Rumours [Expanded]

Performer: Fleetwood Mac
Engineer: Ken Caillat; Richard Dashut
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Fleetwood Mac: Lindsey Buckingham (vocals, guitar); Christine McVie (vocals, keyboards); Stevie Nicks (vocals); John McVie (bass); Mick Fleetwood (drums). Producers: Fleetwood Mac, Richard Dashut, Ken Caillat. Principally recorded at The Record Plant & Wally Heider Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California; Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida; Davlen Recording Studio, North Hollywood, California. This deluxe edition of RUMOURS includes a bonus disc featuring outtakes, demos, and jam sessions. Fleetwood Mac: Lindsey Buckingham (vocals, guitar); Christine McVie (vocals, keyboards); Stevie Nicks (vocals); John McVie (bass); Mick Fleetwood (drums). Producers: Fleetwood Mac, Richard Dashut, Ken Caillat. Principally recorded at The Record Plant & Wally Heider Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California; Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida; Davlen Recording Studio, North Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Dave DiMartino. Personnel: Lindsey Buckingham (vocals, guitar); Christine McVie (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Stevie Nicks (vocals); Mick Fleetwood (drums, percussion). Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot. Liner Note Author: Dave DiMartino. Recording information: Criteria Studios, Miami, FL (02/04/1976-08/19/1976); Davlen Recording Studio, North Hollywood, CA (02/04/1976-08/19/1976); Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA (02/04/1976-08/19/1976); Record Plant, Sausalito, CA (02/04/1976-08/19/1976); Wally Heider Recording, Hollywood, CA (02/04/1976-08/19/1976); Zellerback Auditorium, U. C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (02/04/1976-08/19/1976). Photographers: Marvin Lichtner; Neal Preston; Herbert Worthington III; Sam Emerson. Unknown Contributor Role: Jeff Jacobs . The reviewers tell us what to buy, but the public actually part with the cash. Surely 26 million people cannot be wrong, as original Mac guitarist Peter Green's creation became the prime example of AOR long after his departure. The inner strife and turmoil of the band is credited as having helped to make this many-headed beast into such a success. Keyboardist Christine McVie sparred with husband/bassist John, and singer Stevie Nicks scrapped with boyfriend/guitarist Lindsay Buckingham. Drummer Mick Fleetwood held the emotional mess together with confident steadiness as demonstrated in his confident, inventive playing throughout the record. Nicks' fiery vocals on "Go Your Own Way" complemented McVie's beautifully understated style on tunes like "You Make Loving Fun," exemplifying their successful fire-ice dichotomy. The reviewers tell us what to buy, but the public actually part with the cash. Surely 26 million people cannot be wrong, as original Mac guitarist Peter Green's creation became the prime example of AOR long after his departure. The inner strife and turmoil of the band is credited as having helped to make this many-headed beast into such a success. Keyboardist Christine McVie sparred with husband/bassist John, and singer Stevie Nicks scrapped with boyfriend/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. Drummer Mick Fleetwood held the emotional mess together with confident steadiness as demonstrated in his confident, inventive playing throughout the record. Nicks' fiery vocals on "Go Your Own Way" complemented McVie's beautifully understated style on tunes like "You Make Loving Fun," exemplifying their successful fire-ice dichotomy. In the spring of 2004, Warner Strategic Marketing reissued as remastered expanded editions Fleetwood Mac's first three albums with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Rumours is not only given an 18-track bonus disc, but the B-side "Silver Springs" is added to the original album, between "Songbird" and "The Chain" -- which may be a controversial move for some since it upsets the original running order (even though it was added to the previously released DVD Audio version of the record, albeit in a different place on the album, but that whole release scrambles the track listing on the second side, anyway). Nevertheless, it's very nice to have the original "Silver Springs" on CD, and the bonus disc is quite impressive, even though it isn't necessarily the kind of disc that will get played all that frequently. The biggest discovery are the previously unreleased songs -- two by Stevie Nicks, the very good official outtake "Think About It" (co-written with Roy Bittan) and the demo of "Planets of the Universe," and sketches by Christine McVie ("Butter Cookie (Keep Me There)") and Lindsey Buckingham ("Doesn't Anything Last"); while only "Think About It" was in any shape to make the final record, they're all interesting listens. Apart from the two jams that conclude the album (one a snippet, the other kind of lengthy and appropriately given "The Blues" as its subtitle), the rest of the album consists of alternate takes and demos of nearly every song on the album, with "Gold Dust Woman" and "Never Going Back Again" appearing twice (the latter is once given its original title, "Brushes"). These are dubbed as "roughs" on the back cover and that's what they are -- the songs are essentially in place, just not polished. Hence, it's easier to listen to than really rough demos, but there aren't any real revelations either -- just enough differences to make this a fascinating bonus disc for fans, particularly since the clearing-house nature of this bonus disc suggests there's nothing Rumours-related left in the vaults. While it may not be a disc that's played regularly, it's an excellent bonus disc that makes this overall package a superb reissue. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (10/31/02, p.135) - Ranked #4 in Rolling Stone's "Women In Rock: The 50 Essential Albums" Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.104) - Ranked #25 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...The Mac's catchy exposes, produced with California-sunshine polish, touched a nerve..." Rolling Stone (10/31/02, p.135) - Ranked #4 in Rolling Stone's "Women In Rock: The 50 Essential Albums" Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.104) - Ranked #25 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...The Mac's catchy exposes, produced with California-sunshine polish, touched a nerve..." Entertainment Weekly (4/2/04, p.66) - "[On the 2004 deluxe edition, the] milestone gets the director's cut treatment..." - Rating: B Q (1/03, p.69) - Included in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums Ever" Q (3/00, p.126) - Included in Q Magazine's "Best Relationship Albums Of All Time" - "...tells the soap opera of 2 splits: John and Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks...all of whom played lyrical relationship tennis..." Q (1/03, p.69) - Included in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums Ever" Q (3/00, p.126) - Included in Q Magazine's "Best Relationship Albums Of All Time" - "...tells the soap opera of 2 splits: John and Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks...all of whom played lyrical relationship tennis..." Uncut (4/04, p.112) - 5 stars out of 5 - "RUMOURS streamlined everything into elemental despair. The record is the pop equivalent of Kurosawa's RASHOMON - the same tragedy witnessed from three different perspectives." Uncut (4/04, p.112) - 5 stars out of 5 - "RUMOURS streamlined everything into elemental despair. The record is the pop equivalent of Kurosawa's RASHOMON - the same tragedy witnessed from three different perspectives." Vibe (12/99, p.162) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century - "Anger, jealousy, heartbreak, and spite....One of the best pop records of the '70s." Vibe (12/99, p.162) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century - "Anger, jealousy, heartbreak, and spite....One of the best pop records of the '70s."

Making endless shifts in personnel and style, Fleetwood Mac went from being one of the most original British blues bands of the 1960s--under the leadership of Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood--to becoming purveyors of a smooth, masterful L.A. pop aesthetic that conquered the American airwaves during the '70s. Their most successful album, 1977's RUMOURS--featuring the group's most well-known lineup of Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, and Stevie Nicks--is one of the best-selling records of all time. Although never quite able to repeat that success, the band continued touring and recording off and on for the next three decades in various incarnations.

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