When Fleetwood Mac was formed in the late 60's, they were a hardcore blues band. After Peter Green left and with the additions of Christine McVie & Bob Welch, they shifted away from blues music towards a more pop sound. In 1975, Bob Welch left the group and Mick Fleetwood enlisted an unknown duo of Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks in the band. The result is of course music history. This is the first effort by the new lineup and it is an excellent collection of songs. Lindsey Buckingham has one of the best ears in music and his hands are all over the album. From the album's opener "Monday Morning" and his own "Blue Letter" and the slow burning "World Turning" to Christine McVie's "Say You Love Me" and "Sugar Daddy", his presence is felt. "Crystal" is great song taken from the Buckingham-Nicks album and shows how well the band's voices meld together. Stevie Nicks carved out her witch persona with the ethereal and moody "Rhiannon". She also contributes one of most hauntingly beautiful songs ever recorded, "Landslide". Through constant touring and radio airplay, the album slowly climbed the charts and in its 53rd week on the charts, it finally reached number one. This album set the stage for one of the biggest albums in history, Rumours. While not as popular as that album, this album is it's equal in quality and sound.

Pay attention to the depths of sounds, the varied instrumentation in the backround as you listen to "Crystal". This is a very mellow F Mac song from their first album in the incarnation that everyone is so familiar with (Mick Fleetwood, John and Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks)...called "Fleetwood Mac", the album was largely ignored by critics until "Rhiannon" became popular. (Later, of course, the wildly popular "Rumours" went on to set many records which still stand today.) There were ten other songs on the "Fleetwood Mac" LP besides "Rhiannon" (a classic in its own right), songs that were never given the respect that they deserved. "Say You Love Me" and "Monday Morning" got some rather frequent airplay ... "Landslide" became a hit years after the album's 1975 release and was eventually covered by a bland and faceless 90's band. "World Turning" is a bit of a sleeper, with a funky beat that is both disturbing yet infectious, and drum tracks from Mick Fleetwood which show his true genius with the tubs and hats. In that same vein is "I'm So Afraid", with its wild minor-keyed sound and despairing lyrics. "Warm Ways" will take you to the tropics with its "steel guitar" sound sliding in and out of your ears. But "Crystal" speaks to me. It talks of a lifetime of aloneness (as opposed to loneliness) that is eased by a comfortable-feeling relationship - a relationship that was recognized instantly for the life-changing event that it is - and the enduring steadfastness of that love. Lyrically simple yet powerful, this song combines a meaningful message with some of the richest tapestries of music this talented band ever created. It also typifies the band that exemplifies and epitomizes the 70's music scene - the multi-talented, multi-faceted Fleetwood Mac.

As the man at the top says, you take the remnants of a marginally successful British blues-rock band, add two unknown California singer-songwriters and what do you get? Only one of rocks great bands. Go figure.

This album is the predecessor to the magnificent "Rumours" and the first album by the Fleetwood Mac line-up that included Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham. And it, too, is great. It's not quite as intense as "Rumours" and not quite its equal for that reason, but it's still a great album in its own right. All the parts are meshed and tightly in synch. The instrumental virtuosity, lovely vocal harmonies, and Buckingham's brilliant arrangements are already very much in evidence. And the songs are wonderful. Stevie's "Rhiannon" is the classic single, but "Over My Head" and "Say You Love Me" also climbed high on the singles charts. Beyond these, though, there are all the others. Buckingham rockers "Monday morning" and "Blue Letter", as well as Chrissie's "Warm Ways" and "Sugar Daddy". Stevie's beautiful "Landslide" first appears here. Another favorite is the driving "World Turning", co-written by Buckingham and McVie.

This is an excellent album and would probably get more recognition if it hadn't been followed by "Rumours". Don't be fooled, though. If you love "Rumours", you'll love this, too. If you haven't heard them, you've been missing out. Get them both. I recommend this VERY highly.

This is the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. As a result, there is more freshness and less tension than on later album. They really sound like a band on this one! Lindsey's "Monday Morning" and "Blue Letter" are catchy rock songs with great harmonies. Stevie has 2 of her all-time best songs on this album, "Landslide" and the unforgettable "Rhiannon". She used to go wild when she performed this live, you really have to see it to believe it. And then there is the great Christine McVie who comes through with a ton of awesome songs, including hits "Say You Love Me" and "Over My Head", as well as the fun, bluesy album track "Sugar Daddy" which is one of my faves. "World Turning" brings the whole band together with standout drumming from Mr. Fleetwood. Overall, this album is so full of great stuff, it has to rank as one of the Mac's all-time best albums.

