    Engineer [Second] – Cris Morris*
    Guitar, Vocals – Lindsey Buckingham
    Keyboards, Synthesizer, Vocals – Christine McVie
    Lacquer Cut By – KP*
    Photography By – Herbert Worthington*
    Producer – Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut
    Vocals – Stevie Nicks

Notes:

Includes 11.5" x 23" photo and lyric foldout insert. Early pressings had a lightly textured cover, 'Mastered By Capitol' and 'KP' marked in the runouts. They were also printed with a centered number "0798" in the middle of the spine on the LP cover.
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A, Variant 1): BSK-1-3010 LW2 F12 KP MASTERED BY CAPITOL CJ
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B, Variant 1): BSK-2-3010 F17 KP MASTERED BY CAPITOL CJ
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A, Variant 2): BSK-1-3010 WW2 F11 CJ MASTERED BY CAPITOL KP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B, Variant 2): BSK-2-3010 LW1 F6 CJ MASTERED BY CAPITOL KP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A, Variant 3): BSK-1-3010 LW3 F25 3 MASTERED BY CAPITOL KP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B, Variant 3): BSK-2-3010 LW5 F29 1 MASTERED BY CAPITOL KP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A, Variant 4): BSK-1-3010 LW7 F35· 3 MASTERED BY CAPITOL ✲ KP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B, Variant 4): BSK-2-3010 LW6 F35· MASTERED BY CAPITOL 1 ✲ KP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A, Variant 5): BSK-1-3010 LW3 F25 MASTERED BY CAPITOL KP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B, Variant 5): BSK-2-3010 LW3 F25 MASTERED BY CAPITOL KP

Fleetwood Mac ‎– Rumours
Label: Warner Bros. Records ‎– BSK 3010
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1977
Genre: Rock
Style: Soft Rock, Classic Rock
      
       
                 
Viewfinder links:                           
         
Lindsey Buckingham          
Alice Cooper        
Hungry i articles                 
         
Net links:                          
        
Rumours lyrics ~                           
         Second Hand News        
         Dreams    
         The Chain                 
         Oh Daddy                 
        
YouTube links:                               
                 
The Chain         
The Chain (video)              
Dreams     
Oh, Daddy        
Second Hand News                 
         
     
     


 "You could say that Fleetwood Mac is a bit of a 
dysfunctional family, but we are a family."
                        ~ Lindsey Buckingham 



             
         
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, February 4, 2020       
         













                 

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