I realize it's not very cutting edge of me to talk about a record like Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours," and probably even more ridiculous to hype an umpteenth reissue on compact disc, so I will make this brief and get the hell outta here.
The new 35th Anniversary expanded edition of this legendary release is fantastic, if only for Disc Three. Even if you're not an obsessive collector, you do love music, right? And you do think this record is a classic, right? The rarities from the vaults that comprise Disc Three are stunning.
There is an early duet take of "Never Going Back Again" that I fell in love with immediately.
There is a Christine McVie demo that never made the record called "Keep Me There," and it features what became the coda of "The Chain" as its coda, as well as a truly soulful vocal from Miss McVie. Great find, although it's altogether possible that everyone involved knew it was there all along.
There is a simple yet powerful take of "Dreams" that is a killer.
And speaking of killer, the early take of "Silver Springs" left me frozen in my seat. If Stevie Nicks' raw vocal doesn't tear you to shreds....
And speaking of tearing you to shreds....
I just love this performance. Really one for the books. But I digress.
There is over an hour of new material on the new edition of "Rumours," and it's all worth listening to...more than once. Trust me.
I know I am an obsessive when it comes to this stuff, but it's hard to just dismiss it all.
And speaking of obsessive, maybe you have a minute or two to share your own personal story...if you have one... about being a collector. This week on Burning Love? is all about that holy grail of music and what you are willing to do or not do to get it.
9 comments:
Sal! I had no idea about this. Thank you! I wouldn't sue you! I'm sort of sick of the "let's be cool" notion that this version of the Mac wasn't authentic and not up to the previous incarnations. I don't want to say they "evolved" because I don't think they got "better" necessarily they just mutated, and Stevie and Lindsay brought out a different side to Christine Perfect McVie, John and Mick.
Everyone has a right to their preference of course and the Buckingham/Nicks Mac is my preference. ;) To each his own. As far as the third disc, with songwriters this good, with those harmonies and voices and that chemistry, Lindsay's guitar and that rhythm section, there have to be gems, and I'm looking forward to checking this out. I think it's also been "cool" to mock this record in some circles (I'm looking at you "Counterbalance" at PopMatters) as some sort of 70s "break up record" or gasp! a "chick's record" that has no relevance, no importance now. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes I relate it to the 70s but it far transcends that decade, it's just a stunning record. "Never Going Back Again" was always one of my favorites along with "Second Hand News". Don't even start me on "Go Your Own Way".
BTW- I had a copy of "Buckingham/Nicks"...I was such a Stevie freak at the time as many of my friends were (along with Linda Ronstadt), that I had to get that record. I loved it though some of it was obviously juvenalia or needed tweaking or sculpting.
Thanks for sharing the info! Happy Monday.
have been listening to it daily for days now. it's great, especially the live material.
great music is great music. who cares whether it's cool or not.
"great music is great music. who cares whether it's cool or not."
Sadly, a whole lotta people.
I had no idea about this either. I'm definitely going to check it out.
And I agree that the 1997 performance of "Silver Springs" is kind of amazing. That's real emotion on stage there, kids.
That's their problem. They're missing out.
Hey, it's a great album. Why wouldn't you want to hear outtakes and stuff?
Makes sense to me...
The raw emotion between Buckingham and Nicks is so powerful; it's like they forgot there were people watching.
I'm a huge Mac fan -- all phases, really, but anything that Lindsay Buckingham played on is the best. (Peter Green era a close second) In fact I'm surprised you haven't featured more Mac/Buckingham songs in your mixes, or on a focus thing... would be cool to see your own fave songs both from the Mac and the various solo Mac artists, Sal.
And yeah, not only is this music "uncool" (who cares) but people will also gripe about paying freakin' $16.97 for THREE CD'S of music... the price they'll however happily pay for several cups of Starbuck's. Whatever...
Sure, we've all bought this album multiple times -- and in fact it was already reissued in a deluxe version previously in 2004, but if you look back at the tracklist for that one, there's actually plenty of songs that DON'T overlap, which is pretty cool for those of us who have both.
I'll look forward to buying this one next week at my local record store...
Whatever you think generally of Greil Marcus, his essay that featured "Go Your Own Way" opened up that song, and particularly the guitar work, for me in a way that let me see it as more than just a song that was really popular way back when.
And he was right, while other hits from the era have generally faded away they still play that song all over the radio dial up here in Boston.
And the rest of Rumours is damn good too.
Ace
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