Before I started writing this article, I did a quick Google search to see what other media outlets had to say about AURORA, and an overwhelming amount of reviews compared it to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. However, I think that sound is only really noticeable on “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb),” with a guitar riff that sounds like a tribute to the guitar riff in “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac, which they most likely sampled for the song. Granted, author Taylor Jenkins Reid was inspired by Fleetwood Mac to some degree, but I don’t think we should be comparing an actual 70s album to one released in 2023 trying to sound like a 70s album.
I really think that creating an album as supplemental for the book and TV show is so cool – it really brings Jenkins Reid’s band to life. I really only have one overall criticism, which mirrors what actual album reviewers, not college juniors, have said: it doesn’t sound all that 1970s. That’s not to say that some songs aren’t 70s sounding, but I think the fact that the album was produced in 2023 with “modern” equipment, not with 70s-era equipment, is why it is generating that response. I wonder if, in addition to using older equipment, if they had leaned into more stereotypical 70s aspects of rock, it would sound more like an album from the 70s.
Daisy Jones, played by Riley Keogh, has a beautiful voice, and I’m glad that the casting choice worked out where Daisy could act and sing. I don’t know if the album would be the same if it wasn’t sung by the actors who played Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin). Overall, I think it’s a really good album once you stop trying to compare it to Fleetwood Mac.
Top 70s style tracks:
- Let Me Down Easy
- Two Against Three
- Regret Me
- You Were Gone
- Please
XO Erin