Tag Archives: fleetwood mac

#1346: Fleetwood Mac – That’s All for Everyone

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In January 2014, it was officially announced Christine McVie would be rejoining Fleetwood Mac after leaving the group 15 years earlier to pursue this nice little thing called retirement. I was working as the host on my radio show back in university and used that news to slide in a Fleetwood Mac song into its playlist, specifically ‘Think About Me’ which McVie wrote and took lead vocals on. I write all this to say I must have listened through Tusk in order to get to know that song and the one that’s the subject of today’s post. When exactly I downloaded the band’s 1979 double album is something I can’t tell. All the info is on my old, very, very slow laptop whose monitor doesn’t turn on and that I have to connect to the TV in order to see what’s going on. I’ll get back to you on that one. I do have a hazy memory of being sat at my desk in my room and hearing ‘That’s All for Everyone’ and liking it then and there. But I need those dates to be sure.*

Of the first 10 tracks of Tusk, half of them were written by guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham. It’s no secret the guy took the reins after the band’s success with Rumours, insisting the band go in a different direction to avoid creating a virtual sequel. He cut his hair. He was reportedly lying down on the ground in strange positions while laying down vocals. He was certainly inspired. ‘That’s All for Everyone’ got me because… man, I could just sink into a bed while listening to it. The whole production behind it is so light and tasteful. Gentle charango strumming, a kind of lute that I never knew was used in this song until writing this. John McVie’s bass guitar working those lines. The kalimba playing those downward scales at various points. And of course the harmonies by all three songwriters. My favourite part of the entire track comes in the form of those wordless vocalizations that come in at 1:42, where you’d probably expect something like a guitar solo. An absolute moment of euphoria right there.

The song was inspired by that universal moment when the house lights come on at the end of an event and it’s time for everyone to go home. But there’s also a very human feeling about the song that I think everyone can relate to. That feeling of ‘that’s enough’ / ‘I’m done’… that feeling of just letting it all go and having a solid inner peace that comes along with it. At least that’s what I get when I hear this specific combination of words and music. It’s very mantra-like. Something to recite to yourself when trying to find that state of relaxation. Meditative is the word, it’s a very meditative track. I appreciate it a lot. It’s sort of undercut by the rocking, in-your-face number – also by Buckingham – that follows it on the album, but I’m sure that’s done very purposely. But that point is neither here nor there. ‘That’s All for Everyone’ is a fine track. Tame Impala did a cover of it a while back. I guess that’s all right. It’s all about the original for me.

*So I looked, and I downloaded the album on the 30th December 2013. That means I would have been home for the holidays. I certainly listened to it at uni, though.

#1167: Fleetwood Mac – Second Hand News

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Of the four Fleetwood Mac songs I have on my phone – I do have 13 on my ‘Liked Songs’ list on Spotify, which I look forward to using more often when I’m done with this – three of them are by everybody’s favourite, Lindsey Buckingham. I joke. I think it’s very clear, somehow, that Stevie Nicks runs miles clear as being something of the face of the band, even though the strength of the Mac was always based on the variety provided by the three main songwriters (Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie). But I don’t know what it is when it comes to Buckingham’s songs. They always seem to scratch an itch when it comes to my own taste. I like many more McVie songs than Nicks’ too, but I’m digressing. It’s a Buckingham song I’m on about today, and it opens up an album I know, you know, everybody knows. The one, the only, Rumours.

We know the story. The record was recorded at a time when no-one in the band was in each other’s good books to say the least, and so the songwriters started writing about each other in their respective numbers. ‘Second Hand News’ opens the LP up with the lyric that encapsulates the entire situation, ‘I know there’s nothing to say/Someone has taken my place’. In this case, Buckingham and Nicks had ended their relationship and were most likely seeing other people. But ‘Second Hand News’ isn’t so much of a put down. Not like ‘Go Your Own Way’, sheesh. Instead, it’s more of a note to Nicks, seemingly waving her off and wishing her well as she goes into another relationship while also cheekily laying down the option that, if things don’t work out with this other guy, he’ll be there to be the rebound.

