Rumours is the 11th studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. Largely recorded in California during 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut and was released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. The record peaked at the top of both the United States Billboard Top LPs & Tapes and the United Kingdom Albums Chart. "Go Your Own Way", "Don't Stop", "Dreams", and "You Make Loving Fun" were released as singles. A Grammy Award winner, Rumours is Fleetwood Mac's most successful release with sales of over 40 million copies worldwide.

The band wanted to expand on the commercial success of the 1975 record Fleetwood Mac, but struggled with relationship breakups before recording started. The Rumours studio sessions were marked by hedonistic behaviour and interpersonal strife between Fleetwood Mac members; these experiences informed the album's lyrics. Influenced by pop music, the record's tracks were recorded using a combination of acoustic and electric instruments. The mixing process delayed the completion of Rumours, but was finished by the end of 1976. Following the album's release in 1977, Fleetwood Mac undertook worldwide promotional tours.

Rumours garnered widespread critical acclaim. Praise centred on its production quality and harmonies, which frequently relied on the interplay among three vocalists. The record has inspired the work of musical acts in different genres. Often considered Fleetwood Mac's best release, it has featured in several publications' lists of the best albums of the 1970s and the best albums of all time. In 2004, Rumours was remastered and reissued with the addition of an extra track and a bonus CD of outtakes from the recording sessions.

Background

In July 1975, Fleetwood Mac's second eponymous album was released to great commercial success, eventually selling over four million copies. The record's hit single "Rhiannon" gave the band extensive radio exposure. At the time, Fleetwood Mac's line-up consisted of guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham, drummer Mick Fleetwood, keyboardist and vocalist Christine McVie, bassist John McVie, and vocalist Stevie Nicks. After six months of non-stop touring, the McVies divorced, ending nearly eight years of marriage. The couple stopped talking to each other socially and discussed only musical matters.Classic Albums, c. 09:15–11:50 Buckingham and Nicks—who had joined the band before 1975's Fleetwood Mac and after guitarist Bob Welch had leftClassic Albums, c. 01:25–02:35—were having an on/off relationship that led them to fight often. The duo's arguments stopped only when they worked on songs together.Classic Albums, c. 05:20–05:30 Fleetwood faced domestic problems of his own after discovering that his wife Jenny, mother of his two children, had an affair with his best friend.Classic Albums, c. 22:20–23:45

Press intrusions into the band members' lives led to inaccurate stories. Christine McVie was reported to be in hospital with a serious illness, while Buckingham and Nicks were declared the parents of Fleetwood's daughter Lucy after being photographed with her. The press also wrote about a rumoured return of original Fleetwood Mac members Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, and Jeremy Spencer for a 10th anniversary tour.Brunning, p. 108 Despite false reports, the band did not change line-up, although its members had no time to come to terms with the separations before recording for a new album began. Fleetwood has noted the "tremendous emotional sacrifices" made by everyone just to attend studio work.Rooksby, p. 59 In early 1976, Fleetwood Mac crafted some new tracks in Florida.Brackett, p. 118 Founding members Fleetwood and John McVie chose to dispense with the services of their previous producer, Keith Olsen, because he favoured a lower emphasis on the rhythm section. The duo formed a company called Seedy Management to represent the band's interests.Brunning, p. 111

Recording

The Plant - Sausalito - front door 2.jpgthumbright200pxalt=Large, wooden building with a brown door (showing woodland animals play musical instruments) located in the bottom, centre left, and the large numbers "2200" painted in white above the door, centre-right. Asymmetrical trees with hanging foliage frame the building on all sides, while on the asphalt in the foreground, there are parking spaces and a disabled person sign.Rumours was largely recorded in Sausalito's Record Plant, a wooden structure with few windows, located at 2200 Bridgeway.

Sausalito.jpgthumbright200pxalt=Cityscape containing a seafront and, mostly in the top right-hand corner, a hillside with houses. Shrubbery and asphalt are present in the foreground.Fleetwood Mac's female members lived in two of Sausalito's seafront properties, while the men resided at the Record Plant's hillside accommodation.

In February 1976, Fleetwood Mac convened at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, with hired engineers Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. Production duties were shared by the three parties, while the more technically adept Caillat was responsible for most of the engineering; he took a leave of absence from Wally Heider Studios in Los Angeles on the premise that Fleetwood Mac would eventually use their facilities. The set-up in Sausalito included a number of small recording rooms in a large, windowless wooden building. Most band members complained about the studio and wanted to record at their homes, but Fleetwood did not allow any moves.Classic Albums, c. 11:50–12:30 Christine McVie and Nicks decided to live in two condominiums near the city's harbour, while the male contingent stayed at the studio's lodge in the adjacent hills.Classic Albums, c. 31:30–32:55 Recording occurred in a six-by-nine-metre room which included a 3M 24-track tape machine, a range of high-quality microphones, and an API mixing console with 550A equalisers; the latter were used to control frequency differences or a track's timbre. Although Caillat was impressed with the set-up, he felt that the room lacked ambience because of its "very dead speakers" and large amounts of soundproofing.

The record's working title in Sausalito was Yesterday's Dreams. Buckingham took charge of the studio sessions to make "a pop album".Classic Albums, c. 20:10–21:05 According to Dashut, while most of Fleetwood Mac came from an improvisational blues-rock background, the guitarist understood "the craft of record making".Classic Albums, c. 04:40–05:00 During the formative stages of compositions, Buckingham and Christine McVie played guitar and piano together to create the album's basic structures. The latter was the only classically trained musician in Fleetwood Mac, but both shared a similar sense of musicality.Classic Albums, c. 07:00–07:35 When the band jammed, Fleetwood often played his drum kit outside the studio's partition screen to better gauge Caillat's and Dashut's reactions to the music's groove. Baffles were placed around the drums and around John McVie, who played his bass guitar facing Fleetwood. Buckingham performed close to the rhythm section, while Christine McVie's keyboards were kept away from the drum kit. Caillat and Dashut spent about nine days experimenting with a range of microphones and amplifiers before deciding on the best methodology of recording the band.

As the studio sessions progressed, the band members' new intimate relationships, formed after the various separations, started to have a negative effect on Fleetwood Mac.Classic Albums, c. 07:45–08:55Classic Albums, c. 12:45–13:40 The musicians did not meet or socialise after their daily work at the Record Plant. At the time, the hippie movement still affected Sausalito's culture and drugs were readily available. Open-ended budgets enabled the band and the engineers to become self-indulgent;Classic Albums, c. 32:55–34:45 sleepless nights and the extensive use of cocaine marked much of the album's production. Chris Stone, one of the Record Plant's owners, indicated in 1997 that Fleetwood Mac brought "excess at its most excessive" by taking over the studio for long and extremely expensive sessions; he stated, "The band would come in at 7 at night, have a big feast, party till 1 or 2 in the morning, and then when they were so whacked-out they couldn't do anything, they'd start recording".

