Saturday, March 17, 2018

THE 200 MOST ESSENTIAL ALBUMS. This post: #2. Continues: next week with the album ranked No. 1.
Caffé Latté presents the  all-time
200
MOST ESSENTIAL
ALBUMS
2
RUMOURS
FLEETWOOD MAC
1977
Mostly cream album cover with black-and-white image of tall, bearded gentleman holding a snow globe in front of a blonde, cape-wearing woman. In the top right-hand corner, it is captioned "FLEETWOOD MAC" and "RUMOURS" below it.
'Rumours' did not change the sound of rock music. It did not mark a line in the sand in terms of recording techniques or approach. What it did do was demonstrate the enduring appeal of quality songwriting and musicianship. Fleetwood Mac was going through its most tumultuous period, as all of its members were all dealing with break-ups. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were no longer a couple. John and Christine McVie's marriage was over, as was drummer Mick Fleetwood's. The group managed to work through all this chaos and produce what is arguably the best album ever recorded. 
The songs were among the best offered by the group's 3 principal songwriters: Buckingham, Christine McVie and Nicks. All 5 members contributed to "The Chain". So strong were the tracks on 'Rumours' that the group could tour on the back of just this 1 album forever.
"Second Hand News" opens the album. The raw emotions are exposed on this and tracks such as "Go Your Own Way" and "Never Going Back Again". There's tenderness and optimism on "Don't Stop", "You Make Loving Fun" and the utterly beautiful "Songbird". Nicks serves "Dreams" and "I Don't Want To Know", 2 other standouts. No other album can boast such a strong collection of tracks that seems to be just as impressive more than 40 years later.
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