European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Waiting on Fleetwood Mac by Rick Maze staff writer Fleetwood Mac is trying to prove to it Mil Lions of fans that after taking about two years to record and release another album the Long wait has been Worth  last album titled simply Fleetwood Mac is a hard act to follow and so the band might have some reason for concern. The new up rumours is Only the second produced by this edition of Fleetwood Mac the band s lineup has changed 10 times in As Many years. At last count Warner Brothers has Nold More than 4.5 million copies of Fleetwood Mac which stayed in the Bui Board album charts for More than a year. In presi releases advertisements and every other Chance they get the record company claims they Are sending out rumours which a already sold More than 1.s million copies in the largest num Bers Ever distributed. Fleetwood Mac has always been considered to have a better sound on record than in live performances but a recent concert in Frankfurt and a copy of their new album both leave you waiting to hear that one great song which would make the album famous. That great song never comes. Fleetwood Mac had its Rhiannon and Over my head but the most rumours has to boast of is chains written by All five members of the group. It s in a differ ent category altogether More like a Midnight Jam ses Sion at a bar in the lower Side of town. This is surprising since All the group s members can and have written Good cuts on their own. Good am play has made go your own Way a hit and others May trickle into the charts in time. As one reviewer said rumours is a Safe album there Are no mistakes and few  the songs on the new album Are diverse the key to making it big in today s Rock world it seems. A couple could easily hit toe country music charts while others sound like remakes of Kenny Loggia compositions and some Are just Plain hard Rock. The Fleetwood part of the group s name comes from Mick Fleetwood one of the first escapees from John Mayall s tue streakers. Fleetwood plays the Drums with a flair that few other Rock n Roll percussionists Nave but in t really flashy. The other band members often gather around him when they play As if for moral support. When he performs his face has the wild eyed look of a Man half Between ecstasy and anger. The Mac part comes from John Mcvie Bass guitarist and the quiet Man of the band. Mcvie often stands by himself when he plays Back to the audience head dipped and nodding from Side to Side. Mcvie also played with Mayal in the late 60s, and is probably one of the few musicians whose style has t changed. Movle i sex wife Christine joined the group when Peter Green left in 1970 Green on a religious kick started an exodus which had the band on Uncertain ground for several years. Married to Mcvie at the time it was mostly Christine s compositions which made the album heroes Ore hard to find a Success. Her breakup with Mcvie is considered one reason i took so Long to produce rumours. The addition of Christine on the keyboards is probably one Good reason Why Fleetwood Mac is still popular. They have expanded the traditional role of blues musicians to include a variety of sounds. The two newest members Are Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham who performed together As Buckingham Nicks before joining Fleetwood Mac in 1975. Buckingham tall and bearded with a curly Jet Blackhead of hair was bom in san Francisco and has added what Many people consider the California sound to the groups recordings. Figuring out just what this sound is or what Buckingham has done to make it happen is hard. He is a solid performer has a Good singing voice and style and surprisingly appears to be the Best musician in the  Nicks is billed As the band s sensuous Singer but in performance in Frankfurt she gave an impression of being flighty More than anything else. The group s chief song writer she is pretty in a tousled sort of Way. Once a Brunette now blonde she has been called Beautiful austere and often bewitching but she acts like a Groupie who ended up on stage tapping a Tambo Mulne acting like a Butterfly and dancing like a go go girl in a Low Cut backless Blouse Are her Best performing attrib utes. But the fans love her and she can sing and write just what Fleetwood Mac needs to stay alive. Critics of the group say the Only reason it took so the tenth edition of Fleetwood Mac. Long for Fleetwood Mac to produce this album is be cause they weren t in any hurry to get another one out with their last Selling so Well. This could be True but the group was plagued with emotional problems making even working together in recording sessions a difficulty. And the album reflects this with lines like keep us together and i want to pick up the pieces and go  Buckingham introduces a song he wrote saying this is a song i wrote. Long pause. Coming out of a  the song is never going Back again about losing at love and giving  album is about what in truth happened to the group and the truth does t always come out easy hence a two year wait for the album. It might not Ever reach the Pinnacle of sales As their last album did but Fleetwood Mac is putting out an album which they la bored  certainly in t a Law which says an album must be produced every six months or year and the millions of fans who Don t like this album can always wait another two years for the next one. Boston Rocker Tom Scholz out of nowhere to the top of the charts. Band in Boston by Bruce Meyer United press International just Over a year ago lanky easy going Tom Scholz was living Quie Yin suburban Boston making a goo living As one of the Hotshot technicians working on Polaroid s instant movie camera project. 12, 1977 but Scholz Hud a secret ambition he wanted to be a Rock n Roll Star. Then it seemed like a big order but today u months and 3.5 million albums later Scholz is More than a Star he s a phenomenon. Scholz 29, is Leader chief writer pro Ducer Arranger and guitarist for the band Boston a group that leaped full grown from its namesake City to near the top of the record sales charts in a matter of weeks last fall and has stayed there Ever since. It s an unprecedented accomplishment. No band in Rock history not even the beatles has won such near uni Versal acceptance in so Short a time. Most of the credit for that Success goes to Scholz s masterful blend of melodic hummable hard Rock with an unorthodox approach to the big Busi Ness of pop music. Even before graduating with a master s degree from Mit a few years Back Scholz had decided to become a musician. I love engineering he says. I love in venting things and so Forth. But playing Rock on stage it s almost As Good As sex. So i said if there s some Way i can do this and make a living that d be it for three years he worked by Day for Polaroid by night on the dues paying Cir Cuit of second rate nightclubs and bars. But it led nowhere and Scholz eventually withdrew to his own hand built basement recording studio. There like some Rock n Roll Frankenstein he put together dozens of Multi tracked demonstration tapes of his songs and mailed them helter shelter to record companies. Finally one of the companies told Scholato do the material. Schou recruited Singer Brad Delf and three other top musicians from the Boston area rushed through rehearsals and Cut an  up Boston released in August of last year was an instant smash hit propel Ling Scholz and company into a nationwide tour headlining major concert Halls across the country their first time out. The band came As close to being an overnight sensation As any Gold digging Hollywood Starlet of the 30s could have imagined. The magnitude of us Success is Only now beginning to strike borne for Scholz. A finally did Start to get to me he says with a Broad  were so new but Selling tickets like the biggest bands around. And that was always the object to be Able to play and to have people be willing to come and see you. It s amazing and a Little bit  Scholz has thought a lot about Why bos ton s Strong rhythms and Rich harmonies have been so successful his conclusion is simply that he is in better tune than most with the nation s musical tastes. Basically our music is what i used to like when i was in High school Back in the Early and Middle 60s. Bands like the Yard Birds the kinks the beatles the hollies the Byrds singing bands that had really straightforward Rock n Roll behind them lots of guitar our music is a Little More developed than Back in those Days though. I mean i be been a musician for a Long time and you get to where you have to have a Little bit More than just banging out chords to keep yourself  by starting of at the top Scholz has set himself a real Challenge for Boston s Cru Cial second album. We Don t have any cuts on tape yet but i have several songs selected he says but i la Tell you i m not looking Forward to doing All the work that s involved. Just wish there was some Way of doing it without spending three or four months of Drudgery in the studios and rehearsing and  it s a hard life Rock n Roll. But then Michelangelo had to suffer for his Art too. The stars and stripes Page 13