Second Hand News: Rumours Covers

 
Fleetwood Mac's seminal album Rumours has been re-issued by Rhino & Warner Brothers in an expanded edition three CD box set. This 35th anniversary edition is getting high praise. I've done my own re-issue of Rumours--well not so much a re-issue as a re-creation of the album as a Spotify playlist with a cover version of each of Rumours' songs. I call it Second Hand News: Rumours Covers. You can listen to the whole thing here:

 

Let's break it down song by song....

I had never heard of The Greencards before making this playlist, but I sort of fell in love with this version of "Second Hand News". It makes total sense that an alt bluegrass group would amp up the Celtic qualities of Lindsay Buckingham's composition.



There were a lot of good covers of "Dreams" from which to choose, but I picked Whiskeytown's in part to show how influential Rumours has been on important musicians who came after. It's a great version that is true to both Fleetwood Mac and Whiskeytown.



Again, artists I previously unknown to me delivered what I thought was the best version. Colin Reid and Eddi Reader (misidentified as "Eddie" by Spotify) deliver a beautiful, straight-forward acoustic "Never Going Back Again".



Obviously, I could have chosen the Vitamin String Quartet for any song since they produced an entire recreation of Rumours of their own. I liked "Don't Stop" best because it showcases the wildly under-appreciated musical contribution Christine McVie brought to Fleetwood Mac.



Probably the most famous cover on my playlist, The Cranberries' "Go Your Own Way" has the driving drums and rocking guitars of the original with a twist of a more ethereal vocal track. Lovely.



Willie Nelson is a great song writer--he proved that early on with "Crazy". He is also a great interpreter of other people's songs (see: Stardust). What I love about this version of "Songbird" is how perfect the lyrics written by a young woman (McVie) are for an older man. The age in Nelson's voice really brings out the bittersweet quality of the song.



Now, for something completely different. This Three Days Grace version of "The Chain" reminds us that Fleetwood Mac was, after all, a rock band.



I was surprised by how few choices I had for "You Make Loving Fun", but I only needed one good one. Fortunately, Danni Carlos delivers. Also, I love the title of her album, Rock'N'Road Acústico.



Am I wrong, or do the Goo Goo Dolls rock harder on this version of "I Don't Want To Know" than on any of their own songs?



"Oh Daddy" was by far the least covered song on Rumours. So I'm really glad I found this version by Beanie Sigel for a couple of reasons. First, it adds a little much-needed diversity to the (otherwise completely white) playlist. More importantly, it shows the far reaching influence of Rumours.



Finally, I went full-on country with "Gold Dust Woman" by Waylon Jennings. No explanation necessary really. It just makes perfect sense.