A long time ago in a galaxy far away, a band called Brightside embarked on a tour with The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die and tossed around the idea to release a cover to cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. And then life got in the way. The band’s own personal 2012 loomed over them, the label they were on dissolved into nothingness, and the plans to recreate the album were shelved. Before everything came to a screeching halt all at once, the band was able to learn and incorporate one song into their live set — the thunderous and anthemic “Dreams.” I’ll be the first one to tell you that this cover is something that you need to hear.
I was fortunate enough to be able to share the band’s first bit of new music with y’all earlier this year, and I couldn’t be more excited to share a proper recording of this cover with you today! The band made a conscious decision to take a step outside of themselves and move away from the spacious and poignant brand of indie-rock that we’ve come to expect from them in order to create something that feels like it pays proper homage to one of the best bands to have graced humanity. Brightside doesn’t play much with the track, calling it a straightforward recreation of what Fleetwood Mac brought to the table. According to Matt Williams, this was done in order to help the band continue to grow as musicians as they work towards writing and recording new music for us all to hear.
This is one of the few covers that doesn’t bastardize the material that it’s supposed to be praising. This isn’t somebody not taking the lyrics of a song that they love and turning into something that sounds on brand for the kind of music that they make. It’s a bunch of talented musicians striving to become better and learning from the best and, honestly, it’s 2018 — if Weezer can cover Toto twice in one year and get away with it, Brightside can cover Fleetwood Mac.
Listen below.
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Dreams is out now and can be purchased here.