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Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' Turns 40

It's almost impossible to rank the songs on an album so classic it's essentially
its own greatest hits. But in honor of its anniversary, we make judging fun.

By Leah Greenblatt in Entertainment Weekly

1 / "DREAMS"
Thunder only happens when it's raining, players only love you when they're playing, and Stevie Nicks only needs four minutes and 17 seconds to capture the band's epic interpersonal disintegration in the dreamy, devastating prism of her crystal vision.

2 / "THE CHAIN"
Coming on like a high-noon hero in a spaghetti Western, "The Chain" -- one of the few Rumours tracks each member of the fractured group shared full credit on -- unfolds, link by link, into a massive country-rock stomper.

3 / "SONGBIRD"
Somehow, in a raging blizzard of adultery and cocaine, Christine McVie managed to carve out a quiet moment for this tender, delicate sparrow of a ballad.

4 / "GOLD DUST WOMAN"
Possible the most perfect encapsulation of Stevie -- eternal high priestess of sex and scarves and silver spoons -- at her witchy 4 a.m. apex, conjuring haunting, diamond-sharp effigies of addiction and stardom and romantic disillusion more vividly than a thousand hours of Behind the Music marathons.

5 / "DON'T STOP"
Admittedly a stone classic, but also so completely co-opted as a baby-boomer anthem for the Clinton/Gore campaign that you can't listen without picturing Al and Tipper taking it to second base on stage at the 2000 DNC.

6 / "NEVER GOING BACK AGAIN"
One of Lindsey Buckingham's personal bests: a folksy, finger-picked ramble so pretty, it takes a full minute to realize how hard its unnamed lady subject just got permanently friend-zoned.

7 / "GO YOUR OWN WAY"
That's not kick drum you're hearing on the most indelible breakup anthem of the era; it's the sound of a million freshly inked Me Decade divorces hitting the floor.

8 / "YOU MAKE LOVING FUN"
Basically Christine's sweet, rollicking way of letting her then husband John know what an amazing time she's having boning the band's lighting director.

9 / "SECOND HAND NEWS"
Buckingham's giddy, album-opening ode to a post-Stevie re-bow-bow-bah-bow-bound chick who has no idea how much she will not be missed.

10 / "OH DADDY"
An atmospheric, unabashedly sexual slow burn with slightly unsettling meet-me-in-the-Red-Room connotations.

11 / "I DON'T WANT TO KNOW"
On any other album, it would probably be a highlight; here, it's just the third-best Western-tinged guitar romp about infidelity and forgiveness and rehashing the past while also being totally, totally cool with letting go.  

William Christopher 1932-2016

The 84-year-old actor, who died of cancer Dec. 31 at his home in Pasedena, is
remembered by colleagues as a graceful man whose portrayal of Father Mulcahy
turned many 'M*A*S*H' fans into true believers.

by Lynette Rice in Entertainment Weekly

laying a perennially genial priest on CBS' long-running hit M*A*S*H wasn't a stretch for William Christopher. The veteran TV actor, who died Dec. 31 from a non-small cell lung carcinoma at the age of 84, was known by former costars as one of the good guys both on and off camera. "His pals from #MASH miss Bill powerfully," tweeted his former costar Alan Alda. "His kind strength, his grace and gentle humor weren't acted. They were Bill."

The Illinois-born Wesleyan grad began his long career on Broadway before making the sojourn to Hollywood, where he found regular TV work on series including The Andy Griffith Show, Hogan's Heroes, and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and in comedic films like The Shakiest Gun in the West and With Six You Get Eggroll. But he was best known for playing Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy from 1972 to '83, with a two-year follow-up on AfterMASH -- an affable man of the cloth who blessed costars and viewers alike with his celestial disposition and soft-spoken, soothing tone. "Our Dear Bill and his goodness are a great argument for there being a heaven," said M*A*S*H costar Loretta Swit in a statement. "I never heard him complain or lose his temper. Everyone admired him. He became TV's quintessential padre. It was the most perfect casting ever known. He was probably responsible for more people coming back to the church. If God is nigh, then surely he or she will welcome Bill with open arms."

Christopher's most recent work was an 11-episode stint as Father Tobias (naturally) on NBC's Days of Our Lives, before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and their two sons, John and Ned.  

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