Nicks has suggested that Fleetwood Mac created the best music when in the worst shape, while, according to Buckingham, the tensions between band members informed the recording process and led to "the whole being more than the sum of the parts". The couple's work became "bittersweet" after their final split, although Buckingham still had a skill for taking Nicks' tracks and "making them beautiful".Classic Albums, c. 16:00–17:15 The vocal harmonies between the duo and Christine McVie worked well and were captured using the best microphones available. Nicks' lyrical focus allowed the instrumentals in the songs that she wrote to be looser and more abstract.Classic Albums, c. 29:20–29:30 According to Dashut, all the recordings captured "emotion and feeling without a middle man ... or tempering". John McVie tended to clash with Buckingham about the make-up of songs, but both admit to achieving good outcomes.Classic Albums, c. 19:10–20:10 Christine McVie's "Songbird", which Caillat felt needed a concert hall's ambience, was recorded during an all-night session at Zellerbach Auditorium, across San Francisco Bay in Berkeley.Classic Albums, c. 41:20–41:45

Following over two months in Sausalito, Fleetwood arranged a ten-day tour to give the band a break and fan feedback. After the concerts, recording resumed at venues in Los Angeles, including Wally Heider Studios. Christine McVie and Nicks did not attend most of the sessions and took time off until they were needed to record any remaining vocals. The rest of Fleetwood Mac, with Caillat and Dashut, struggled to finalise the overdubbing and mixing of Rumours after the Sausalito tapes were damaged by repeated use during recording; the kick and snare drum audio tracks sounded "lifeless". A sell-out autumn tour of the US was cancelled to allow the completion of the album, whose scheduled release date of September 1976 was pushed back.Brunning, p. 110 A specialist was hired to rectify the Sausalito tapes using a vari-speed oscillator. Through a pair of headphones which played the damaged tapes in his left ear and the safety master recordings in his right, he converged their respective speeds aided by the timings provided by the snare and hi-hat audio tracks. Fleetwood Mac and their co-producers wanted a "no-filler" final product, in which every track seemed a potential single. After the final mastering stage and hearing the songs back-to-back, the band members sensed they had recorded something "pretty powerful".Classic Albums, c. 50:30–51:50

Promotion and release

BuckNicks.PNGthumbright200pxalt=A blonde, female singer and a male acoustic guitarist are performing together in concert.Nicks and Buckingham, here photographed in 2003, were integral to Fleetwood Mac's songwriting on Fleetwood Mac in 1975 and Rumours two years later.

In autumn 1976, while still recording, Fleetwood Mac showcased tracks from Rumours at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. John McVie suggested the album title to the band because he felt the members were writing "journals and diaries" about each other through music. Warner Bros. confirmed the release details to the press in December and chose "Go Your Own Way" as a January 1977 promotional single. The label's aggressive marketing of 1975's Fleetwood Mac, in which links with dozens of FM and AM radio stations were formed across America, aided the promotion of Rumours. At the time, the album's advance order of 800,000 copies was the largest in Warner Bros.' history.Brackett, p. 125

Rumours was released on 4 February 1977 in the US and a week later in the UK. The front cover features a stylised shot of Fleetwood and Nicks dressed in her "Rhiannon" stage persona, while the back has a montage of band portraits; all the photographs were taken by Herbert Worthington. On 28 February 1977, after rehearsing at SIR Studios in Los Angeles, Fleetwood Mac started a seven month-long promotional tour of America. Nicks has noted that, after performing mostly Rumours songs during gigs, the band initially encountered poor receptions from fans who were not accustomed to the new material. A one-off March performance at a benefit concert for United States Senator Birch Bayh in Indiana was followed by a short European tour of the UK, the Netherlands, France, and Germany in April. Nigel Williams of Uncut called Fleetwood Mac's performances "rock's greatest soap opera".Brackett, p. 123 "Dreams", released in June 1977, became the band's only number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Composition

Lyrics

Fleetwood Mac's main writers—Buckingham, Christine McVie and Nicks—worked individually on specific songs, but sometimes shared lyrics with each other. "The Chain" is the only track that all members, including Fleetwood and John McVie, collaborated on. All songs on Rumours concern personal, often troubled, relationships. According to Christine McVie, the fact that the lyricists were extensively focusing on the various separations became apparent to the band only with hindsight.Classic Albums, c. 06:00–06:30 "You Make Loving Fun" is about her boyfriend, Fleetwood Mac's lighting director, after she split from John. Nicks' "Dreams" details a breakup and has a hopeful message, while Buckingham's similar effort in "Go Your Own Way" is more pessimistic.Classic Albums, c. 27:50–28:10 After a short fling with a New England woman, he was inspired to write "Never Going Back Again", a song about the illusion of thinking that sadness will never occur again once feeling content with life. The lines "Been down one time/Been down two times" are in reference to the lyricist's efforts when persuading the woman to give him a chance.

"Don't Stop", written by Christine McVie, is a song about optimism. She noted that Buckingham helped her craft the verses because their personal sensibilities overlapped. McVie's next track, "Songbird", features more introspective lyrics about "nobody and everybody" in the form of "a little prayer",Classic Albums, c. 42:20–42:35 while the song "Oh Daddy" is a direct reference to Fleetwood, who the band considered "The Big Daddy". McVie commented that the writing is slightly sarcastic and focuses on the drummer's direction for Fleetwood Mac, which always turned out to be right. Nicks provided the final lines "And I can't walk away from you, baby/If I tried". Her own song, "Gold Dust Woman", is inspired by Los Angeles and the hardship encountered in such a metropolis. After struggling with the rock lifestyle, Nicks became addicted to cocaine and the lyrics address her belief in "keeping going".

Music

Rumours is built around a mix of acoustic and electric instrumentation. Buckingham's guitar work and Christine McVie's use of Fender Rhodes piano or Hammond B-3 organ are present in all tracks. The record often includes stressed drum sounds and distinctive percussion such as congas and maracas. It opens with "Second Hand News", originally an acoustic demo titled "Strummer". After hearing Bee Gees' "Jive Talking", Buckingham and co-producer Dashut built up the song with four audio tracks of electric guitar and the use of chair percussion to evoke celtic rock. "Dreams" includes "ethereal spaces" and a recurring two note pattern on the bass guitar. Nicks wrote the song in five minutes and led the vocals, while the band played around her. The third track on Rumours, "Never Going Back Again", was also created as a simple acoustic demo, titled "Brushes"; Fleetwood Mac then added further instrumental audio tracks to make it more layered. Inspired by triple step dancing patterns, "Don't Stop" includes both conventional acoustic and tack piano. In the latter instrument, nails are placed on the points where the hammers hit the strings, producing a more percussive sound. "Go Your Own Way" is more guitar-oriented and has a four-to-the-floor dance beat influenced by The Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man". The album's pace slows down with "Songbird", conceived solely by Christine McVie using a nine foot Steinway piano.

