Book Review: The Sound That Haunts You: A Beginner’s Companion to Fleetwood Mac by Tim Durling

Disclosure: I was given a review copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you Tim for sending me a copy of your book!

Long before Taylor Swift had eras, Fleetwood Mac had eras. Depending on when you got into the band, or for those who were born after their heyday, what era of Fleetwood Mac you heard first, the band has a different sound and vibe to you. Most people are familiar with the Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham years when the band became a fusion of British and American and a mixed gender group with two female members, but they’re less familiar with the Peter Green and Bob Welch eras. I guarantee you that even if you don’t know early blues rock Fleetwood Mac, you’ll know at least one Peter Green song. Santana’s cover of “Black Magic Woman” is a classic rock radio staple. The “Sleep Walk” inspired instrumental “Albatross” was a chart topper in the UK. “Man of the World” and “Oh Well” were nearly chart toppers, peaking at #2, only behind The Beatles’ “Get Back” and The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar”, respectively. 

Fleetwood Mac are a band I’ve loved ever since I was a teenager. What I love about them is like Queen, The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin they were really a collective where everyone contributed to the sound and the discography is solid too. I had a close friend in secondary school who was a hippie who had a nice record collection and she idolised Stevie Nicks big time. My dad made a mixtape of oldies for car rides and Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” was on there. One of my best secondhand vinyl finds was finding Rumours on vinyl for just 75 cents at a used bookstore in the Chicagoland area when I was a teenager. I’m childfree but if I were to have a daughter, I would have named her Rhiannon after the Fleetwood Mac song. Who doesn’t love Fleetwood Mac?

Canadian classic rock content creator Tim Durling has published his sixth book on classic rock, The Sound That Haunts You: A Beginner’s Companion to Fleetwood Mac, and it stands out compared to his previous ones (and his videos on his channel) since they’re mostly about heavier music from the 70s and 80s and he says as much in the intro. What I’ve found is that while people have their favourite genres and artists, people contain multitudes and like a variety of things. How many heavy metal artists have talked about how much they love The Beatles? Much like The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac are a band who have changed a lot and they have something for everyone. Everyone likes at least one Fleetwood Mac song and you shouldn’t stop at just the hits. But where to go? That’s what this book is for!

Before we begin, here’s a quick overview/timeline of the Fleetwood Mac eras:

• 1968-1969: Peter Green era. Blues rock sound. Played a lot of blues covers at first, but by Then Play On, they turned into an originals band, making the blues theirs. Christine Perfect of Chicken Shack plays on their albums, but is not yet an official member. Personally, my favourite album of this era is Then Play On.
• 1970-1973: Peter Green leaves the band after tripping on acid at a commune in Munich, later diagnosed with schizophrenia, but he wouldn’t be the only Fleetwood Mac member with issues. Kiln House is their first album without Green. Jeremy Spencer left Fleetwood Mac abruptly in 1971 to join the Children of God cult (now known as The Family International). Bob Welch was hired as his replacement and was in the band from 1971-1974, playing on the albums Future Games, Penguin, Mystery to Me, and Heroes Are Hard to Find. Danny Kirwan’s departure came in 1972 after erratic, violent behaviour backstage at a concert. By 1980 he was homeless and spent much of the rest of his life homeless. Bob Weston and Dave Walker of Savoy Brown replaced him. This era is often overlooked and honestly if you’ve skipped this era, you’re missing out. If you love instrumentals, you’ll like this era. Pretty solid discography in this era.
• 1974-1987: Their most successful era with Americans Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Great music, lots of drama and drugs. This was the time of “Rhiannon” and Rumours, the best breakup album you’ll ever hear with lots of hit singles that are classic rock radio staples “Go Your Own Way”, “Dreams”, “Don’t Stop”, and “You Make Loving Fun”. Tusk is a double album with a mix of sounds, lots of experimentation thanks to Lindsey Buckingham. Mirage is a continuation of Buckingham and Nicks influences. Big hits from the 80s include “Gypsy”, “Big Love”, “Little Lies”, and “Everywhere”.
• 1987-1995: Lindsey Buckingham left after Tango in the Night. Billy Burnette and Rick Vito replace him. Their famous Greatest Hits album comes out in 1988. Behind the Mask comes out in 1990 and it’s seen as weak compared to their previous work. Stevie Nicks left the band in 1991. The classic mid 70s lineup reunite for Bill Clinton with “Don’t Stop” being his campaign song.

The Sound That Haunts You is a 150-page album by album guide to Fleetwood Mac. It’s well-formatted and organised with pictures of the album cover, notes on personnel, and the track listing (including any bonus tracks) before going into background information on the album and track by track descriptions and commentary with a quick one line summary about the album’s success at the end. The guide is concise, with a couple of pages dedicated to each album, and shares essential information about the tracks and I appreciate how Tim makes connections between Fleetwood Mac songs and connects the songs to other musicians, sharing if the songs have been covered by others or inspired other musicians (in this book I learnt that “Station Man” inspired “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, and I’m a big fan of The Who). Besides the studio albums, there are sections of the book about one of the greatest flops of all time Buckingham Nicks, 2013’s Extended Play EP, and 2017’s Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie. A nice addition to the book, there is a list of song recommendations beyond the studio albums and a list of good Fleetwood Mac covers.

This is a great read for casual fans of Fleetwood Mac and those who are curious about the band. I think it’s best to listen to alongside the albums and that’s exactly what I did when I was reading the book. It’s an incredible journey through the decades and it’s great to have Tim Durling as your tour guide for Fleetwood Mac’s discography. I’d love to see him do more of these types of books for other 60s and 70s classic rock bands (even though I know he’s more of an 80s hard rock guy)! This book is definitely making me want to write another Listen to This, Not That! Should I bring this series back? Let me know in the comments!

You can follow Tim’s Vinyl Confessions on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can buy his books on Amazon.

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