98. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac (1977) 89/100. The point of this little 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die project is twofold. One, to find a bunch of music that I had never listened to prior to taking on such a project and two, to force myself to listen to a band even though it may go against any impressions of bands that I may have. Fleetwood Mac is a perfect example of the latter.
For some reason, I am not really sure why, I always thought of Fleetwood Mac as an embodiement of cheesy 80's music. Perhaps because of the popularity of Mirage and Tango in the Night in the 80's or it be just selective memory growing up in the 80's. Whatever the reason, I never really paid them much mind and would never really give them a second thought.
Until this past weekend when I took a long drive to a friend's party and decided to put in Rumours so that I could cross it off the list. Now, with a build up like I had given in the first two paragraphs, you would think that I would give some glowing review of Rumours. Not going to happen.
That being said, the most positive thing I can say, Rumours was better than I would have ever given it credit for prior to forcing myself to listen to it. I knew that I had previous experience with Go Your Own Way and The Chain but thought that was it. Until the album started and I realized that a good eight of the eleven songs on the album would make their rounds on Chicago radio over the last couple of decades. So, a lot of it I had heard before without my knowledge that it was Fleetwood Mac. And, some of it I didn't mind - such as Second Hand News.
But, the keywords are, "I didn't mind". Overall, if it weren't for its commercial success, I would have not paid it too much attention. I like The Chain, that is a great song. Oh Daddy I thought was a good track. Same goes for Don't Stop. But for Q to place it as number three in its Best Albums of the 70s list behind Londong Calling and Dark Side of the Moon? I don't think so.
In the end, I don't think of Fleetwood Mac with as much disdain as I did prior to listening to this, I am glad I purchased the album and will listen to it again. Will it be a staple in my rotation? No. Good but not great...haters gonna hate. Listened: 4/16/2011
Favorite Tracks: The Chain, Oh Daddy, Don't Stop
No comments:
Post a Comment