Live (Fleetwood Mac album)

Live
Live album by Fleetwood Mac
Released	5 December 1980
Recorded	17 October 1975 – 4 September 1980
Genre	Rock hard rock
Length	91:06
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Richard Dashut Ken Caillat Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac chronology
Tusk (1979) Live (1980) Mirage (1982)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	C+ [2]
Rolling Stone	[3]
Record Mirror	[4]

Live is a double live album released by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac on 5 December 1980. ^[5] It was the first live album from the then-current line-up of the band, and the next would be The Dance from 1997. The album was certified gold (500,000 copies sold) by the RIAA in November 1981. ^[6] A deluxe edition of the album was released on 9 April 2021. ^[7]

Live consists of recordings taken primarily from the 1979–1980 Tusk Tour and a Buckingham Nicks track, "Don't Let Me Down Again", from the 1975 Fleetwood Mac Tour. The deluxe edition also includes a few recordings from the earlier Rumours Tour of 1977 and the later Mirage Tour of 1982. According to the liner notes, two songs were recorded at a Paris soundcheck and three at a performance at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium "for an audience of friends and road crew".

Background

Drummer Mick Fleetwood had originally suggested that the band release a live album at the time of the Rumours tour, although the band decided against it, with recording engineer Richard Dashut arguing that it would interfere with the band's in-studio identity. The band still recorded over 400 shows from 1975-79 in case they changed their minds. At the conclusion of the Tusk tour, Fleetwood brought up the idea again, and this time the band agreed despite Buckingham's and John McVie's initial reservations. ^[8] The album was digitally recorded using technology developed by Soundstream. ^[9] Billboard also stated that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab half-speed mastered the album for the audiophile market. ^[10]

Of particular note are three new songs—Christine McVie's "One More Night", Stevie Nicks's "Fireflies", and a well-harmonized backstage rendition of the Beach Boys' "The Farmer's Daughter". The latter two were released as singles; "Fireflies" reached the top 60 in the US, ^[11] while "The Farmer's Daughter" reached the top 10 in Austria. ^[12]

The band covered "Farmer's Daughter" at the request of Buckingham, who deemed the Brian Wilson tune obscure enough to include on the album. ^[13] A recording of "The Farmer's Daughter" also appears on the Tusk re-release of 2004. "Don't Let Me Down Again" is a song from the Buckingham Nicks album and was recorded earlier than the rest of the tracks; the recording was made in 1975 in Passaic.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Location	Length
1.	"Monday Morning"	Lindsey Buckingham	2/3/80, Budokan Hall, Tokyo	3:51
2.	"Say You Love Me"	Christine McVie	8/25/80, Kansas Coliseum, Wichita	4:18
3.	"Dreams"	Stevie Nicks	6/14/80, Palais de Sport, Paris (soundcheck)	4:18
4.	"Oh Well"	Peter Green	11/5/79, Checker Dome, St. Louis	3:23
5.	"Over & Over"	Christine McVie	8/22/80, Myriad Convention Center, Oklahoma City	5:01
Total length:				21:20

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Location	Length
1.	"Sara"	Stevie Nicks	11/5/79, Checker Dome, St. Louis	7:23
2.	"Not That Funny"	Lindsey Buckingham	5/21/80, Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland	9:04
3.	"Never Going Back Again"	Lindsey Buckingham	8/28/80, McKale Center, Tucson	4:13
4.	"Landslide"	Stevie Nicks	6/25/80, Wembley Arena, London	4:33
Total length:				25:14

Side three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Location	Length
1.	"Fireflies"	Stevie Nicks	9/4/80, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica (for crew and friends)	4:37
2.	"Over My Head"	Christine McVie	8/24/80, Kemper Arena, Kansas City	3:27
3.	"Rhiannon"	Stevie Nicks	6/26/80, Wembley Arena, London	7:43
4.	"Don't Let Me Down Again" (from Buckingham Nicks , 1973)	Lindsey Buckingham	10/17/75, Capitol Theater, Passaic	3:57
5.	"One More Night"	Christine McVie	9/3/80, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica (for crew and friends)	3:43
Total length:				23:33

Side four

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Location	Length
1.	"Go Your Own Way"	Lindsey Buckingham	5/21/80, Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland	5:44
2.	"Don't Stop"	Christine McVie	6/14/80, Palais de Sport, Paris (soundcheck)	4:05
3.	"I'm So Afraid"	Lindsey Buckingham	5/20/80, Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland	8:28
4.	"Farmer's Daughter"	Brian Wilson Mike Love	9/4/80, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica (for crew and friends)	2:25
Total length:				20:47

