Making Rumours

I’ve been reading Making Rumours, a book about the recording of Fleetwood Mac’s classic album Rumours written by sound engineer/producer Ken Caillat. I read a lot of process books – I just finished reading a book about the making of Ken Russell’s The Devils, anticipating its re-release. They’re fun because you get to see the inside workings of a piece of art you like, and usually they’re produced by somewhat unbiased parties, or at least people who weren’t at the heart of the thing, so you get some kind of perspective on the makers too.

Making Rumours is an entertaining, detailed look at a productive but tumultuous time in the life of the band. Caillat tends to get lost in the weeds of production details, but he’s a producer, so of course he wants to talk about that stuff.

My favourite “find” from the book, though, was the song “Keep Me There” by Christine McVie, which didn’t end up on the album but gave us the incredible coda of “The Chain” (which would eventually be credited to the entire band). It’s a lovely song by itself, but the decision to take this out and keep “The Chain” makes sense – the resulting piece is an epic journey, while this is simply a very good song. The Deluxe Edition of Rumours, if you’re interested, also has a demo of “The Chain” by Steve Nicks that’s very different, a much softer lament. Again, a nice song, but nothing compared to what they ended up with.