Crystal (Fleetwood Mac song)

Last updated
"Crystal"
Song by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Fleetwood Mac
Released11 July 1975
Recorded1975
Studio Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, California
Length5:14
Label Warner Bros.
Songwriter Stevie Nicks
Producers Fleetwood Mac, Keith Olsen

"Crystal" is a song written by Stevie Nicks. The song originally appeared on hers and Lindsey Buckingham's studio album, Buckingham Nicks (1973). Two years later, after the duo joined Fleetwood Mac, the band re-recorded it and released on their 1975 Fleetwood Mac album. [1] Buckingham sang lead vocals on both of these recordings. In 1998, Nicks re-recorded the song with herself on lead vocals for the Practical Magic soundtrack. [2]

Contents

Background

Buckingham Nicks version

"Crystal" first appeared on Buckingham Nicks, an album recorded by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1973 prior to their time in Fleetwood Mac. [3] Despite being written by Nicks, the song was instead sung by Buckingham partially because producer Keith Olsen believed that his vocal timbre suited the song better. [3] Nicks commented in the 2025 limited edition liner notes for Buckingham Nicks that she personally asked Buckingham to sing the song. "I'd written the song about him and me when things were good. I said, 'You sing it to me'". [4] Nicks also said in an 1981 interview with Rolling Stone that she wrote the lyric "I have changed but you remain ageless" for her father. She would also reference that line during written correspondence with her father, adding that these words represented "what life is all about, because if somebody could take him away from me, they could do anything to me." because if somebody could take him away from me, they could do anything to me." [5]

Buckingham played his guitar parts on "Crystal" in an open tuning. [4] The recording also featured an oboe at the end of each chorus. [6] Mick Fleetwood recalled that "Crystal" was one of the songs that he heard while visiting Sound City Studios, which he was considering as a potential studio to record the next Fleetwood Mac album. Fleetwood said that the song had "so much connective power to our story and so much power in terms of what happened next." Keith Olsen, who produced Buckingham Nicks, did not mention "Crystal" as one of the songs he played for Fleetwood, instead citing "Frozen Love" and "Django" along with some compositions from James Gang and Emitt Rhodes. [7] In January 1975, Buckingham Nicks performed "Crystal" as an encore during a show in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. By this point, the two had already agreed to join Fleetwood Mac and were performing their last shows as members of Buckingham Nicks. [8]

Fleetwood Mac version

After Buckingham and Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, the band opted to record another version of "Crystal" for their 1975 Fleetwood Mac album, again with Buckingham on lead vocals. [9] John McVie had suggested that the band re-record "Crystal", although Nicks was not initially supportive of the idea because she preferred to have one of her newer songs to appear on the album instead. [10] : 6:16–6:45  For this recording, Christine McVie recorded the keyboard solo on a multimoog synthesizer. "It wasn't even mine, though. There was some mad little professor guy running around twiddling all the knobs for me while I played it. I think he slept with the damn thing". [11] Buckingham treated his guitar with a variable speed oscillator, a device that was used to alter the speed of a tape machine and thus manipulate the sound of the guitar. [12] The band previewed the song during their Fleetwood Mac Tour prior to the album's release. [13]

Stevie Nicks version

In 1998, Nicks recorded another version of the song for the Practical Magic soundtrack, this time with herself on lead vocals. Bob Aguirre, who played drums in a band with Nicks during the early 1970s, said that he was "floored by the way she sang it" and gave Nicks a phone call to compliment her vocal performance. [14]

Personnel

Fleetwood Mac version

References

  1. ↑ Wake, Matt (25 October 2018). "45 years later Buckingham Nicks album still casts spell". Al.com . Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  2. ↑ Masley, Ed. "The Stevie Nicks 'Dreams' TikTok challenge was huge. Why her song 'Crystal' could be next". The Arizona Republic . Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Keith Olsen Q&A, Section One: May 2000". The Penguin. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 Fricke, David (2025). Buckingham Nicks (Limited Numbered Edition (Liner Notes). United States: Rhino. RHF1 727705.
  5. ↑ White, Timothy (3 September 1981). "Stevie Nicks' Magic Act". Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
  6. ↑ "Keith Olsen Q&A, Section Two: May 2000". The Penguin. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  7. ↑ Blake, Mark (2024). The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac. New York: Pegasus Books. pp. 161, 179–180. ISBN   978-1-63936-732-0.
  8. ↑ Taylor, Yuval (2 October 2025). "The Ballad of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham". GQ . Retrieved 4 October 2025.
  9. ↑ Puterbaugh, Parke (2004). Fleetwood Mac (2004 Remastered Edition) (Liner Notes). Fleetwood Mac. Los Angeles: Reprise Records. p. 7.
  10. ↑ Denny Somach; Nicks, Stevie (1981). Stevie Nicks Special on The Source, 1981 (Radio show/Interview) (Interview). Archived from the original on 9 December 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024– via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Doerschuk, Bob (October 1980). "Christine McVie". Contemporary Keyboard . Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2023– via The Blue Letter Archives.
  12. ↑ Bradley, Tim (January 1983). "Lindsey Buckingham Puts His Tusks Into It". Guitar World . Archived from the original on 30 December 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2025– via The Blue Letter Archives.
  13. ↑ Fleetwood, Mick (2014). Play On: Now, Then, and Fleetwood Mac: The Autobiography. Little, Brown. p. 175. ISBN   978-0316403405.
  14. ↑ Avila, Mary (7 April 2015). "Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham before Fleetwood Mac". The Patriot Ledger . Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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