Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
A train of thought occurs when you start to see the connections that bind the fair percentage of the so-called supergroups and rock and roll celebrities that inhabited the scene between the late 60s and through to the final years of the 1980s; in the land of the excessive and the extreme, the opportunity to be bold, brash, and experimental was far more important than it is today, to be seen as someone rather than just anyone was for the soul and not for the likes and thumbs up of social media, and that albums could be created from the debauched dynamic as well as the ‘truth’ audiences were meant to attach themselves to in the era of peace, love, and understanding post Woodstock vibe.
The names can be rattled off the tongue, the groups and artists to whom we can proclaim just for showing some kind of forceful and uncompromising mentality to get a project over the line, ones to whom excess was pushed by consumerism, drugs, the abundance of sex, and at times sheer eye raising animosity to one person, or even the entire group, to which they place their musical vision and trust within; Eagles, Aerosmith, The Everly Brothers, Pink Floyd, the list is almost endless, but consider the music they made, that is what makes art timeless and phenomenal fifty to sixty years after it was first played.
Perhaps no band exemplifies this state of mind than the iconic Fleetwood Mac, a group so well known for the tempers, the fall outs, the affairs, the resignations, and above all it all music so sublime that it didn’t just carry one era, but a multitude of people and dragged them all into Heaven’s Hell.
Of all the books that have been written by various members, by those on the inside with the courtesy of distance, and the ones written with hearsay and illusion acting as their quiver and bow, few have touched upon a certainty as Mark Blake achieves in Dreams – The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac, engaging, honest, and all from the idea of utilising interviews and statements that could carry the feeling of performance, of the fury and style that crossed every member touched by what can only be described as an appetite for self-destruction that never completely materialised; that there was always hope even when major players left or passed on.
From humble but inevitable beginnings, the sections that overflow with information and material evidence feels in tune with that in which you might find within a West End Play, a Hollywood blockbuster focusing on the disparate and rock dystopia, and none of it is filtered, the anguish and torment is real, the joy is palpable, the passing of bright flames is regretful, and each time there is a quote that captures the heart of the matter from a journalist who is absolutely on form and respected for his insight.
Dreams – The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac tears at the heart but unites the spirit, not only for the band but also the dedicated reader who dares join the adventure. A reference to the unruly, a persuasion of evidence in communication breakdown, an autobiography of in quotes and meanings from one of the greatest ever bands to rule the music world; this is a must read for fans everywhere.
Ian D. Hall