Usually if a band self-titles an album it is the debut production, but there was nothing ordinary about Fleetwood Mac or their multi-platinum selling effort. The band had been around for sometime as a blues-rock band formed in 1967. The all-British iteration of the band included guitarist Peter Green who named the band by combining the names of Mick Fleetwood (percussion) and John McVie (bass). All three were members of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Interestingly enough John McVie did not play on the band’s first single or perform with the group on their first tour, opting instead to continue playing with play for John Mayall.
Christine McVie (keyboards), John’s wife at the time, joined the band in 1970 and American Bob Welch replaced Peter Green turning the band more in a melodic direction leading to some commercial success with the song Sentimental Lady. Although the early iterations of the group received critical acclaim for their efforts their greatest success came after Mick and John and Christine invited two American songwriters Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to join.
Buckingham and Nicks had received some commercial success with their country-flavored duet album Buckingham Nicks that featured some songs that would be reworked and included on the first Fleetwood Mac to include them as members. The addition of the two Californians helped fuse the group’s blues/rock roots to a somewhat softer, west coast pop sound in legendary way. The The songwriting of Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie resulted in a string of commercially successful hit singles and albums, some of them like Rumors still rank among the most successful of all times.
The Fleetwood Mac album was released in 1975 and featured the hit songs Over My Head, Rhiannon, Say You Love Me, Landslide and Monday Morning although every song on the album received some airplay on FM Radio.
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