Most of the past work the band had
done in the studio in the past had been
recorded live, with the necessary overdubs
going on later, but with Rumours
Fleetwood Mac chose to take a new
approach, preferring instead to build
up the songs layer by layer. They still,
however, did everything they could to
retain some verve and vibe in the process.
‘The way we approach it,’
Lindsey mused, ‘is more like the
way the Beatles used to approach
their thing in the studio; having
a general idea and then going
into the studio and letting the
spontaneity happen. There was
nothing specifically worked out
when we went into the studio.
We didn’t have demo tapes like
the last time. The whole thing
just happened. That’s where you
capture the magic.’
Of course, such luxury during
the recording process is only accorded
to extremely successful bands, and even
though Fleetwood Mac could warrant
these expenses, the moguls at Warner
Brothers were getting jumpy at the huge
costs involved. This was usually where
the band’s manager would take the brunt
of the flak, so unfortunately it fell to
Mick Fleetwood to go to Warner and
assure them that a product was on the
way and would be worth the wait. Boldly,
he didn’t even allow them to hear any of
the rough mixes, preferring instead to
keep the project under wraps. Had they
known what was going down in all these
several studios and with all these diverse
songwriters, Warner would have been less
worried, but Fleetwood never had massivesympathy for the business side of the
music industry, and it delighted the group
to have the power for once.
Despite this confidence, Christine had
been having a few doubts and the odd
moment of panic as she was finding it
hard to come up with any new material.
It seemed as if for once her music had
deserted her. Then one day, as she laterrecalled, ‘I just sat down and wrote in the
studio, and the four or four and a half
songs of mine on the album are a result
of that.’
This was an incredible statement; were
it not for that single day’s inspiration in
the studio, the world might only have
had half of the masterpiece that was
to become Rumours. Lindsey was also
having a few doubts about the
whole situation, feeling that his
songs weren’t coming out how he
wanted them to sound once the
band got a hold of them. However,
faced with Mick’s take-it-or-leave-it
attitude, he settled down somewhat
and agreed to relinquish some
control for the good of enterprise
as a whole.
Meanwhile, Nicks summed
up her way of writing songs by
saying, ‘All my songs are personal.
They are all about things that did
happen. The only way I can be is honest.
I can’t make up a song. I can’t make up a
story. I promised myself from when I was
sixteen years old and wrote my first song
about the break-up from my boyfriend
Steve that I would never lie in my songs.
I would not say, “I broke up with him”,
if the truth was he broke up with me. I
would stay clearly truthful to the people.’Stevie Nicks in performance during the Tusk tour.“All my songs are personal. They
are all about things which did
happen. The only way I can be is
honest. I can’t make up a song. I
promised myself... I would never
lie in my songs.”Stevie Nicks