Side two of Rumours begins with "The Chain", one of the record's most complicated compositions. A Christine McVie demo, "Keep Me There", and a Nicks song were re-cut in the studio and were heavily edited to form parts of the track.Classic Albums, c. 54:10–55:40 The whole of the band crafted the rest using an approach akin to creating a film score; John McVie provided a prominent solo using a fretless bass guitar, which marked a speeding up in tempo and the start of the song's final third. Inspired by R&B, "You Make Loving Fun" has a simpler composition and features a clavinet, a special type of keyboard instrument, while the rhythm section plays interlocking notes and beats. The ninth track on Rumours, "I Don't Want to Know", makes use of a twelve string guitar and harmonising vocals. Influenced by the music of Buddy Holly, Buckingham and Nicks created it in 1974 before they were in Fleetwood Mac. "Oh Daddy" was crafted spontaneously and includes improvised bass guitar patterns from John McVie and keyboard blips from Christine McVie. The album ends with "Gold Dust Woman", a song inspired by free jazz, which has music from a harpsichord, a Fender Stratocaster guitar, and a dobro, an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal cones.

Reception

Commercial

Rumours was a huge commercial success and became Fleetwood Mac's second US number one record, following the 1975 eponymous release. It stayed at the top of the Billboard 200 for 31 non-consecutive weeks,Rooksby, p. 60 while also reaching number one in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The album was certified platinum in America and the UK within months of release after one million units and 300,000 units were shipped respectively. Note: User search required. All three major US trade publications—Billboard, Cash Box, and Record World—named it Album of the Year for 1977. After a debut at number three, Rumours peaked at the top of the UK Albums Chart in January 1978, becoming Fleetwood Mac's first number one in the country. In February, the band and co-producers Caillat and Dashut won the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. By March, the album had sold over 10 million copies worldwide, including over eight million in the US alone.

By 1980, 13 million copies of Rumours had been sold worldwide, a figure which increased to nearly 20 million by 1987. By the time of Fleetwood Mac's reunion tour in 1997, it had sold 25 million copies worldwide. The amount rose to 30 million by 2004, and to 40 million by 2009. , Rumours is the 13th best-selling album in UK history and is certified 10× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, the equivalent of three million units shipped. Note: User search required. The record has received a Diamond Award by the Recording Industry Association of America for a 19× platinum certification or 19 million units shipped. , it is the 10th best-selling album in US history. It is also certified 2× diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association after shipping two million units, it debuted at #1 in Canada when it was released with sales of 59,000, Note: User search required. and 12× platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association, the equivalent of 840,000 copies shipped. By 2006 it was also certified 5× gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie for shipping 1,250,000 copies in Germany.

Critical

Rumours has been acclaimed by the media since its release. Robert Christgau, reviewing in The Village Voice, described it as "more consistent and more eccentric" than its predecessor and thought that it "jumps right out of the speakers at you". John Swenson of Rolling Stone explained that the interplay among the three vocalists was one of the album's most pleasing elements; he stated, "Despite the interminable delay in finishing the record, Rumours proves that the success of Fleetwood Mac was no fluke." John Rockwell of The New York Times wrote that it is "a delightful disk, and one hopes the public thinks so, too", while Dave Marsh of the St. Petersburg Times commented that the songs are "as grandly glossy as anything right now". Robert Hilburn of Los Angeles Times was less receptive and called Rumours a "frustratingly uneven" record, while Juan Rodriguez of The Gazette suggested that, while the music is "crisper and clearer", Fleetwood Mac's ideas are "slightly more muddled". The album was listed at number four in The Village Voices 1977 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, which aggregates the votes of hundreds of prominent reviewers.

In a retrospective piece, Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that, regardless of the voyeuristic element, the record was "an unparalleled blockbuster" because of the music's quality; he concluded, "Each tune, each phrase regains its raw, immediate emotional power—which is why Rumours touched a nerve upon its 1977 release, and has since transcended its era to be one of the greatest, most compelling pop albums of all time." In a 2004 review, Slant's Barry Walsh praised Fleetwood Mac for turning romantic dysfunction and personal turmoil into "classic, undying pop". In 2007, BBC's Daryl Easlea labelled the sonic results as "near perfect", "like a thousand angels kissing you sweetly on the forehead", while Patrick McKay of Stylus wrote, "What distinguishes Rumours—what makes it art—is the contradiction between its cheerful surface and its anguished heart. Here is a radio-friendly record about anger, recrimination, and loss."

Legacy

Mick Fleetwood has called Rumours "the most important album we ever made", because its success allowed the group to continue recording for years to come.Classic Albums, c. 56:05–56:25 Pop culture journalist Chuck Klosterman links the record's sales figures to its "really likable songs", but suggests that "no justification for greatness" is intrinsically provided by them. The Guardian collated worldwide data in 1997 from a range of renowned critics, artists, and radio DJs, who placed the record at number 78 in the list of the 100 Best Albums Ever. In 1998, Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was produced by Fleetwood and released. The record contained each song of the original Rumours covered by a different act influenced by it. Among the musicians involved were alternative rock bands Tonic, Matchbox 20, and Goo Goo Dolls, celtic rock groups The Corrs and The Cranberries, and singer-songwriters Elton John, Duncan Sheik, and Jewel. Other diverse acts influenced by Rumours include baroque pop artist Tori Amos, hard rock group Saliva, and indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie.

In 1998, Q placed Rumours at number three—behind The Clash's London Calling and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon—in its list of 50 Best Albums of the 70s. In 1999, Vibe featured it as one of 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century. In 2003, VH1 ranked the record at number 16 during its 100 Greatest Albums countdown, while Slant included it as one of 50 Essential Pop Albums. The same year, USA Today placed Rumours at number 23 in its Top 40 Albums list, while Rolling Stone ranked it at number 25 in its special issue of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", the highest Fleetwood Mac record. In 2006, Time named it in its All-TIME 100 Albums shortlist, while Mojo featured it in its unnumbered list of 70 from the 1970s: Decade’s Greatest Albums. The record is included in both The Guardians "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die" and the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Personnel

Those involved in the making of Rumours are:

Band

* Lindsey Buckingham – vocals, guitar

* Christine McVie – vocals, keyboards

* John McVie – bass guitar

* Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion

* Stevie Nicks – vocals

Production

* Ken Caillat – producer, engineer, mastering

* Richard Dashut – producer, engineer

* Fleetwood Mac – producers

* Cris Morris – assistant engineer

* Ken Perry – mastering

* Charlie Watts – mastering

Artwork

* Desmond Strobel – design

* Larry Vigon – calligraphy

* Herbert Worthington – photography

Chart positions

Album

Singles

References

;Footnotes

;Bibliography

*

*

*

*

Artist/Band Information

Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in 1967 in London.

The only original member present in the band is its namesake drummer, Mick Fleetwood. Despite band founder Peter Green naming the group by combining the surnames of two of his former bandmates (Fleetwood, McVie) from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, bassist John McVie played neither on their first single nor at their first concerts. The keyboardist, Christine McVie, has, to date, appeared on all but two albums, either as a member or as a session musician. She also supplied the artwork for the album Kiln House.

The two most successful periods for the band were during the late 1960s British blues boom, when they were led by guitarist Peter Green and achieved a UK number one with "Albatross"; and from 1975 to 1987, with more pop-orientation, featuring Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham, 1977's Rumours, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles (including Nicks' song "Dreams", which was the band's first and only U.S. number one) and remained at #1 on the American albums chart for 31 weeks, as well as reaching the top spot in various countries around the world. To date the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the ninth highest selling album of all time.

