David Gilmour’s opinion on Fleetwood Mac

A fundamental part of the success of Pink Floyd, guitarist and singer David Gilmour is known as one of the greatest musicians of all time. He has been an inspiration for new artists over the past five decades and has always had a broad range of musical influences, which helped him become a versatile composer.

Over the decades he has spoken about many bands that emerged around the same time he began his career, sharing his opinions on them. One of those groups was Fleetwood Mac, founded by Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

What is David Gilmour’s opinion on Fleetwood Mac

David Gilmour likes Fleetwood Mac and is a bigger fan of their first era with the late, influential guitarist and singer Peter Green. That Blues Rock phase greatly influenced the Pink Floyd member in the early days, and he has praised those records many times throughout his career.

During a Q&A session at the Odeon in 2007, he mentioned the track “Albatross” as one he would like to have written. “There is so many, that’s very hard to answer. I think for me, about the perfect Pop song is ‘Waterloo Sunset’ by The Kinks. I’d love to have written that. Absolutely great. Guitar-wise, maybe ‘Albatross’ by Fleetwood Mac,” David Gilmour said. The instrumental song was written by Green and first released in 1968 as a single.

Gilmour also liked the album “Rumours” with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham

Although Gilmour has always been more connected to the band’s early phases, he has praised their album “Rumours” (1977). It was the second to feature Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, which marked the era when the group became extremely commercially successful.

When asked by TLV in 1995 if he believed the music created in the 1970s was too safe, he said it was but not everything was bad. “Music in the 70s was too safe. Punk was in the 70s, the Sex Pistols, they were played pretty safe, you know. Lots of people say that it was all crap in the 70s. Fleetwood Mac put out ‘Rumors,’ and we put out “Dark Side of the Moon,” and “The Wall,” in the 70s.”

“I think the criticism of the 70s followed after the euphoria of the 60s, where people were saying how wonderfully new and exciting a lot of it was. I don’t think people who criticize the 70s really have looked at the great stuff that came out. The Eagles put out really good records in the 70s,” David Gilmour said.

David Gilmour played at Peter Green’s tribute show

In the beginning of 2020, when Green was still alive, Mick Fleetwood arranged a tribute show for the guitarist and singer at the London Palladium, although the musician himself was not part of it. Gilmour was one of the special guests due to his love for Mick’s work and had the chance to pay tribute to the artist that night. He first performed “Oh Well (Part 2)” and then “Albatross”. When talking about the performance, the drummer Mick Fleetwood talked about Gilmour’s love for Green’s work. “If you’ve never had the pleasure of meeting him, he’s the most gracious chap. He’s just so open and honest. In many ways, Pink Floyd has a very similar backdrop as Fleetwood Mac with all the drama. It’s almost uncanny, actually, but no ladies were involved.”

“But he had so much reverence for Peter Green’s playing and who Peter was and the songs. He initially got cold feet. He was like, ‘I don’t know if I can interpret Peter’s work. It’s so amazing. Maybe I can’t do that.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? Of course you can.’ He said, ‘At the moment I’m sort of passing on the idea because of what I’m discussing with you here. But later on, if this happens, I may gather enough courage.’ And at least a year and a half later, I called him back. (Gilmour) said, ‘I’m ready and I really want to do this.’ Which was huge.”

He continued:

“He did beautiful work on the re-work of ‘Albatross’ with Rick Vito. Also he did ‘Oh Well, Part Two’ which was on the Then Play On record. For lack of a better description, it’s a classical-esque escapade that Peter put together. Peter never played it. Fleetwood Mac never played it. That was really special that David picked that to do. I was overjoyed,” Mick Fleetwood told Rolling Stone in 2021.

Other famous artists who were part of the concert, which later became a live album, were Kirk Hammett, Billy Gibbons, Pete Townshend and Steven Tyler. Peter Green sadly passed away a few months later at the age of 73.

Besides performing at the concert, Gilmour was also part of the project “Peter Green – The Albatross Man”. It was a book released in the same year to celebrate the life of the artist. To promote it, a new version of the Fleetwood Mac track “Need Your Love So Bad” was released. It featured Green’s vocals and new guitar parts by the Pink Floyd guitar player. The late artist had the chance to hear the new version before he died. According to the official press release he approved it.