1977's Rumours is the album that put Fleetwood Mac on the map. Rumours was on the top of the best selling charts for months and is one of rock's greatest selling albums of all time. I love the album. It's a great and worthy album.

But I have always thought that Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self titled album "Fleetwood Mac" (also referred to as Fleetwood Mac's White album) was an even better album. While Rumours has sold well above 20 million copies, this earlier album hasn't done that badly either selling several million copies. This (what I'll refer to as) "FM" album was the first with this mix of fabulous musicians: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and of course Stevie Nicks. From what I've read, the band had originally only sought to bring in Lindsey for his guitar playing prowess, but Lindsey insisted on allowing Stevie to join as well. Good decision, as Lindsey and Stevie both contributed to the magic that led the band into superstardom.

Both "FM" and Rumours have similar sounding styles. There are the rockin Lindsey tunes on both albums (Blue Letter, World Turning, I'm So Afraid on "FM", and The Chain, Go Your Own Way on Rumours). On the more rockin tunes, I'd actually give the edge to Rumours. Go Your Own Way was a huge hit and is obviously a Fleetwood Mac classic. The Chain also continues to get a good amount of airplay on classic rock radio and both have stood the test of time.

Both albums have plenty of catchy, mid tempo tunes that hit the pop charts, have great harmony, and are fabulous songs. On "FM" I'd put songs like Monday Morning, Over My Head, Say You Love Me and Rhiannon in this category. On Rumours I'd say Dreams, Don't Stop, You Make Lovin Fun and Gold Dust Woman fit this criteria. To be honest I'd give the two albums a draw when comparing these groups of songs. These songs are all great songs. Each album has an all-time classic that is heard frequently on classic rock radio playlists. (I'm referring to Rhiannon and Dreams.) Many of the other songs from both albums continue to get good play as well.

So far so close. Both albums match up pretty well on the harder rock tunes and on the mid tempo pop chart tunes. But it is on my final category that the first album exceeds Rumours by a long shot. And this category I'll describe as mellow or ballad songs. Rumours has only two really mellow, ballad-type songs on it. Dreams and Gold Dust Woman could marginally fit this category but really aren't what I consider "mellow" songs. Otherwise the only songs that I see fitting this category are the Christine McVie songs Songbird and Oh Daddy. I know that Songbird is a popular song when Fleetwood Mac plays live, but I really don't consider either of these ballad songs that strong. On the contrary the "FM" album has three songs I feel are some of Fleetwood Mac's greatest all-time mellow, ballad songs. Christine McVie's Warm Ways is a beautiful song that has a very smooth, romantic feel to it. Crystal is a Stevie Nicks song sung by Lindsey Buckingham that they had previously recorded on their previous album prior to joining Fleetwood Mac. Crystal is a beautiful song with typically vague but enthralling Stevie Nicks lyrics. Finally there is Landslide. Another wonderful, mellow song that never got a lot of airplay when it was first released, but has been played more and more over time because its greatness has been increasingly recognized. Great combination of Stevie Nicks lyrics and vocals and Lindsey's acoustic guitar.

Looking at both albums as a whole I feel that there are nine really strong songs on the earlier "FM" album and seven really strong songs on Rumours. This subjective judgment, along with what I feel are timeless mellow, ballad songs on the earlier album make me give the edge to "Fleetwood Mac" over Rumours in terms of greatness. I think that folks who only buy Rumours to hear Fleetwood Mac are really missing out on an even better album. I will qualify this assessment by saying that Fleetwood Mac made a huge mistake when they left out Stevie Nick's classic B side song Silver Springs from the Rumours album. I think Silver Springs is one of Fleetwood Mac's greatest songs of all time. From what I've read, internal battles and politics led to its failure to land on the Rumours album. Fortunately it has gotten some recognition and radio play from its inclusion on the Dance album. Great song, that if included, might have pushed Rumours up to the greatness of the earlier "Fleetwood Mac" album.

Recommended: Yes