The band enjoyed more modest success in the intervening period between 1971 and 1974, with the line-up including Bob Welch, and also during the 1990s which saw more personnel changes before the return of Nicks and Buckingham in 1997, and more recently, the departure of Christine McVie.

History

Formation and early years (1967–1970)

Fleetwood Mac were formed in 1967 in London when Peter Green left the British blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Green had replaced guitarist Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers, and received critical acclaim for his work on their album A Hard Road. After he had been in the Bluesbreakers for some time, Green asked if drummer Mick Fleetwood could replace Aynsley Dunbar. Green had been in two bands with Fleetwood—"Peter B's Looners" and the subsequent "Shotgun Express" (which featured a young vocalist named Rod Stewart). John Mayall agreed and Fleetwood became a member of the band.

The Bluesbreakers now consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie and Mayall. Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, in which Fleetwood, McVie and Green recorded five songs. The fifth song was an instrumental which Green named after the rhythm section, "Fleetwood Mac".

Green contacted Fleetwood to form a new band. The pair desperately wanted McVie on bass and even named the band 'Fleetwood Mac' as a way to entice him. However McVie opted for steady work with Mayall rather than the unknown of a new band. In the meantime Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood teamed up with talented slide player Jeremy Spencer and bassist Bob Brunning, who was in the band on the understanding that he would leave if and when McVie agreed to join. The Green, Fleetwood, Spencer, Brunning version of the band made its debut on 13 August 1967 at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. Within weeks of this show, John McVie agreed to become the bassist for the band.

Fleetwood Mac's first album, Fleetwood Mac, was a no-frills blues album and was released on the Blue Horizon label in February 1968. In fact there were no other players on the album (except for the song "Long Grey Mare", which was recorded when Bob Brunning was in the band). The album was successful in the UK, hitting no.4, though it did not have any singles on it. The band soon released two singles "Black Magic Woman" (later a big hit for Santana) and "Need Your Love So Bad".

The band's second album, Mr. Wonderful, was released in August 1968. Like the first it was an all-blues album, but this time they made a few changes. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board. This method provided the ideal environment for producing this style of music, and gave it an authentically vintage sound. They also added horns and featured a friend of the band on keyboards, Christine Perfect of Chicken Shack.

Shortly after the release of their second album Fleetwood Mac added guitarist Danny Kirwan, then just eighteen years old, to their line-up. Green had been frustrated that Jeremy Spencer had little desire to contribute to Green's songs. A mature and accomplished self-taught guitarist, Kirwan's signature vibrato and unique style added a new dimension to an already complete band. With Kirwan the band released their first number one single in Europe, "Albatross". Around this time they released their second American album, English Rose, which contained half of Mr. Wonderful, new songs from Kirwan, and their third European album called The Pious Bird of Good Omen, which was a collection of singles, B-sides, and a selection of some work the band did with Eddie Boyd.

When the band went to the United States in January 1969 they recorded many songs at the soon-to-close Chess Records Studio, with some blues legends of Chicago including Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and Otis Spann. These would prove, however, to be Fleetwood Mac's last all-blues recordings. Along with their change of style the band was also going through some label changes. Up until this point they had been on Blue Horizon. With Kirwan in the band, however, the musical possibilities were too great for them to stay on a blues-only label. The band signed with the Immediate Records label and released "Man of the World", another British and European hit single. For the B-side Spencer fronted Fleetwood Mac as "Earl Vince and the Valiants" and recorded "Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite", typifying the more raucous rock 'n' roll side of the band. Immediate Records was in bad shape and the band shopped around for a new deal. Even though The Beatles wanted the band on Apple Records (Mick Fleetwood and George Harrison were brothers-in-law), the band's manager Clifford Davis decided to go with Warner Bros. Records (Reprise), the label they have stayed with ever since. Their first album for Reprise, released in September 1969, was the well-regarded Then Play On. The American release of this album contains the song "Oh Well", featured consistently in live performances from the time of its release through 1997 and then again starting in 2009. Then Play On, which was the band's first rock album, featured only the songs of Kirwan and Green. Jeremy Spencer, meanwhile, recorded a solo album (he was backed by the rest of the band) which consisted of many 1950s-style rock and roll songs.

In July 1969 Fleetwood Mac opened for Ten Years After at the Schaefer Music Festival at New York City's Wollman Rink. They re-appeared at the festival in 1970.

Fleetwood Mac were an extremely popular band in Europe at the time. However, Peter Green, the frontman of the band, was not in good health. He had taken LSD in Munich, which contributed to the onset of his schizophrenia.

German author and filmmaker Rainer Langhans mentions in his autobiography that he and Uschi Obermaier met Peter Green in Munich, where they invited him to their "High-Fish-Commune". They were not really interested in Peter Green. They just wanted to get in contact with Mick Taylor: Langhans and Obermaier wished to organise a "Bavarian Woodstock". They wanted Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones to be the leading acts of their Bavarian open air festival. They needed the 'Green God' just to get in contact with The Rolling Stones via Mick Taylor.

Green's last hit with Fleetwood Mac was "The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Prong Crown)" (first recorded at the Boston Tea Party in February 1970 and later recorded by Judas Priest). Green's mental stability deteriorated, and he wanted to give all of the band's money to charity. Some other members of the band did not agree, and subsequently Green decided to leave the band. His last show with Fleetwood Mac was on 20 May 1970. During that show, the band went past their allotted time, and the power was shut off. Mick Fleetwood kept drumming.

Transitional era (1970–1975)

Kirwan and Spencer were left with the task of having to fill up Peter's space in their shows and on their recordings. In September 1970, Fleetwood Mac released Kiln House. Kirwan's songs moved the band in the direction of 70s rock. Meanwhile, Spencer's contributions focused on re-creating the country-tinged "Sun Sound" of the late 1950s. Christine Perfect, who had retired from the music business after one unsuccessful solo album, contributed to Kiln House, singing backup vocals, and drawing the album cover. Since Fleetwood Mac were progressing and developing a new sound, Perfect was asked to join the band. They also released a single at that time; "Dragonfly" b/w "The Purple Dancer" in the U.K. and certain European countries. Despite good notices in the press, the single was not a success and the B-side has only been reissued once, on a Reprise German-only "Best of" album, making it one of their most obscure songs.

mysteryband2.jpgthumb1973 lineup with Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Bob Weston, John McVie, and Bob Welch.

Christine Perfect was married to bassist John McVie, and made her first appearance with the band as Christine McVie at Bristol University in May 1969 just as she was leaving Chicken Shack. She had had success with the Etta James classic, "I'd Rather Go Blind", and was twice voted female artist of the year in England. Christine McVie played her first gig as an official member on 6 August 1970 in New Orleans. Columbia Records, which now owned Blue Horizon (except in the US and Canada), released an album of previously unreleased material from the original Fleetwood Mac called The Original Fleetwood Mac. The album was relatively successful, and the band seemed to be gaining popularity again.

