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Fleetwood Mac · S2 E7
The Ad in Sound City
Mick Fleetwood visits a studio in Van Nuys and hears a demo tape. The voice on it belongs to Lindsey Buckingham
The last days of 1974, Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, California. Mick Fleetwood is touring a recording studio when an engineer puts on a demo tape to show off the room's sound, and the guitar playing stops him in his tracks.
Fleetwood Mac, "Monday Morning" (Fleetwood Mac, 1975). The very first track on the first album with Buckingham and Nicks. This is what Mick Fleetwood heard in his head when that demo tape played at Sound City, and this is exactly what he got.
Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, California
15456 Cabrito Road, Van Nuys. The studio where Keith Olsen played Mick Fleetwood a track from an unknown album called Buckingham Nicks, and changed the trajectory of popular music.
The Package Deal
Fleetwood calls Buckingham and offers him the guitar spot. Buckingham says yes, but with one condition: his girlfriend Stevie Nicks comes too, or neither of them does. Fleetwood agrees without hesitation, and the most important phone call in rock history is over in minutes.
TAP TO REVEAL: What was Stevie Nicks doing when Mick Fleetwood called?
“Lindsey said, "I'll join your band, but my girlfriend sings. We come as a package." And I said, "Bring her along." That was it. That was how we found Stevie Nicks.”
— Mick Fleetwood, "Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac," 1990
What condition did Lindsey Buckingham set before joining Fleetwood Mac?
Crystal (Fleetwood Mac)
The only song that appears on both the Buckingham Nicks album and the self-titled Fleetwood Mac record. Same melody, same bones, but the Fleetwood Mac version has Christine McVie's harmonies, John McVie's bass, and Mick Fleetwood's drums wrapping around it. The bridge between two eras, captured in a single song.
Crystal, Fleetwood Mac (1975)
Read the lyrics while you listen. The same words Buckingham sang on the Buckingham Nicks album, now wrapped in a completely different band. A bridge between two eras.
Two strangers from California walk into a British band and the chemistry is instant. Next season: Rhiannon, Landslide, and the album that transforms Fleetwood Mac from a cult act into the biggest band in America.
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