Rescued from obscurity by the soundtrack of Almost Famous, the title track of 1971’s Future Games demonstrates how Welch’s arrival shook Fleetwood Mac up. Perhaps a more unsettling song in hindsight than it seemed at the time, the tune is beautiful, the arrangement almost ascetically stark and the lyrics full of dread: “I just wish I’d never been born.” 24.

Mac’s original, increasingly troubled frontman Peter Green treats the listening public as a shoulder to cry on. Only Over You (1982)īy far the least revered album of the classic Buckingham/Nicks-era Mac, Mirage has something of the holding pattern about it – Tusk’s experimentation is gone, expensive-sounding soft-rock abounds – but it contains some real hidden gems, including McVie’s luscious, lovestruck, small-hours paean to her soon-to-be-ex, soon-to-be-late fiance Dennis Wilson. It feels live, as if someone pressed record during a rehearsal the mood is ominous, and it’s punctuated with frequent pregnant pauses. Santana’s slinky, conga-heavy cover version is more famous, but Fleetwood Mac’s first Top 40 hit is darker, more raw and exciting. But if you want evidence that the contemporary Mac aren’t a spent creative force, try Sad Angel – from 2013’s overlooked four-track Extended Play – a taut, catchy Buckingham rock song about his perennial subject: Nicks. Sad Angel (2013)įleetwood Mac remain a stadium-packing live act despite lineup changes, intra-band strife and not having released a great album since 1987.

Tellingly still in their live set long after Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined, McVie’s beautiful Spare Me a Little of Your Love has a relaxed mood at odds with that album’s rockier inclinations. If you want to trace the roots of Fleetwood Mac the multimillion-selling pop-rock phenomenon, start with the LP Bare Trees.

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