Fleetwood Mac & the Chain etc.
 

I always liked Fleetwood Mac from way back when they were just a pretty cool blues band made uot of many other Bleus bands that i saw in the early/mid sixties.

The night before late I stayed us WAY too late watching two documentaries on the band.

I had heard that there was tension in the relationships within the band, but had never really been that interested, just enjoyed the albums without delving too much into the meanings of the lyrics etc.
One (of many) fine song was "The Chain" which in the UK heard every other Sunday on BBC when we watched the F1 races as Mcvie's bass riff and Buckingham's tension building lead solo was a great opener for motor races.

Watching these two compelling documentaries made me aware of how those tensions were played out in the making of their music and how the lyrics expressed them.

Here is a shot YouTube thingy about the making of the Chain which pretty much says what was on TV the other night.

I had never realised that "The Chain" was perceived as their professional responsibilities holding together fractured marriages etc.

I too stayed up and watched those documentaries (again). I have always been fascinated by how one of the best ever albums (Rumours) could have been born out of such a dysfunctional family. As Stevie Nicks said, the tension was always there and she has always felt it through to this day but that's how they work and it seems to work well for them.

When you think about it, they are essentially just doing a job and I'm sure we have all experienced having to do jobs with people we might not choose to be best friends with. The important thing is the end result and when that is as good as Fleetwood Mac have turned out then a mutual respect can overcome any friction within the workforce.

Thanks for passing this along. Of course, the Rumours album made it onto millions of turntables in the late 1970s and songs from it onto the airwaves for many years after its release, but the song The Chain, as pointed out in the discussion, is, I agree, the centrepiece to that collection of songs. Long after I tired of the hit singles, The Chain remained in my interest, a ‘tough nut to crack’ (difficult to understand/obscure) kind of song, and arguably their best and most intense.

After the mesmerizing 'Albatross' and 'Oh Well pt 1 & 2' I never could warm to the later era, soft rock version Fleetwood Mac.

I know they sold a billion albums but they just don't appeal to me.

'I can't help about the shape I'm in, I can't sing, I ain't pretty and my legs are thin.'

I am a fan of '60s Fleetwood Mac as well, but you just have to come to grips with the fact that today's Fleetwood Mac and '60s Fleetwood Mac are two different beasties. Enjoy each on their own merits. However, if there is any question of whether a drummer and a bassist can carry on the sound of a band, FB should servbe as an answer. :D

Bob

I loved Fleetwood Mac when I first heard them in the 60's... Peter Green was SUCH a monster player! They were kinda grungy and dirty, but I loved them...

And I really enjoyed the "middle era", too... beginning with "Kiln House", watching/listening to the band as it developed into... something... else. They weren't my favorite band by any means, but I always liked hearing what they were doing.

And I enjoyed the Stevie Nicks/ Lindsay Buckingham version of the band, as well - although I really thought that Stevie was WAY overrated as a vocalist, but there you go.

In the later 80's, a friend called and asked if I wanted to go see FM at the Forum, in LA, as he had an extra ticket to the show (his wife didn't want to go)... I went, reluctantly - at the time, I was knocking my head against the wall of getting songs published and out to different artists and working on a record deal for my own stuff, so my interest in other bands was always tempered by the "I don't want to sound like anyone else" modality.

They put on a great show, and, more than anything, I was knocked out by Lindsay's playing and singing! I really had no idea he was as consummate a player as he was/is. He got some amazing tones from his Turner electric - at the time I didn't know what type of guitar it was - but, over and over again, throughout the evening, his playing kept impressing me. "The Chain" was very powerfully played that evening, one of the centerpieces of the show...

Like Bob Womack said... I just enjoy the band, the way they are now, and enjoy all the decades that I've enjoyed Fleetwood Mac's music... over 50 years now... which is amazing, in and of itself!

That video was very interesting Silly. I watched a "Behind the Music" program from VH1 only a few weeks ago that went over a lot of this information, too. I had heard that there was a lot of tension between the individuals in the group, but I wasn't all that familiar with the details until watching the VH1 program.

I don't know how people live in that kind of tension. I guess you just find a way to do it, just like so many of us find some way to deal with it in our own lives.

That kind of ongoing stress certainly makes a person age faster. I can attest to that.

- Glenn

It's often said that great art (...and soap) comes from pain and suffering, ask Vincent Van Gogh. You may have to shout, his hearing isn't what it use to be...

One of my favorite bands. My wife and I saw them at the Spectrum in Philly about 30 years ago. We were sitting in the highest seats the farthest away from the stage and the seats were still vibrating from how loud the band was playing, but they sounded great. I'm amazed when I listen to Lindsey Buckingham play guitar. "The Chain" and "I'm so Afraid" are two of my favorites.

One of my top all-time albums that came out at the height of my musical awareness in my late teens. The Chain is, was and remains my favorite Fleetwood Mac song of all time. It's the Hotel California of The Eagles, the Stairway To Heaven of Led Zeppelin, the Time of Pink Floyd. Just an all-time classic.