Classic Albums: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

This is the definitive story of the making of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, with specially recorded versions of Christine McVie's "Songbird" and Lindsay Buckingham's acoustic version of "Never Going Back Again." 75 minutes.

Oh, the heartache. Oh, the drug intake. And oh, the sales records they did break. It's all here in this 70-minute, 1997 chronicle of the making of one of pop music's biggest albums ever, Rumours. All five members of Fleetwood Mac's most successful incarnation are interviewed, and their comments are even more candid than the confessional songs ("Dreams," "Go Your Own Way" et al.) on the album itself; descriptions of the torturous process of making a record while John and Christine McVie's marriage and the Lindsey Buckingham- Stevie Nicks liaison were breaking up at the same time makes for compelling, if slightly discomfiting, viewing. Meanwhile, lest one forget that Rumours was terrific as well as revealing, plenty of attention is paid to the songs. Particularly fascinating (as with most Classic Albums packages) are the breakdowns of the separate instrumental and vocal components of individual tracks. A great tale, wonderfully told. --Sam Graham