Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)

Note: This release was originally given to me as a LP, later replaced by this CD.

I'll save you the trouble: "Hey Mark, I thought this album would have appeared on the blog years ago." Well, for many years, I - like many people born in the 1950s and 1960s - had a vinyl copy of Rumours that I liked to spin. But when my youngest son decided he was going to collect vinyl, I wanted to encourage his worthwhile pursuit of physical media so I let him take any of my records that he wanted. Rumours was the first thing he pulled from the shelves. Smart kid. So I picked up this CD.

I consider Rumours to be a seminal summer album and I really can't add anything new to the mountains of words written about this great collection of songs, so I'll just shut up, listen, enjoy, and attempt to rank the tracks. Spoiler alert: I like the singles that I remember hearing on my AM radio back in '77 (see below).

Press of the time:

• High Fidelity: "will end up as one of the year's top ten releases."
• Stereo Review: "it seems rather pointless to shell out $7.98 for what is essentially a one-song album."
• Rolling Stone: "bright little three-minute singles with a hook in every chorus."
• Robert Christgau: A
• Billboard: "Fleetwood's astonishing breakout success of 1976 is consolidated and verified"
• Record World: "A consistently beautiful sounding album that encompasses many styles and emotions."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #1
• CashBox: #1
• CashBox CD (1984): #28

The album won the Grammy award for Album of the Year, besting the likes of Aja, Hotel California, and the soundtrack to Star Wars. Over at the My Favorite Decade blog, I ranked Rumours as the 4th best album of 1977, behind The Stranger, Aja, and the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. Other awards, honors, and accolades available over at the album's Wikipedia entry.

Tracks, ranked according to today's mood, and peak on the Billboard Hot 100:

11. Oh Daddy
10. Never Going Back Again
9. I Don't Want To Know
8. Second Hand News
7. Songbird
6. The Chain
5. Gold Dust Woman
4. Go Your Own Way (#10)
3. Don't Stop (#3)
2. You Make Loving Fun (#9)
1. Dreams (#1)

I've long maintained that the best thing Stevie Nicks ever wrote was Sara, but Dreams certainly runs a close second. And before you tell me that I should have purchased a CD that included the track Silver Springs, save it. I bought this CD to replace an LP and I wanted to replace it as is. (as was?)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: As I mentioned above, this is a quintessential summer album and I'm immediately taken back to the summer of 1977. I turned 11 that summer and it consisted of the usual stuff: swimming pools, miniature golf, trip to my paternal grandmother's house in Tyler, Vacation Bible School, etc. I also took a trek to Las Vegas NM with my father to climb to the top of Hermit's Peak. In related news, Summer 1977 was also around the time I discovered backpacking and camping wasn't for me. And then, in late summer, I started my first and only year as a member of a tackle football team through the local Boy's Club. In related news, Summer 1977 was also around the time I discovered contact sports weren't for me. Below is a picture of me and the cabin caretaker at a cabin near the base of Hermit's Peak. That kid looks like he's up to no good but sweet mama I sho do miss that thick blonde hair.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Greatest Hits (1988)