While on tour in February 1971, Jeremy Spencer said he was going out to "get a magazine", but never returned. After several days of frantic searching, the band discovered that Spencer had joined a religious group, the Children of God. Liable for the remaining shows on the tour, they convinced Peter Green to help finish the tour. He brought along his friend, Nigel Watson, who played the congas (twenty-five years later Green and Watson would collaborate again to form the Peter Green Splinter Group). Green, however, would only be back with Fleetwood Mac temporarily, so the band decided to search for a new guitarist.

In the summer of 1971, the band held auditions for a guitarist in their large country home, "Benifold", which they bought prior to the Kiln House tour. A friend of the band named Judy Wong recommended her high school friend, Bob Welch, who was living in Paris at the time. The band had a few meetings with Welch and decided to hire him, without actually playing with him or listening to any of his recordings.

In September 1971, the band released Future Games. This album was radically different from anything the band had done up to that point. There were many new fans in America who were becoming more and more interested in the band. In Europe, CBS released Fleetwood Mac's first Greatest Hits package, which was predominantly composed of songs by Peter Green, though there was one song by Spencer and one by Kirwan.

In 1972, six months after the release of Future Games, the band released the well-received album Bare Trees. Bare Trees featured Welch's "Sentimental Lady", which would be a much bigger hit for him five years later when he re-recorded it for his album French Kiss, backed with Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham, for a solo album. It also featured "Spare Me a Little of Your Love", a bright Christine McVie tune that would become a staple of the band's live act throughout the early-to-mid 1970s.

While the band were doing well in the studio, their tours were more problematic. Danny Kirwan developed an alcohol dependency and became alienated from Welch and the McVies. It wasn't until he smashed his Les Paul Custom guitar, refused to go on stage one night, and criticised the band afterwards that Fleetwood finally decided that he had no choice but to fire Kirwan.

The next two and a half years proved to be the most challenging for the band. In the three albums they would release in this period, they would constantly change line-ups. In September 1972, the band added guitarist Bob Weston and vocalist Dave Walker, formerly of Savoy Brown. Bob Weston was well known for playing slide guitar and had known the band from his touring period with Long John Baldry. Fleetwood Mac also hired Savoy Brown's road manager, John Courage. Mick, John, Christine, Welch, Weston, and Walker recorded Penguin, which was released in January 1973. After the tour, the band fired Walker because his vocal style and attitude did not fit in with the rest of the band.

The remaining five carried on and recorded Mystery to Me six months later. This album contained the song "Hypnotized" which got a lot of airplay on the radio and became one of the band's most recognisable songs to date. The band were justifiably proud of the new album and were poised to make it a hit. However, things were not well within the band. The McVies' marriage at this time was under a lot of stress, which was aggravated by their constant working with each other, and John McVie's considerable alcohol abuse. During the tour, Weston had an affair with Fleetwood's wife, Jenny Boyd Fleetwood, the sister of Pattie Boyd Harrison. Fleetwood soon fired Weston and the tour was cancelled. Due to lack of touring, the album sold less than its predecessor.

In what would be one of the most bizarre events in rock history, the band's manager, Clifford Davis, claimed that he owned the name Fleetwood Mac and put out a "fake Mac". Nobody in the "fake Mac" was ever officially in the real band, although some of them later acted as Danny Kirwan's studio band. Fans were told that Bob Welch and John McVie had quit the group, and that Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie would be joining the band at a later date, after getting some rest. Fleetwood Mac's road manager, John Courage, worked one show before he realised that the line being used was a lie. Courage ended up hiding the real Fleetwood Mac's equipment, which helped shorten the tour by the fake band. But the lawsuit that followed put the real Fleetwood Mac out of commission for almost a year. The issue was who actually owned the name "Fleetwood Mac". While it would seem obvious that the band was named after Fleetwood and McVie, they had signed contracts that showed the band forfeited the rights to the name.

During this period, Welch stayed in Los Angeles and connected with entertainment attorneys. Welch quickly realised that the band was being neglected by Warner Bros., and that if they wanted to change that, they would have to change their base of operation to Los Angeles. The rest of the band agreed immediately. Rock promoter Bill Graham wrote a letter to Warner Bros. to convince them that the "real" Fleetwood Mac were in fact Fleetwood, Welch and the McVies. While this did not end the legal battle, the band was able to record as Fleetwood Mac again. Instead of getting another manager, Fleetwood Mac decided to manage themselves.

The fake Mac consisted of Elmer Gantry (vocals, guitar), Kirby Gregory (guitar), Paul Martinez (bass), John Wilkinson (keyboards) and Craig Collinge (drums). Gantry and Gregory went on to become members of Stretch, Gantry would later join the Alan Parsons Project and Martinez would eventually become a bassist for Robert Plant's solo efforts.

After Warner Bros. made a record deal with the real Fleetwood Mac, the quartet released Heroes Are Hard to Find in September 1974. For the first time in its history, the band only had one guitarist. On the road, they added a second keyboardist. The first was Bobby Hunt, who had been in the band Head West with Bob Welch back in 1970. The second was Doug Graves, who was an engineer on Heroes Are Hard to Find. Neither lasted too long.

This tour proved to be the last one for Bob Welch. The constant touring had taken its toll on him. He felt that he had hit the end of his creative road with the band. While his tenure wasn't a commercial success, Bob Welch provided musical and professional direction to the group, helped the band through three major crises, and left it in a situation where it had a record contract, a direct line to the record company, connections to industry insiders, no pressure from the record company, and a management situation that would help foster creativity. Thus, many feel that Bob Welch had laid the foundations for Fleetwood Mac's future. Moreover, this last tour enabled the Heroes album to reach a higher position on the American charts than any of the band's previous records.

Mainstream success (1975–1987)

After Welch announced that he was leaving the band, Fleetwood began searching for a possible replacement. While Fleetwood was scouting Van Nuys, California, the house engineer for California's Sound City Studios, Keith Olsen, played him a track titled "Frozen Love" (from Buckingham Nicks, Polydor PD 5058, September 1973), which he had mixed there for an American band, Buckingham Nicks. Fleetwood liked it, and was introduced to the guitarist from the band, Lindsey Buckingham, who coincidentally was at Sound City that day recording some demos. Fleetwood soon asked him to join. Buckingham agreed, on the condition that his musical partner and girlfriend, Stephanie "Stevie" Nicks, also become part of the band; Fleetwood agreed.

In 1975, the new line-up released the eponymous Fleetwood Mac. The album proved to be a breakthrough for the band and became a huge hit, reaching #1 in the US and selling over 5 million copies. Among the hit singles from this album were Christine McVie's "Over My Head" and "Say You Love Me", and Stevie Nicks' "Rhiannon" and "Landslide" (actually a hit twenty years later on The Dance album).

But in 1976, with the success of the band also came the end of John and Christine McVie's marriage, as well as Buckingham's and Nicks' long term romantic relationship. Even Fleetwood was in the midst of divorce proceedings from his wife, Jenny. The pressure put on Fleetwood Mac to release a successful follow-up album, combined with their new-found wealth, led to creative and personal tensions, fuelled by high consumption of drugs and alcohol.

