Crystal (Fleetwood Mac song)
{{Infobox song
| name = Crystal
| artist = Fleetwood Mac
| album = Fleetwood Mac
| released = 1975
| recorded = 1975
| genre =
| length = 5:14
| label = Warner Bros.
| writer = Stevie Nicks
| producer = Fleetwood Mac, Keith Olsen
}}
"Crystal" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac from their 1975 eponymous album. Written by Stevie Nicks, the song originally appeared on her and Lindsey Buckingham's studio album, Buckingham Nicks (1973). Two years later, after the duo joined Fleetwood Mac, it was re-recorded and released for a second time.{{Cite web|last=Wake |first=Matt|date=25 October 2018|title=45 years later Buckingham Nicks album still casts spell |url=https://www.al.com/life-and-culture/erry-2018/09/da850ca1cf6155/45-years-later-buckingham-nick.html |access-date=1 December 2023 |website=al |language=en}} In 1998, Nicks re-recorded the song with herself on lead vocals for the Practical Magic soundtrack.{{Cite web |last=Masley |first=Ed |title=The Stevie Nicks 'Dreams' TikTok challenge was huge. Why her song 'Crystal' could be next |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2021/11/10/stevie-nicks-cyrstal/6369499001/ |access-date= 1 December 2023|website=The Arizona Republic |language=en-US}}
Background
"Crystal" first appeared on Buckingham Nicks, an album recorded by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1973 prior to their time in Fleetwood Mac.{{cite web|url=http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/keitholsen_qa1.htm|title=Keith Olsen Q&A, Section One: May 2000|website=The Penguin|archive-date=1 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601130609/http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/keitholsen_qa1.htm|url-status=dead|access-date=1 December 2023}} In her book Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams & Rumours, Zoë Howe stated that Nicks wrote "Crystal" with her father and grandfather in mind.{{cite book|title=Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams & Rumours|last=Howe|first=Zoë|page=48|year=2015|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-1-4683-1066-5|url=https://archive.org/details/stevienicksvisio0000howe/page/48/mode/2up}} 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. This version also featured an oboe at the end of each chorus.{{cite web|url=http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/keitholsen_qa2.htm|title=Keith Olsen Q&A, Section Two: May 2000|website=The Penguin|archive-date=1 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601130617/http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/keitholsen_qa2.htm|access-date=1 December 2023|url-status=dead}} 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."{{Cite book |last=Blake |first=Mark |title=The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-63936-732-0 |location=New York |pages=179-180}}
After Buckingham and Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, the band opted to record another version of "Crystal" for their 1975 eponymous release, again with Buckingham on lead vocals.{{Cite AV media notes |title=Fleetwood Mac (2004 Remastered Edition) |title-link=Fleetwood Mac (1975 album)|others=Fleetwood Mac |year=2004 |first=Parke |last=Puterbaugh|page=7|type=Liner Notes |publisher=Reprise Records|location=Los Angeles}} 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.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjzvaintkJU |title=Stevie Nicks Special on The Source, 1981 (Radio show/Interview) |date=1981|medium=Interview |language=en-US |access-date=9 December 2024 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/sjzvaintkJU |archive-date=9 December 2024 |url-status=live |via=YouTube |people=Denny Somach; Nicks, Stevie}}{{cbignore}}{{Reference page|location=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".{{Cite web|url=http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=11&c=2|title=From the Archive: Christine McVie - KeyboardMag|website=KeyboardMag|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710065842/http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=11&c=2|access-date=1 December 2023|archive-date=10 July 2015}} The band previewed the song during their Fleetwood Mac Tour prior to the album’s release.{{Cite book|title=Play On: Now, Then, and Fleetwood Mac: The Autobiography|last=Fleetwood|first=Mick|publisher=Little, Brown|year=2014|pages=175|isbn=978-0316403405}}
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.{{Cite web |last=Avila |first=Mary |date=7 April 2015 |title=Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham before Fleetwood Mac |url=https://www.patriotledger.com/story/saugus-advertiser/2015/04/11/stevie-nicks-lindsey-buckingham-before/34797957007/ |access-date=1 December 2023 |website=Patriot Ledger}}
Personnel
;Fleetwood Mac version
- Lindsey Buckingham – lead vocals, guitar
- Mick Fleetwood – drums
- Christine McVie – keyboards
- John McVie – bass guitar
- Stevie Nicks – backing vocals