Sunday, October 6, 2019

Sunday Music: Rhiannon/Dreams



If you were anything but deaf when listening to last week's choice, you heard the unmistakable Stevie Nicks singing back-up vocals, with a voice that cut through an entire generation.

Fleetwood Mac, presciently named for the only two members of the band not to have left at some point, drummer Mick Fleetwood, and bassist John McVie, was a well-established R&B rock band with nine albums under their belt, when personnel turnover left them wishful of adding self-taught guitar virtuoso Lindsey Buckingham, after hearing some of the cuts from Buckingham-Nicks in a recording studio. He told them if they wanted him, they had to take Stevie Nicks too, as a package deal. They agreed, and the rest was music history.
In this case, 3+2=37,000,000, which was how many albums they sold on the next two albums combined. Choosing one or two cuts from their best work is difficult, and about as hard as a parent picking which child they love best, but the one that put them on the map on their eponymous tenth album was this one:


(Too tame? Try watching either of a pair of live performances that'll blow your socks off. That wasn't just cocaine running the show: you're looking at raw power onstage.)

And the bookend has to be this one from Rumours:


Rock and roll icons are dropping like flies at the moment, but fifty years after they're all dead, these tracks will still be classics.
Kick off your October with some appropriate musical magic for this time of year, and enjoy.


22 comments:

RHT447 said...

Two of my favorites are from their live performance at USC.

Landslide, and Tusk performed with the USC marching band.

Thomas said...

Tusk, played by the USC marching band.

Anonymous said...

I saw them at Winterland in 1975. (maybe 76...) IIRC. Pretty cool.

Anonymous said...

I see Ginger Baker passed away.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49827436

One of the greatest. RIP.

Anonymous said...

Had the original vinyl B/N album when it first came out. I bought it, me just fresh out of .mil, in a record shop, when those things were things.

This cut demonstrates why F.Mac wanted B, and was willing to take both of them: https://youtu.be/m94Xpx91w2E

Anonymous said...

Long Distance Winner sold me on the pair. Even being a FLeetwood Mac fan since the Peter Green days, I was knocked out by the last incarnation. My favorite Lindsey cut is "I'm So Afraid".
The addition of Christine Perfect enhanced Future Games and Bare Trees( "Homeward Bound" anyone?) and then these two just lit the afterburners.
Boat Guy

Anonymous said...

RIP Ginger.
BG

RandyGC said...

RIP Ginger indeed.

I can listen to Stevie sing almost anything (except Imagine. I've never heard anybody try to do a cover of one of her songs and not come out as a second rate wanna-be.

One of the many things the Clintons have ruined is Don't Stop. I've been changing the station on that song since 1992.

Nori said...

Yep, Long Distance Winner & Frozen Love.Still have that Buckingham Nicks LP. Been waiting in vain for a remaster to CD.
Lindsay was asked about it a couple years back;since they own the copyrights,why not do it?
He replied,” Inertia,I guess.”

Ginger Baker,RIP. Damn. Cantankerous man,but in a class by himself behind a drum kit.

Judging from the volatile personal lives of all of these immensely talented people,the Muse of music exacts a heavy price.

Anonymous said...

Boat and Nori,

Yeah. Future Games, Bare Trees, Long Distance Winner...

Still have the vinyl packed away in boxes. Probably will until I am.

James M Dakin said...

Stevie Nicks is on the short list of music I don't get tired of, out of less than a half dozen people/groups. Not a huge music guy, as I don't try to drown out any demons in my own mind like most people ( silence is golden ), so for me to take time to listen, they have to be more than awesome.

Anonymous said...

Not to steal the thread, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1VNOw1JASM

fuckin amazing

Anonymous said...

The best comment to Ginger's epic drum solo:

"are those drums 18? or did they consent to this?"

Anonymous said...

They used to nail his drums to the stage.

Anonymous said...

Back to Fleetwood Mac; there's great, if very different music throughout. From "Oh Well" and "Green Manalishi" through "Sands of Time" (Future Games) "Danny's Chant" "Dust" and "Spare Me a Little of Your Love" (Bare Trees) to the two Aesop featured (other great tracks are "Go Your Own Way", "The Chain" and "You Make Living Fun").
Yeah the Clinton's desecration of "Don't Stop really ruined it for me but I gotta say I never really liked it anyway, they just added the eye roll to it for me.
Boat Guy

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, Stevie's album "Bella Donna" is a great one too
BG

MrGarabaldi said...

Hey Aesop;

Still one of my favorite groups. I damm near wore "Rumours" out on my record player. I would up buying another album. And later I switched to CD's. "Greatest Hits" is a favorite in my CD player in my car. Stevie Nicks in "Gypsy" is haunting and I love that song.

MMinLamesa said...

Been a fan since their very early days with Green and while their music post Buckingham is wonderful, I was also a big fan of Bob Welch. He came on board when they were looking to move to the US and really amped them up. Some of his licks, to this day, are my favs. Sentimental Lady, Hypnotized(c'mon) and Ebony Eyes are classics.

Both Mystery to Me and Heros were pretty much his and my all time fav of his are the riffs on Miles Away...it's restless, restless, restless...check it out-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjlu3K-VnGM

There was a small club(~150) back in the day in Denver called Marvelous Marvs that booked some of the best musicians around then. Don't know how they did it. Saw Bob there one night. Amazing guitarist.

Shot himself in the heart rather then drain his wealth away from his family lingering on. He still gets no credit for the great work he did with them.

idahobob said...

Ah yes......Stevie. Been in love with her and her voice for many, many, years.

RIP Ginger.

The Freeholder said...

One concert I missed back in the day and would do a lot to have seen.

Anonymous said...

Stevie Nicks also provided backing vocals for Warren Zevon on the song Mohammed's Radio. My favourite song of hers is White Wing Dove. Rumours is one of my desert island CDs.

Al_in_Ottawa

Anonymous said...

Another VERY interesting song with Stevie singing backups... Look carefully and see who else is there, and then learn a little about the back story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar5GaTC440M