The album the band members released in 1977 was Rumours, in which they laid bare the emotional turmoil experienced at that time. Critically acclaimed, it was the recipient of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for 1977. Hit singles included Buckingham's "Go Your Own Way", Nicks's U.S. #1 "Dreams" (), and Christine McVie's "Don't Stop" and "You Make Loving Fun". Buckingham's "Second Hand News", Nicks' "Gold Dust Woman" and "The Chain" (the only song written by all five bandmates) also received significant radio airplay. By 2003, Rumours had sold over 19 million copies in the U.S. alone (certified as a diamond album by the RIAA), and a total of 40 million copies worldwide, maintaining its status as one of the biggest-selling albums of all time.

Buckingham was able to convince Fleetwood to allow his work on their next album to be more experimental and to work on tracks at home, then bring them to the band in the studio. His expanded creative role for the next album was influenced by an appreciation for New Wave music.

The result of this was the quirky 20-track double album, Tusk, released in 1979. It spawned three hit singles; Lindsey Buckingham's "Tusk" (U.S. #8), which featured the USC Trojan Marching Band; Christine McVie's "Think About Me" (U.S. #20); and Stevie Nicks' 6½ minute opus "Sara" (U.S. #7). The last of those three was cut to 4½ minutes for both the hit single and the first CD-release of the album, but the unedited version has since been restored on the 1988 Greatest Hits compilation and the 2004 reissue of Tusk as well as Fleetwood Mac's 2002 release of The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac. Original guitarist Green also took part in the sessions of Tusk, but his playing for the Christine McVie track "Brown Eyes" is not credited on the album.

Tusk remains one of Fleetwood Mac's most ambitious albums to date, although selling only four million copies worldwide. This, in comparison to the huge sales of Rumours, inclined the label to deem the project a failure, laying the blame squarely on Buckingham. Fleetwood, however, blames the album's relative failure on the RKO radio chain playing the album in its entirety prior to release, thus allowing mass home taping. In addition, Tusk was a double album, with a high list price of $15.98.

The band embarked on a huge 18-month tour to support and promote Tusk. They travelled extensively across the world, including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. In Germany they shared the bill with reggae superstar Bob Marley. It was on this world tour that the band recorded music for the Fleetwood Mac Live album, which was released at the end of 1980.

The next album, 1982's Mirage, following 1981 solo turns by Nicks (Bella Donna) and Buckingham (Law and Order), was a return to the more conventional. Buckingham had been chided by critics, fellow bandmembers and music business managers for the lesser commercial success enjoyed by Tusk. Recorded at a château in France, Mirage was an attempt to recapture the huge success of Rumours. Its hits included Christine McVie's "Hold Me" and "Love In Store" (each song being co-written by Robbie Patton and Jim Recor, respectively), Stevie Nicks's "Gypsy", and Lindsey Buckingham's "Oh Diane", which made the Top 10 in the UK. A minor hit was also scored by Buckingham's "Eyes Of The World".

In contrast to the Tusk Tour, the band only embarked on a short tour of 18 American cities, the Los Angeles show being recorded and released on video. It also headlined the first US Festival, for which the band was paid $500,000 ($ in current dollar terms). Mirage was certified double platinum in the U.S.

Following Mirage, the band went on hiatus, which allowed members to pursue solo careers. Stevie Nicks released two more solo albums (1983's The Wild Heart and 1985's Rock a Little), Lindsey Buckingham issued Go Insane in 1984, the same year that Christine McVie made an eponymous album (yielding the Top 10 hit "Got A Hold On Me" and the Top 40 hit "Love Will Show Us How"). All three met with success but it was Nicks who became the most popular. However, also during this period, Mick Fleetwood had filed for bankruptcy, Nicks was admitted to the Betty Ford Clinic for addiction problems, and John McVie had suffered an addiction-related seizure—all attributed to the lifestyle of excess afforded to them by their worldwide success. It was rumoured that Fleetwood Mac had finally broken up; however, Buckingham commented that he was unhappy to allow Mirage to remain as the band's last effort.

The Rumours line-up of Fleetwood Mac recorded one more album for the time being, Tango in the Night, in 1987. Initially, as with various other Fleetwood Mac albums, the material started off as a Buckingham solo album before becoming a group project. The album went on to become their best-selling release since Rumours, especially in the UK where it hit no. 1 three times over the following year. The album sold three million copies in the USA and contained four hits: Christine McVie's "Little Lies" and "Everywhere" (the former being co-written with McVie's new husband Eddy Quintela), Sandy Stewart and Stevie Nicks's "Seven Wonders", and Lindsey Buckingham's "Big Love". "Family Man" and "Isn't It Midnight" were also released as singles, with lesser success.

Broken chain (1987–1997)

Fleetwood Mac 1990.JPGthumb1987–91 lineup of Fleetwood Mac

Following Buckingham's departure, Fleetwood Mac added two new guitarists to the band, Billy Burnette and Rick Vito. Burnette was mainly added for his singing and songwriting skills and Vito for his lead guitar abilities.

Burnette is the son of Dorsey Burnette and nephew of Johnny Burnette, both of The Rock and Roll Trio. He had already worked with Mick Fleetwood in Zoo, with Christine McVie as part of her solo band, did some session work with Stevie Nicks and even backed Lindsey Buckingham on Saturday Night Live. Furthermore, Fleetwood and Christine McVie played on his Try Me album in 1985. Vito, a Peter Green admirer, played with many artists from Bonnie Raitt to John Mayall, and even worked with John McVie on two Mayall albums.

The 1987–88 "Shake the Cage" tour was the first outing for this line-up, and was successful enough to warrant the release of a concert video (simply titled "Tango in the Night"), filmed at San Francisco's Cow Palace arena in December 1987.

Capitalising on the success of Tango in the Night, the band continued with a Greatest Hits album in 1988. It featured singles from the 1975–88 era, and included two new compositions: "No Questions Asked" written by Nicks, and "As Long as You Follow" written by McVie and Quintela, which was released as a single in 1988 but only made #43 in the US and #66 in the UK. It did, however, reach #1 on the US Adult Contemporary charts. The Greatest Hits album, which peaked at #3 in the UK and #14 in the US (though has since sold over 8 million copies there), was dedicated to Buckingham by the band, with whom they had now reconciled.

Following the Greatest Hits collection, Fleetwood Mac recorded Behind the Mask. With this album, the band veered away from the stylised sound that Buckingham had evolved during his tenure in the band (also evident in his solo works), and ended up with a more adult contemporary style from producer Greg Ladanyi. However, the album yielded only one Top 40 hit, McVie's "Save Me". Behind the Mask only achieved Gold album status in the US, peaking at #18 on the Billboard album chart, though it entered the UK Albums Chart at #1. It received mixed reviews, and was seen by some music critics as a low point for the band in the absence of Lindsey Buckingham (who had actually made a guest appearance by playing on the title track). However, Rolling Stone magazine said that Vito and Burnette were "the best thing to ever happen to Fleetwood Mac" and the British Q magazine also praised the album in their review. The subsequent "Behind the Mask" tour saw the band play sold out shows at London's Wembley Stadium, and on the final show in Los Angeles, the band were joined onstage by Buckingham. The two women of the band, McVie and Nicks, had decided that the tour would be their last (McVie's father died during the tour) though both stated that they would still record with the band. However, in 1991, both Nicks and Rick Vito announced they were leaving Fleetwood Mac altogether.

