Dougal Reed : Rumours

UK lo-fi supergroup's version of the Mac's cocaine classic

It’s well-known that the cover version is the first refuge of the pop scoundrel. ‘Lady Marmalade’, ‘It’s Raining Men’, ‘Eternal Flame’ – all operate under the flint-eyed certainty that nothing makes a hit like old rope and no imagination.

But a whole album, just for the sheer hell of it? NYC scuzz-kings Pussy Galore did it with the Stones’ ‘Exile On Main Street’, and now veteran margin-walker and Quickspace frontman Tom Cullinan and friends (alias Dougal Reed) have re-recorded Fleetwood Mac’s most foofily-haired hour. Well, it was either that or walk ten miles to the shops to buy a new copy. And that would have been far too quiet.

And so Cullinan crashes through the period sheen of ‘Rumours’ to the tunes beneath with great glee and not a little affection: the hateful vogue for irony hasn’t yet penetrated rural Staffordshire, where this was conceived. So ‘Go Your Own Way’ bloops and yelps like Pavement in an analogue showroom, the iconic ‘Dreams’ gains a Theremin, a falling rain sample and a Pixies bassline, and ‘Gold Dust Woman’ explores the depths of lo-fi with great buzzing. We can only speculate as to whether coke-crazed wife-swapping trauma was part of the recording process, but this is still terrific.

Kitty Empire

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