Fleetwood Mac - Rumours Album Review

'Rumours' album cover,
 released February 4th 1977

I've been meaning to listen to this album for so long now as regretfully, I only knew a few of Fleetwood Mac's well known songs before, such as 'Everywhere' (admittedly, the cute pony advert made me like it even more) and 'Go Your Own Way'. I've heard it being classed as a 'must have' and iconic album from everyone I know who owns it. After researching it, I thought seeing as it sold 45 million copies world wide, and has the title of one of the best selling albums of all time, it was worth reviewing!

I was only a few tracks in, as I noticed how different each song is in terms of style, mood and genre. For example, the track 'Never Going Back Again' has a relaxed and acoustic style to it with the instruments being stripped to only Lindsey Buckingham's vocals and the guitar. The track after this, 'Don't Stop' (one of the singles from the album) couldn't be more contrasting. It has a clear pop/rock song structure to it, even with an electric guitar solo thrown in! I also found that it has elements of bluesy rock to it with the rhythm guitar part, which would make sense as Fleetwood Mac's earlier albums were predominantly blues orientated. It's definitely a song to add to your sing a long car playlist! Another track I was surprised with was 'You Make Loving Fun' (another single), as it has so many features of funk and dance music to it, with the organ/piano part and electronically driven bass line, it would make a great song at a party.

However, my favourite track of the album has to be 'Dreams' (probably one of the most well known ones) mainly because of the beautiful and angelic vocal melodies (especially on the higher notes) sung by Stevie Nicks. I get a general warm feeling from this song, with the laid back electric guitar parts and the chorus being one of those that sticks with you. It'd be perfect for listening to whilst cruising along the motorway at night-time! It also makes me feel extremely inadequate knowing it was written by Stevie Nicks in 10 minutes...

Overall, I can surely say that this album is a versatile one, covering almost all genres of music! It's everything you could want from an album as you have feel good pop tracks such as 'Everywhere' and 'Don't Stop', to more solemn and quieter tracks such as 'Oh Daddy' and their cover of Eva Cassidy's 'Songbird', there's always a song to suit your mood. There are also blues and country elements in there with songs such as 'Second Hand News'. I now understand why 'Rumours' has sold so many copies, it definitely lives up to it's title and deserves all the praise it gets!

Hannah Jolley

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