May 7, 2007
T
his is a fascinating if overlong look at the megasuccess of Fleetwood Mac in the mid-1970s, after the former British blues band recorded the laid-back rock songs of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks that made the album Rumours
one of the most popular of its era. While working at the band's recording studio, Harris, currently a music business costume designer, became Buckingham's girlfriend and constant companion from 1976 through 1984, and she gives a detailed look—more so than drummer and original member Mick Fleetwood's biography—at this already well-chronicled story of how the success of Rumours
provided the income for extravagant cocaine-fueled excesses before, during and after performances. Harris too often uses clichés, such as her view of the band's “beautiful insanity.” But she does candidly recount Buckingham's rage and his repeated physical assaults on her. Along the way, she offers great descriptions of the band's recording sessions, especially her account of Buckingham's desire to “create something new, something completely” different for Tusk
, the more experimental (and less profitable) follow-up to Rumours
.