In 1992, Fleetwood himself arranged a 4-disc box set spanning highlights from the band's 25 year history, titled 25 Years – The Chain (an edited 2-disc set was also available). A notable inclusion in the box set was "Silver Springs", a Stevie Nicks composition that was recorded during the Rumours sessions but was omitted from the album and used as the B-side of "Go Your Own Way" instead. Nicks had requested use of the track for her 1991 best-of compilation TimeSpace, but Fleetwood had refused her request as he had planned to include it in this collection as something of a rarity. The disagreement between Nicks and Fleetwood garnered press coverage, and is believed to be the main catalyst for Nicks leaving the band in 1991. The box set, however, also included a brand new Stevie Nicks/Rick Vito composition, "Paper Doll", which was released in the US as a single. As both members had left the band by this point, the track was presumably a leftover from the Behind the Mask sessions. There were also two new Christine McVie compositions, "Heart of Stone" and "Love Shines", the latter of which was released as a single in the UK and certain other territories. Lindsey Buckingham also contributed a new song, "Make Me a Mask", which bore all the markings of an insular Buckingham studio creation, devoid of input from other band members. Mick Fleetwood also released a deluxe hardcover companion book to coincide with the release of the box set, titled My 25 Years in Fleetwood Mac. The volume featured many rare photographs and notes (written by Fleetwood himself) detailing the band's 25 year history.

Some months after this, the Buckingham/Nicks/McVie/McVie/Fleetwood lineup reunited at the request of U.S. President Bill Clinton for his first Inaugural Ball in 1993. Clinton had made Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" his campaign theme song. His subsequent request to perform it at the Inauguration Ball was met with enthusiasm by the band, however this lineup had no intention to reunite again.

Inspired by the new interest in the band, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Christine McVie recorded another album as Fleetwood Mac, with Billy Burnette taking on lead guitar duties. However, just as they made the decision to continue, Billy Burnette announced in March 1993, that he was leaving the band to pursue a country album and an acting career. Bekka Bramlett, who had worked a year earlier with Mick Fleetwood's Zoo, was recruited. Solo singer/songwriter/guitarist and Traffic's Dave Mason, who had worked with Bekka's parents Delaney & Bonnie twenty five years earlier, was subsequently added. By March 1994, Billy Burnette, himself a good friend and co-songwriter with Delaney Bramlett, returned with Fleetwood's blessing.

The band, minus Christine McVie, toured in 1994, opening for Crosby, Stills, & Nash, and in 1995 as part of a package with REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar. The tour saw the band perform classic Fleetwood Mac songs from the initial 1967–1974 era. In 1995, at a concert in Tokyo, the band was greeted by former member Jeremy Spencer, who performed a few songs with them.

On 10 October 1995, Fleetwood Mac released the unsuccessful Time album. Although hitting the UK Top 60 for one week the album had zero impact in the US. It failed even to graze the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, a stunning reversal for a band that had been a mainstay on that chart for most of the previous two decades. Shortly after the album's release, Christine McVie informed the band that the album was her last. Bramlett and Burnette subsequently formed a country music duo, Bekka & Billy.

Re-connected chain (1997–2007)

Just weeks after disbanding Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood announced that he was working with Lindsey Buckingham again. John McVie was soon added to the sessions, and later Christine McVie. Stevie Nicks also enlisted Lindsey Buckingham to produce a song for a soundtrack.

In May 1996, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks made an appearance at a private party in Louisville, Kentucky prior to the Kentucky Derby (with Steve Winwood filling in for Lindsey Buckingham). A week later, the Twister film soundtrack was released, which featured the Stevie Nicks-Lindsey Buckingham duet, "Twisted", with Mick Fleetwood on drums. This eventually led to a full Rumours line-up reunion when the band officially reformed in March 1997. The result came in the form of a live concert recorded on a Warner Bros. Burbank, California soundstage on 22 May, which resulted in the 1997 live album The Dance, returning Fleetwood Mac to the top of the US album charts for the first time in 15 years. The album returned Fleetwood Mac to their superstar commercial status that they had not enjoyed since their Tango in the Night album. The album was certified a 5 million seller by the RIAA. A successful arena tour followed the MTV premiere of The Dance, which kept the reunited Mac on the road throughout much of 1997, the 20th anniversary of their Rumours album. However, this would be the final foray of the classic 1970s lineup with Christine McVie.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.jpgleftthumbStevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham on the Say You Will Tour, 2003

In 1998, Fleetwood Mac (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed at the Grammy Awards program that year. They were also the recipients of the "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award at the BRIT Awards (British Phonographic Industry Awards) the same year.

In 1998, Christine McVie left the band and returned to the UK to retire from touring (though not from the music business entirely as she created a new album, In the Meantime, in 2004). Her departure left Buckingham and Nicks to sing all the lead vocals for the band's 2003 album, Say You Will, although Christine did contribute some backing vocals and keyboards. The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart (#6 in the UK) and yielded chart hits with "Peacekeeper" and the title track, and a successful world arena tour which lasted through 2004.

In interviews given in November 2006 to support his solo album Under the Skin, Buckingham stated that plans for the band to reunite once more for a 2008 tour were still on the cards. Recording plans have been put on hold for the foreseeable future. In a September 2007 interview Stevie Nicks gave to the UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, she noted that she was unwilling to carry on with the band unless Christine McVie returned.

However in a more recent interview, Mick Fleetwood said "...be very happy and hopeful that we will be working again. I can tell you everyone's going to be extremely excited about what's happening with Fleetwood Mac."

Unleashed tour and future projects (2008–present)

On March 14, 2008, the Associated Press reported Sheryl Crow as saying that she would be working with Fleetwood Mac in 2009. Crow and Stevie Nicks collaborated a great deal in the past and she has stated that Nicks has been a great teacher and inspiration for her. In a subsequent interview with Buckingham, he said after discussions between the band and Crow, the potential collaboration with Crow "lost its momentum". However, in a June 2008 interview, Nicks denied that Crow would be joining Fleetwood Mac as a replacement for Christine McVie. According to Nicks, "the group will start working on material and recording probably in October, and finish an album."http On October 7, 2008, Mick Fleetwood confirmed on the BBC's The One Show that the band were working in the studio and also announced plans for a world tour in 2009.

On June 9, 2008, The New York Times reported that Irving Azoff was in the process of negotiating a deal with Wal-Mart for Fleetwood Mac's new album. The article states "...And Mr. Azoff said that he was already talking to Wal-Mart about an exclusive deal for Fleetwood Mac’s next release."

