Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review.
I believe that everybody has a musical moment in their life that changed everything. For me, that moment came in 1998. My mum had bought a Fleetwood Mac CD as a present for my stepdad, Alan. I presume it was for his birthday. The album was The Dance, which was the band’s most recent release at the time and a recording from a live show as part of their reunion. My mum has since admitted that she was nervous about buying it because she didn’t know if Alan would really like it. It turns out she had nothing to worry about.
At this time, Alan drove a Citroen BX, and it had a cassette-radio rather than a CD player. So he copied The Dance onto a cassette so he could play it in the car. We went on holiday to France that year. We drove to Dover and rode the Channel Tunnel through to Calais and then drove to our campsite. And there were also numerous driving stretches on the days in between. On every single journey, we listened to The Dance. Whenever we got to the end of the tape, we’d turn it over and start again. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that album on that trip alone. But I never ever got tired of it.
Musically, that was a time that changed my life. At this point, I knew nothing about the history of the band. I’d later go on to learn that Alan’s favourite Fleetwood Mac era was the Peter Green days. Which of course, is nothing like the music made by what’s become known as The Rumours Five. Over time, I would come to learn more and discover more of their music. After The Dance, the albums of theirs I’ve heard the most are Rumours and Say You Will. When Alan passed away in 2019, I suggested we play “Don’t Stop” at his funeral, but I insisted on the version from The Dance. Not only does it instantly bring back memories of Alan, but it’s the last song on the album and finishes with applause as well as members of the band saying “Thanks for coming” and “See ya!” which I thought was fitting under the circumstances.
It was by pure accident that I learnt Mick Fleetwood had written an autobiography, but I immediately decided I had to read it. And boy, does he have a story to tell. Mick Fleetwood and John McVie are the only members who have been ever present through every incarnation of Fleetwood Mac. So there is nobody better placed to tell the story. From his early childhood days, discovering drumming, all the way through to 2014, when this book was published, Fleetwood doesn’t pack any punches. He talks about his drug addiction, his affairs, and the low times in his life when he needed the band, but many of the members were busy with their respective solo careers.
This is a reflective book. Fleetwood says that he sat down and spoke at great length with his first wife who he says he is still friends with. It sounds like it was a cathartic experience where Mick learnt a lot about how his wife felt at the time. Because he was always on one tour after another, he was rarely at home and absent as a husband and father. Mick says he didn’t realise that was how she felt at the time and regrets the way things unfolded at that point in time.
I’m particularly interested in the making of each album, and Fleetwood does go into detail. There was a period when the band lived like gypsies. Hiring Kiln House, the band lived together with each other and their families, where they worked on the album Kiln House. Then, of course, there’s the drama of Rumours. The McVies were divorcing, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks had broken up, while Mick was also separating from his wife. The band were writing songs about each other and smuggling lyrics in at the eleventh hour. The emotions of the songs are raw and real, but I think that’s what makes the album relatable to so many fans.
Fleetwood Mac had reunited and were touring off and on before Alan passed away. My only regret is that we never got a chance to go and see the band together. We discussed it, but the ticket prices were crazy. Then Christine McVie also passed away in 2022. This means that there are no chances of seeing “The Rumours Five” live, and the band are effectively finished. But the music and my memories will play on forever.
My Goodreads Rating: ★★★★☆(4 stars)
