Stevie Nicks “In Your Dreams”

Stream Stevie Nicks' new album, including a song she wrote in the 70's that didn't make the cut on "Rumors."

Fleetwood Mac had two distinct periods of major success as a band: first in the 1960′s lead by founder and guitarist Peter Green with an awesome blues sound that few seem to be aware of — and later in the 1970′s with Lindsey Buckingham replacing Green, who had spiraled into madness after taking large does of acid. Buckingham brought his girlfriend, a pretty thing with a sultry voice, with him into the band and Stevie Nicks emerged as the indisputable queen of 70′s rock and roll.

The band was fantastic, but it was Nicks that catapulted them to new heights with her inimitable style and the hits she wrote, like “Dreams” and “Landslide.” She’s returned with a solo record for the first time in 10 years, called “In Your Dreams” with the help of Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart, co-producing. Rolling Stone has the album up and streaming here.

Nicks, now 62 years old, pursues the same magical and lovelorn themes she did when she was 22. In fact, the track “Secret Love” was written in the mid 70′s about an affair she was having as her relationship with Buckingham fell apart during the recording of “Rumors.”

“I have really tried to remember who it was about,” Nicks told Spinner, “but at the end of 1975, the world was spinning around us so fast, and we were meeting people every other day. There were gorgeous men and gorgeous women everywhere. We were fast and beautiful and crazy.”

There are a few charmers on this album such as “Annabel Lee” and closer “Cheaper than Free.” “Soldier’s Angel” even recalls some of that old Fleetwood Mac sound, but there are some real duds too, and Stewart’s no Lindsey Buckingham with a guitar. The ZZ Top licks on “Ghosts are Gone” are particularly troubling. This record’s probably not for the 20 and 30 somethings who have been breathing new life into Fleetwood Mac and old Stevie Nicks records again for the past decade, but it’s nice to hear Stevie musing again all the same.

Here’s Stevie Nicks video for “Secret Love,” shot at and around her house. It features her goddaughter wearing a dress that Nicks used to wear onstage in the 70′s.

Here’s how it was done in 1975 (play it the way you feel it, but listen carefully to the sound).

Fleetwood Mac — “Dreams”