In late 2008, Fleetwood Mac announced that the band would tour in 2009, beginning in March. As per the 2003–2004 tour, Christine McVie will not be featured in the lineup. The tour is branded as a 'greatest hits' show entitled Unleashed, although they will also play album tracks such as "Storms" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong". The first show was on 1 March 2009, and in February they announced a slew of new dates.

According to Billboard, Mick Fleetwood said during a teleconference with reporters on 12 February 2009, "This is the first time we've gone on the road without an album. This is truly a new experience for Fleetwood Mac to go out and play songs that we believe and hope people are going to be familiar with and love."

Stevie Nicks stated that, with regard to a new Fleetwood Mac album, "There isn't any plan at this point... for any album. We're going to get through this tour before deciding what to do with an album."

During the concerts mentioned, Buckingham stated, "the time is right to go back to the studio—but only after a tour. I think maybe there was even a sense that we would make a better album if we went out and hung out together first on the road ... Maybe even sowing some seeds musically that would get us more prepared to go in the studio rather than just going in cold. It takes the pressure from having to go in and make something cold."

During their show on June 20, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Stevie Nicks premiered part of a new song that she had written about Hurricane Katrina.

In October 2009, the band began a tour of Europe which carried on into early November, followed by a tour of Australia and New Zealand in December.

Also in October The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac was re-released in an extended two-disc format (this format having been released in the US in 2002), premiering at number six on the UK Albums Chart.

During a show on October 30 in London's Wembley Arena, Buckingham re-confirmed possibilities of a new album and a future tour to promote it.

On November 1, 2009, a new one-hour documentary, Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop, was broadcast in the UK on BBC One, which featured recent interviews with all four current band members. During the documentary, Nicks gave a candid summary of the current state of her relationship with Buckingham, stating "Maybe when we're 75 and Fleetwood Mac is a distant memory, we might be friends...". It also included outtakes from the Tusk recording sessions, not seen for many years since their availability on VHS cassette in 1981.

On November 6, 2009 Fleetwood Mac played the last show of the European leg of their Unleashed tour at London's Wembley Arena. Christine McVie was present in the audience, to Stevie Nicks paid a tribute from the stage to a standing ovation from the audience, stating that she thought about her former bandmate "every day", and went on to dedicate that night's performance of "Landslide" to McVie.

In December 2009, concert industry website Pollstar reported that Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles were looking to co-headline a tour in the summer of 2010. The tour would play stadiums and arenas in North America and Europe.

On December 19, 2009, Fleetwood Mac played the second to last act of their Unleashed tour to a sell-out crowd at what was originally intended to be a one-off event at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth, New Zealand. Tickets, after pre-sales, sold out within twelve minutes of public release, and another date (Sunday the 20th), which also sold out, was added.

On October 19, 2010, Fleetwood Mac played a private show at the Phoenician Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona for TPG (Texas Pacific Group).

Remasters

* The 1967–69 Blue Horizon albums (Fleetwood Mac, Mr. Wonderful, The Pious Bird of Good Omen and Fleetwood Mac in Chicago) and 1971 outtakes album The Original Fleetwood Mac have been fully remastered & reissued on CD, as have the 1975–79 Warner Brothers albums Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, and Tusk.

Then Play On, Kiln House, the Bob Welch era albums (Future Games, Bare Trees, Penguin, Mystery to Me and Heroes Are Hard to Find) and every release since 1980 (Fleetwood Mac Live, Mirage, Tango in the Night, Behind the Mask, Time and Say You Will) have all yet to be remastered.

Tours

* Fleetwood Mac – 1975–1976

* Rumours Tour – 1977–1978

* Tusk Tour – 1979–1980

* Mirage Tour – 1982

* Shake The Cage Tour – 1987–1988

* Behind The Mask Tour – 1990

* Time Tour – 1995

* The Dance – 1997

* Say You Will Tour – 2003–2004

* Unleashed Tour – 2009

Discography

Personnel

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:30

PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50

Alignbars = justify

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy

Period = from:01/01/1967 till:01/01/2011

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Colors =

id:Vocals value:red legend:Lead

id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass

id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom

ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1967

BarData =

bar:Fleetwood text:"Mick Fleetwood"

bar:Brunning text:"Bob Brunning"

bar:JMcVie text:"John McVie"

bar:Green text:"Peter Green"

bar:Spencer text:"Jeremy Spencer"

bar:Kirwan text:"Danny Kirwan"

bar:CMcVie text:"Christine McVie"

bar:Welch text:"Bob Welch"

bar:Walker text:"Dave Walker"

bar:Weston text:"Bob Weston"

bar:Buckingham text:"Lindsey Buckingham"

bar:Nicks text:"Stevie Nicks"

bar:Vito text:"Rick Vito"

bar:Burnette text:"Billy Burnette"

bar:Bramlett text:"Becca Bramlett"

bar:Mason text:"Dave Mason"

PlotData=

width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)

bar:Fleetwood from:01/08/1967 till:01/01/1991 color:Drums

bar:Fleetwood from:01/01/1993 till:01/09/1995 color:Drums

bar:Fleetwood from:01/01/1997 till:end color:Drums

bar:Brunning from:01/08/1967 till:01/10/1967 color:Bass

bar:JMcVie from:01/10/1967 till:01/01/1991 color:Bass

bar:JMcVie from:01/01/1993 till:01/09/1995 color:Bass

bar:JMcVie from:01/01/1997 till:end color:Bass

bar:Green from:01/08/1967 till:20/05/1970 color:Vocals

bar:Green from:01/02/1971 till:01/04/1971 color:Vocals

bar:Spencer from:01/08/1967 till:01/02/1971 color:Vocals

bar:Kirwan from:01/08/1968 till:01/08/1972 color:Vocals

bar:CMcVie from:01/01/1970 till:01/01/1991 color:Vocals

bar:CMcVie from:01/01/1993 till:01/09/1995 color:Vocals

bar:CMcVie from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/1998 color:Vocals

bar:Welch from:01/04/1971 till:01/01/1975 color:Vocals

bar:Walker from:01/01/1972 till:01/01/1973 color:Vocals

bar:Weston from:01/01/1972 till:01/01/1974 color:Vocals

bar:Buckingham from:01/01/1975 till:01/01/1987 color:Vocals

bar:Buckingham from:01/01/1993 till:01/03/1993 color:Vocals

bar:Buckingham from:01/01/1997 till:end color:Vocals

bar:Nicks from:01/01/1975 till:01/01/1991 color:Vocals

bar:Nicks from:01/01/1993 till:01/03/1993 color:Vocals

bar:Nicks from:01/01/1997 till:end color:Vocals

bar:Vito from:01/01/1987 till:01/01/1991 color:Vocals

bar:Burnette from:01/01/1987 till:01/03/1991 color:Vocals

bar:Burnette from:01/03/1993 till:01/05/1993 color:Vocals

bar:Burnette from:01/05/1994 till:01/09/1995 color:Vocals

bar:Bramlett from:01/03/1993 till:01/09/1995 color:Vocals

bar:Mason from:01/03/1993 till:01/09/1995 color:Vocals

Gallery

File:Fleetwood Mac Danny Kirwan 11.jpg