Rumours got all the attention and was the huge album, but their previous album self-titled "Fleetwood Mac" was a superior album. 1977's Rumours is the album that put Fleetwood Mac on the map. Rumours was on the top of the best selling charts for months and is one of rock's greatest selling albums of all time. I love the album. It's a great and worthy album.

But I have always thought that Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self titled album "Fleetwood Mac" (also referred to as Fleetwood Mac's White album) was an even better album. While Rumours has sold well above 20 million copies, this earlier album hasn't done that badly either selling several million copies. This (what I'll refer to as) "FM" album was the first with this mix of fabulous musicians: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and of course Stevie Nicks. From what I've read, the band had originally only sought to bring in Lindsey for his guitar playing prowess, but Lindsey insisted on allowing Stevie to join as well. Good decision, as Lindsey and Stevie both contributed to the magic that led the band into superstardom.

Both "FM" and Rumours have similar sounding styles. There are the rockin Lindsey tunes on both albums (Blue Letter, World Turning, I'm So Afraid on "FM", and The Chain, Go Your Own Way on Rumours). On the more rockin tunes, I'd actually give the edge to Rumours. Go Your Own Way was a huge hit and is obviously a Fleetwood Mac classic. The Chain also continues to get a good amount of airplay on classic rock radio and both have stood the test of time.

Both albums have plenty of catchy, mid tempo tunes that hit the pop charts, have great harmony, and are fabulous songs. On "FM" I'd put songs like Monday Morning, Over My Head, Say You Love Me and Rhiannon in this category. On Rumours I'd say Dreams, Don't Stop, You Make Lovin Fun and Gold Dust Woman fit this criteria. To be honest I'd give the two albums a draw when comparing these groups of songs. These songs are all great songs. Each album has an all-time classic that is heard frequently on classic rock radio playlists. (I'm referring to Rhiannon and Dreams.) Many of the other songs from both albums continue to get good play as well.

So far so close. Both albums match up pretty well on the harder rock tunes and on the mid tempo pop chart tunes. But it is on my final category that the first album exceeds Rumours by a long shot. And this category I'll describe as mellow or ballad songs. Rumours has only two really mellow, ballad-type songs on it. Dreams and Gold Dust Woman could marginally fit this category but really aren't what I consider "mellow" songs. Otherwise the only songs that I see fitting this category are the Christine McVie songs Songbird and Oh Daddy. I know that Songbird is a popular song when Fleetwood Mac plays live, but I really don't consider either of these ballad songs that strong. On the contrary the "FM" album has three songs I feel are some of Fleetwood Mac's greatest all-time mellow, ballad songs. Christine McVie's Warm Ways is a beautiful song that has a very smooth, romantic feel to it. Crystal is a Stevie Nicks song sung by Lindsey Buckingham that they had previously recorded on their previous album prior to joining Fleetwood Mac. Crystal is a beautiful song with typically vague but enthralling Stevie Nicks lyrics. Finally there is Landslide. Another wonderful, mellow song that never got a lot of airplay when it was first released, but has been played more and more over time because its greatness has been increasingly recognized. Great combination of Stevie Nicks lyrics and vocals and Lindsey's acoustic guitar.

Looking at both albums as a whole I feel that there are nine really strong songs on the earlier "FM" album and seven really strong songs on Rumours. This subjective judgment, along with what I feel are timeless mellow, ballad songs on the earlier album make me give the edge to "Fleetwood Mac" over Rumours in terms of greatness. I think that folks who only buy Rumours to hear Fleetwood Mac are really missing out on an even better album. I will qualify this assessment by saying that Fleetwood Mac made a huge mistake when they left out Stevie Nick's classic B side song Silver Springs from the Rumours album. I think Silver Springs is one of Fleetwood Mac's greatest songs of all time. From what I've read, internal battles and politics led to its failure to land on the Rumours album. Fortunately it has gotten some recognition and radio play from its inclusion on the Dance album. Great song, that if included, might have pushed Rumours up to the greatness of the earlier "Fleetwood Mac" album.