Retro Video Unit Bonus (10/11/13)

I was going to hold onto this until next week, but it's just too good. Yesterday I was sifting through videos on YouTube, looking for clips to accompany an article for The Longfellow Bridge, and found this. I used it in the article, and I'm posting it here as well.

When I look for videos for this feature, I tend to focus on the years around the beginning of MTV because I have an especially strong bond with the music of that period. But sometimes I tend to forget that I am in fact a child of the 1970s (yes, born in the '60s but in terms of cultural awareness) and remain connected to the cultural signifiers of that era, for better and worse.

Fleetwood Mac was one of the biggest bands of the '70s; they sold millions and millions of albums, and their music was all over the radio. Even without ever owning any of their music, I've absorbed much of it. This song, "Rhiannon," was one of several hit singles from their 1975 self-titled album.



I've always liked this song, but I've never seen or heard a version like this one. Like the best bands do when performing their material live, Fleetwood Mac takes this quiet, moody song and rips it open into something quite different.

(This performance is from a 1970s late-night TV show called The Midnight Special that featured bands performing live.)