This version came out of nowhere, just a random video suggestion and, based on the studio track, without any expectations. The first minute or so is very similar to that low-key version. But very soon I heard something in Stevie Nicks’s (she wrote the song) voice that revealed something raw and wild.
Before it gets out of hand, Lindsey Buckingham plays a country rock classic guitar solo and song seems to remain the same. Fleetwood, Mac and McVie play a virtuoso bridge, but that’s not what we came for, isn’t it? When the last two minutes arrive something unusual, even uncanny occurs.
Nicks gradually mutates into the “Old Welsh Witch” the song is about. Her voice is full of passion and lament at the same time, her eyes are closed, it seems she is no longer here with us. These two minutes are among the best US music from the 70s has produced. Since then, I’m totally addicted to this version of “Rhiannon” (click on pic to watch the famous live clip). I have to listen to it a couple of times a week and it is instant serontonine pleasure.
Now I finally understand why I’ve always read that “Rhiannon” was Fleetwood Mac’s best song. Based on the album version, that could never be the case, but the performance version turned into a completely new song, and what a song it is! A great composition, rendered by a band at the top of their game, Stevie Nicks being 28 and radiating all the magic it takes to write and play songs like these.
Can’t stop listening and I still don’t know exactly why. A sudden newcomer on this list, which I didn’t even have on my shortlist a year and a half ago when this project started.
She’s here to stay now.
Sounds of a Generous Universe 