Dreams: The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac

Music journalist Blake (Bring It On Home) stitches together a kaleidoscopic chronicle of one of rock’s most fabled groups. In its earliest days, Fleetwood Mac was a blues band helmed by cofounders Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green, who composed such hit singles as “Albatross” and “Mr. Wonderful.” A “folky, progressive” sound came to the fore in the 1970s with Then Play On, Green’s last album with the band. In 1975, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, then a folk-rock duo, joined the group and ushered in a pop-rock style and a period of intense interpersonal drama. The pair, who were dating, broke up in 1976, as did married band members Christine and John McVie; Nicks later began an affair with Fleetwood. In loose, episodic sections drawing on interviews with bandmembers, Blake analyzes the makings of their famous (“Dreams,” “The Chain”) and lesser-known (“Tell Me All the Things You Do”) songs; dissects their romantic rivalries; and traces the destructive effects of the rock and roll lifestyle (Peter Green, who departed in 1970 because of his eroding mental health, was being treated for schizophrenia by the time his former band found superstardom with 1977’s Rumours). It’s a colorful account of a fascinating chapter in rock history. (Oct.)