The Recording of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours

Memories of the Making of Rumours

Richard Dashut (co-producer)
I’d worked with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks since their debut album, Buckingham-Nicks. After they joined Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey invited me to do their live sound. They started recording Rumours in Sausalito, across the bay from San Fransico, with the Record Plant’s engineer, but they fired him after four days for being too into astrology. I was really just around keeping Lindsey company, then Mick takes me into the parking lot, puts his arm around my shoulder and says, Guess what? You’re producing the album. The funny thing was, I never really wanted to be a producer. I brought in a friend from wally Heider’s studio in Los Angeles, Ken Caillat, to help me, and we started co-producing. Mick gave me and Ken an old Chinese I-Ching coin and said, Good luck.

Cris Morris (recording assistant):
I’d helped build the Record Plant. I knew every nail, because I’d driven most of them in. I’d helped make what became known as Sly Stone’s Pit, a control booth sunk into the floor, so the musicians could sit and play around it. When we recorded Sly there, he had his own personal tank of nitrous oxide installed, and that was still there.

Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac):
It was a bizarre place to work, but we didn’t really use Sly Stone’s pit. It was usually occupied by people we didn’t know, tapping razors on mirrors.

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