[powerpress]
The Album Effect episode 18 reviews Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, White Blood Cells by The White Stripes, Pawn Shop by Brothers Osborne, and a listener submission from alternative rock band Faded Shades for their album, It Gets Heavy, plus more. Hosted by Manny, Nick, Dave, and Britt.
Check out and listen to Faded Shades on Spotify.
Have an album you’d like us to review?
Let us know on Instagram @thealbumeffect or Twitter @thealbumeffect
Episode 18 Albums:
Rumours (1977)
Fleetwood Mac
The initial incarnation of Fleetwood Mac bears little resemblance to the chart-toppers most fans came to know. Formed in 1967 London, the original line-up consisted of drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. Bassist John McVie joined soon after and his wife Christine began to sing for the band in 1970.
Originally a blues-oriented band, this version released a number of albums, a few of which achieved mild success in the UK. Various personal problems led to a major shift in the band’s line-up in 1974, however, when Green and Spencer left, opening spots for new lead guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and his then-girlfriend, singer Stevie Nicks. The influence of Buckingham and Nicks created a more pop-rock sound, and the first album recorded with this line-up, 1975’s Fleetwood Mac, became the band’s first mainstream hit.
Fleetwood Mac was in quite the state of personal turmoil when they set about recording 1977’s Rumours. The two relationships within the band were crumbling, with the McVies divorcing and Buckingham and Nicks involved in a turbulent on/off relationship. This situation, along with the pressure to record a follow-up befitting their previous success, put a tremendous strain on the band, and drug and alcohol abuse was prevalent during the Rumours recording sessions. Originally titled “Yesterday’s Gone,” John McVie suggested changing the album’s title to Rumours because he felt the songs were basically diaries written by the band members about one another.
The tense recording sessions produced what many consider to be Fleetwood Mac’s greatest album. With four top 10 singles, and a 31-week stay on the US charts, Rumours was an unmitigated commercial success. Also a highly acclaimed work, Rumours won the Album of the Year Grammy in 1977 and ranked highly on many critics’ year-end lists. The album proved significant to many future artists, with modern musicians including Lorde, Florence + The Machine, Death Cab for Cutie, and many others all citing it as an influence.
White Blood Cells (2001)
The White Stripes
The White Stripes are from the celebrated early 2000s era of indie that produced a number of the “The” bands – think The Strokes, The Hives, The Walkmen, The Libertines…the list goes on and on. Arguably the leaders of the garage rock side of the scene, The White Stripes were formed in 1997 by then-married couple Jack and Meg White. Having met at an open mic night, the duo became a band shortly after Meg first started playing drums in 1997.
Initially, they presented themselves as brother and sister, something Jack later said was done in hopes that critics and fans would focus on the band’s music, and not their personal relationship. Though they came from the same Detroit garage scene that produced The Von Bondies, Electric Six and The Detroit Cobras, The White Stripes first two albums were more blues oriented, with Jack saying that this genre was the prevailing influence on his work.
Though their early releases were generally well-received, it was The White Stripes’ third studio album, White Blood Cells, that became their mainstream breakthrough. Recorded in Memphis in just under a week, White Blood Cells veered away from the blues influence of their debut and truly embraced the raw garage rock that would become the band’s signature sound.
The album took off first in the UK, and later in the US, going on to reach Gold status and receiving tremendous critical acclaim, including being named Spin’s 2001 Album of the Year. It was largely the Lego animation music video for single “Fell in Love with a Girl” that brought the White Stripes to those who weren’t avid readers of the music blogs, however. The unique clip – which took 5 more weeks to film than the band took to record the album – received heavy airplay on MTV and won a string of Video Music Awards, including Best Breakthrough Video.
Pawn Shop (2016)
Brothers Osborne
Brothers Osborne isn’t just a band name for the country act from Deale, Maryland. The duo are quite literally brothers, with singer T.J. Osborne and guitarist John Osborne getting their musical inspiration largely from their dad’s record collection. As teens, they played in a local cover band, which their father insisted have at least four hours of music prepared before playing live, because “that’s how they did it in Nashville.” As adults, T.J. and John actually moved to the famed Country Music Capital, where they signed their first record deal in 2011.
After garnering positive attention for a 2014 EP, Brothers Osborne released debut album Pawn Shop two years later. Co-produced by Cage the Elephant producer Jay Joyce, the album was praised for breaking from country’s current pop-oriented trend, instead going with an earthier country-rock feel. Lyrically, many of the songs were drawn from the brothers’ own blue-collar upbringing, and John has pointed out that he believes fans gravitated toward their honesty, having grown tired of the country scene’s perceived lack of authenticity. Pawn Shop fared well commercially, debuting at number 3 on the Top Country Albums chart and later certified Gold.
