Music fans tend to divide into two camps at the mention of Fleetwood Mac - those who think of the multi-million-selling five-piece that formed in the mid-1970s and released the biggest selling album of all time; and those who adopt a self-appointed 'cooler' stance, preferring the late-sixties blues band fronted by the virtuosic guitarist Peter Green. But that's not the whole story. Between May 1970, when Green left his own band to be replaced by the bass player's wife, to the beginning of 1975, when Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, there were five years of complete turmoil. One by one, talented musicians such as Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, Bob Weston and Bob Welch joined and left Fleetwood Mac.
While it's impossible to ignore the skill and longevity such classic songs as 'Rhiannon', 'Don't Stop', Go Your Own Way', 'Sara', and 'The Chain' from Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk, there are an equal number of half-forgotten classic songs from the first half of the 1970s that have been overlooked. Here, then, is the story of Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s - the music, the people, the tours, the rumours, the failures and the successes.
Andrew Wild is an experienced writer, music collector and film buff with many books to his name including recent publications about Queen, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Crosby, Stills and Nash. His comprehensive study of every song recorded and performed by the Beatles between 1957 and 1970 was published by Sonicbond in 2019. He lives in Rainow, Cheshire, UK.