Dreams The many lives of Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac's songs are about many things, but inner turmoil and broken relationships top the list as, through ups and downs, the band members turned their tumultuous personal lives into hit record after hit record. Mick Fleetwood and John McVie gave the band its mellifluous name, then when two female lead singers, the smoky-voiced Christine McVie and the mystical Stevie Nicks, and virtuoso guitarist and singer Lindsey Buckingham joined the band, it became magical gold. Blake notes that over the years there have been "at least" four iterations of Fleetwood Mac--the original blues band (with Peter Green); the folksy progressive band in the early 1970s; the megaselling band; and "fluid" incarnations with ever-changing lineups. Based on original interviews and eyewitness accounts, Blake's chronicle charts the band's journeys from London to California, from British blues to West Coast rock while also discussing individual albums and songs. In this fun and eccentric account of an eccentric rock band, Blake helps readers understand how a clash of egos and cultures generated music that survived all the drama and continues to find new fans today.

Music journalist Blake (Bring It On Home) stitches together a kaleidoscopic chronicle of one of rock's most fabled groups. In its earliest days, Fleetwood Mac was a blues band helmed by cofounders Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green, who composed such hit singles as "Albatross" and "Mr. Wonderful." A "folky, progressive" sound came to the fore in the 1970s with Then Play On, Green's last album with the band. In 1975, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, then a folk-rock duo, joined the group and ushered in a pop-rock style and a period of intense interpersonal drama. The pair, who were dating, broke up in 1976, as did married band members Christine and John McVie; Nicks later began an affair with Fleetwood. In loose, episodic sections drawing on interviews with bandmembers, Blake analyzes the makings of their famous ("Dreams," "The Chain") and lesser-known ("Tell Me All the Things You Do") songs; dissects their romantic rivalries; and traces the destructive effects of the rock and roll lifestyle (Peter Green, who departed in 1970 because of his eroding mental health, was being treated for schizophrenia by the time his former band found superstardom with 1977's Rumours). It's a colorful account of a fascinating chapter in rock history. (Oct.)