2021 super deluxe edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Location	Length
1.	"Second Hand News"	Lindsey Buckingham	10/21/82, The Forum, Inglewood	3:52
2.	"The Chain"	Buckingham Fleetwood C. McVie J. McVie Nicks	5/20/80, Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland	6:50
3.	"Think About Me"	Christine McVie	8/24/80, Kemper Arena, Kansas City	3:09
4.	"What Makes You Think You're the One"	Lindsey Buckingham	8/23/80, Kemper Arena, Kansas City	4:20
5.	"Gold Dust Woman"	Stevie Nicks	8/29/77, The Forum, Inglewood	7:23
6.	"Brown Eyes"	Christine McVie	10/22/82, The Forum, Inglewood	4:27
7.	"The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)"	Peter Green	5/18/77, State Fair Arena, Oklahoma City	5:27
8.	"Angel"	Stevie Nicks	5/20/80, Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland	4:49
9.	"Hold Me"	Christine McVie	10/21/82, The Forum, Inglewood	4:19
10.	"Tusk"	Lindsey Buckingham	8/24/80, Kemper Arena, Kansas City	6:25
11.	"You Make Loving Fun"	Christine McVie	5/19/77, BOK Center, Tulsa	4:44
12.	"Sisters of the Moon"	Stevie Nicks	8/21/80, Omaha Civic Auditorium, Omaha	7:17
13.	"Songbird"	Christine McVie	8/21/80, Omaha Civic Auditorium, Omaha	4:14
14.	"Blue Letter"	Michael Curtis Richard Curtis	5/20/77, Barton Coliseum, Little Rock	4:48
15.	"Fireflies"	Stevie Nicks	remix – long version	4:04
16.	"Fireflies"	Stevie Nicks	demo	3:41
17.	"One More Night"	Christine McVie	demo	3:00
Total length:				82:58

Personnel

Fleetwood Mac

• Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, vocals
• Stevie Nicks – vocals
• Christine McVie – keyboards, vocals
• John McVie – bass
• Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Ray Lindsey – additional guitar on "Go Your Own Way"^{[ citation needed ]}
• Tony Toadaro – additional percussion
• Jeffery Sova – additional keyboards

Production

• Richard Dashut – producer, mix-down engineer, live engineering
• Ken Caillat – producer, live recording, mix-down engineer
• Fleetwood Mac – producers
• Biff Dawes – live recording
• Trip Khalaf – live engineering
• Carla Frederick – studio recording assistant
• Rich Feldman – studio recording assistant
• David (Dominguez) Ahlert – studio recording assistant
• Ken Perry – mastering
• Larry Vigon – art direction and design
• Chris Callis – cover and collage photography
• Sam Emerson – collage photography
• Sharon Weisz – collage photography

Charts

Album 1980 chart performance for Live Chart (1980) Peak position Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [14] 13 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [15] 50 UK Albums (OCC) [16] 31 US Billboard 200 [17] 14 1981 chart performance for Live Chart (1981) Peak position New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [18] 37 2021 chart performance for Live Chart (2021) Peak position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [19] 194 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [20] 61 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [21] 28 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [22] 23 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [23] 61

Singles Chart performance for singles from Live Single Chart (1981) Peak position "Fireflies" US Billboard Hot 100 [24] 60

Certifications

Certifications for Live

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [25]	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA) [6]	Gold	500,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Ruhlmann, William. "Fleetwood Mac: Live". AllMusic .
2. "Robert Christgau: CG: fleetwood mac". Robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
3. Tucker, Ken (19 February 1981). "Fleetwood Mac: Live". rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone.
4. Smith, Robin (6 December 1980). Fleetwood Mac: Live. Record Mirror. p. 20.
5. "BPI".
6. "American album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Live". Recording Industry Association of America.
7. "Fleetwood Mac announce deluxe edition of classic 'Fleetwood Mac Live' album". NME . 11 February 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
8. Evans, Mike (2011). Fleetwood Mac: The Definitive History. New York: Sterling. pp. 176–177. ISBN   978-1-4027-8630-3.
9. McCullaugh, Jim (7 February 1981). "10 Digital Albums Are On The Top LPs & Tape Chart" (PDF). Billboard. p. 61. Retrieved 15 June 2025– via World Radio History.
10. "For The Record" (PDF). Billboard. 28 February 1981. p. 38. Retrieved 15 June 2025– via World Radio History.
11. "Fleetwood Mac Billboard Hot 100 History". Billboard. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
12. "Fleetwood Mac - The Farmer's Daughter". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
13. "Lindsey Buckingham - BAM Interview (Jan 1981)". www.fleetwoodmac-uk.com. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
14. "Dutchcharts.nl – Fleetwood Mac – Live" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
15. "Swedishcharts.com – Fleetwood Mac – Live". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
16. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
17. "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
18. "Charts.nz – Fleetwood Mac – Live". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
19. "Ultratop.be – Fleetwood Mac – Live" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
20. "Ultratop.be – Fleetwood Mac – Live" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
21. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2021. 26. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
22. "Offiziellecharts.de – Fleetwood Mac – Live" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
23. "Swisscharts.com – Fleetwood Mac – Live". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
24. "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
25. "British album certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac Live". British Phonographic Industry.