First time I heard Rumours was sometime in 2012, around then, and I gotta say ‘Second Hand News’ was an immediate hit with me, solidifying itself as one just after Buckingham comes in with those wordless vocals that act as the chorus after the introductory verses. You always need a good opener on an album. Something to get you excited for what’s to come. And I’ve always thought ‘Second Hand News’ does a good job in that department. It possesses a real driving momentum from the moment that acoustic guitar strides into the frame in the opening seconds, and the goodness only continues to build from there. Elements slowly enter the soundscape bit by bit, like those harmonising “ahh-ahh” backing vocals that come in before the second ‘chorus’ or that droning organ that comes during the second half of it, all among the propelling direction of the music led by the chair percussion and propelling acoustic guitar chords. The song reaches its cathartic peak as Buckingham belts out the song’s title in the middle of more harmonies and a rocking guitar solo that eventually closes everything out. And bear in mind, this is just how the album starts. Thumbs up from me.

#903: Fleetwood Mac – Never Going Back Again

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I’ve had Rumours in my library since about 2013. Until about last year, maybe even earlier this year, I always thought of ‘Never Going Back Again’ as that nice little acoustic ditty near the start of the album that didn’t amount to much. Just kept the flow of the album moving, you know? But that all changed when I came across a video of Lindsey Buckingham performing the track live at the University of Southern California. I’ll embed the video below, it’s a stunning take. Honestly, I probably prefer that version of the song over what appears on the album. It’s the same song all in all. But through it, I gained a new appreciation.

Like the other Buckingham-penned numbers on Rumours, it’s most likely about Stevie Nicks in some way. But really, the main message Buckingham’s putting out there is he’s been put into these uncomfortable situations in relationships. Been messed around, tossed aside, all those cliché things. He’s been let down and dumped two times (probably more, but that’s how the song goes), and he’s determined not to be put into that position again. Not for a while at least. All this is sung to some very delicate and intricate finger-picking from Buckingham. It’s a style of playing that, judging from the video below, looks very difficult to master. There are plenty of comments online that state the pain and cramps they’ve suffered just trying to get the guitar work right.

In the video below, Buckingham plays the track at a slower tempo and a lower key. Looking at other live takes, that seems to be the way he does it when he’s on the road. Like I said earlier, I may even prefer it that way. It lets the notes ring out for a little longer. But even in the video below, he’s hunched over the guitar fretboard and I want to say is probably concentrating on not trying to mess it up. So I think it’s a testament to his playing that he just does goes through it like it’s nothing on the album. Although I would take a guess that it took a ton of practice.

#724: Fleetwood Mac – The Ledge

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To cut the long story short, Lindsey Buckingham didn’t want to make a second Rumours – an album that was absolutely huge in 1977 and considered a classic in rock history. He cut his hair and went on to follow some unorthodox methods of making songs, recording his vocals in a push-up position and sometimes just playing all the instruments by himself at his home.

A lot of these home-studio recordings ended up on Fleetwood Mac’s double album Tusk, the record that eventually followed Rumours and took a few people by surprise just because of how strange it could get in places. ‘The Ledge’, written by Buckingham, features the guitarist taking on the percussion, bass, and vocals here – and is yet another that is surely directed at bandmate and ex Stevie Nicks, minus the gloss and production value that threaded throughout its predecessor.

The track has this country do-si-do twang to it aided by its 2/4 time signature and the dry timbre of the guitars and drums. While all this make the song an upbeat composition to dance to, one can’t dismiss the bitterness of Buckingham’s lyrics that tease a former lover, telling her that she’ll never find anyone as good as him. There were obviously a lot of strong feelings that carried over from their previous project. Even so, as the second track on Tusk, it acted as a clear statement that this wasn’t going to be a typical Fleetwood Mac album if you hadn’t already guessed by the wealth of material that was on it.