There is a Fleetwood Mac demo track of Sara out there that begins with Stevie Nicks saying these lines: “I wanna be a star. I don’t wanna be a cleaning lady.”
Last week Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham re-released their self-titled track for the first time since its original publish more than half a century ago. I bought the record on Friday, and here are my two takeaways from it:
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were destined for stardom. Fleetwood Mac was the vehicle that got them there.
Buckingham Nicks oozes with the brilliant songwriting that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham employed during their association with the band, its offshoots and their solo careers. This folk rock is chalk full of the angst of love and its implosion from which Rumours would eventually be borne.
What’s also clear from this is how much these two artists benefited from their soon-to-be bandmates John McVie, Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood.
I like to look at Crystal when I say that because it appeared on both Buckingham Nicks in 1973 and the self-titled Fleetwood Mac two years later - how ironic was it that the Bob Welch-let Mac released Heroes Are Hard to Find in 1974.
Nicks penned Crystal at what seems to be the age of around 25, when the concept of love can feel like such a high-stakes game, but it also shows her maturity of a writer. Buckingham takes the lead vocals on this, interestingly enough, which adds a degree of tenderness that perhaps Nicks’ raspier voice doesn’t offer.
(Let’s also not forget that Nicks wrote Landslide at a similar age)
But here’s what makes the Fleetwood Mac version superior: Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood. McVie’s keyboard added so many layers of texture to this track, and her outro added to a longing tenderness that the Buckingham Nicks version doesn’t. And Fleetwood’s drum-fills also carry a momentum that the 1973 version doesn’t have.
Both are remarkable, though. And I feel are both worthy of falling in love into.
(I’d also like to say I wrote this before realising Waddy Wachtel was also on guitar in this album.)
The rest of these tracks - Crying in the Night, Without a Leg to Stand On, Lola, Frozen Love - can all be treated as supreme demo versions of a future Fleetwood Mac song. But, from a musical anthropological perspective, it’s remarkable to see 40% of the band that would conquer the world through Rumours.
As some of us know, while Buckingham and Nicks were recording this record at Sound City in California, Fleetwood Mac were recording just down the hall. Mick Fleetwood heard a recording of Frozen Love and later invited Buckingham to join the band. But Buckingham had a condition - he and Stevie Nicks were a package deal.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Crystal, by Buckingham Nicks
And now for your links:
The Guardian: “Tottenham Women ‘disgusted’ by racist abuse on social media of Jessica Naz”
BBC: “‘I’m done being quiet’ - Naz condemns racist abuse”
Jay Harris ($$): “Destiny Udogie and Djed Spence are giving Spurs a selection dilemma”
Alasdair Gold: “Thomas Frank makes it clear what Mathys Tel and Luca Williams-Barnett must do now at Tottenham”