A new career-defining set from Fleetwood Mac that spans their 50-year existence, released in multiple formats on Nov 16th, 2018.
This career spanning collection from Fleetwood Mac has been released as a single CD, three-CD set, 5-LP vinyl set, digital download and streaming edition and is a fine collection of songs that make up the career of Fleetwood Mac from the blues era of the late 60s, to the transition period of the early 70s, the later adult orientated rock era of the late 70s and 80s, to the final set of songs that make up the swansong of the band’s recording output. Each album is represented on this set, including one song from the 2013’s ‘Extended Play‘ release.
The set is chronological in sequence except for the streaming edition (of which I will cover off later in the piece) and most tracks have been remastered for this collection and sound extremely nice and bright. The highlighted of this set for me is the single mix of ‘Fireflies’ and the first-ever physical release of ‘Sad Angel’ from the 2013 ‘Extended Play‘ release, whereas most other tracks have been made available in remastered form on recent deluxe editions of Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, Tusk, Mirage and Tango In The Night, special mention should be made for the early to mid 70s songs that have also been remastered and should appeal to casual observers of the band who would not be familiar with these tracks.
The general packaging of this set is disappointing, there are some brief notes about the band from acclaimed music journalist ‘David Wild’ and rudimentary track info, but no lyrics, song notes or pictures of the band are included, I do have to wonder with the recent change in Fleetwood Mac personal that clearance for some images was being withheld, this is a huge oversight and miss for a career retrospective collection.
Bizarrely the streaming service edition includes 12 tracks that are not on the CD or vinyl or digital download editions, the tracks that are only available via the streaming services are as follows:
- For Your Love
- Warm Ways
- Not That Funny
- Family Man
- Jewel Eyed Judy
- Remember Me
- Isn’t It Midnight
- No Questions Asked
- Skies The Limit
- Love Is Dangerous
and Silver Springs and Never Going Back Again are switched from live versions to Studio editions
The tracks that are not available on the streaming service are as follows:
- Shake Your Moneymaker
- Black Magic Woman
- Need Your Love So Bad
- Albatross
- Man Of The World
- Station Man
- Emerald Eyes
- Monday Morning
- Second Hand News
- Fireflies [Single Edition]
I suspect some rights issues may exist for some the early tracks from the band’s career, but some of the tracks chosen to replace these tracks seem quite random (‘Love Is Dangerous’ as an example) and the sequence of the tracks are not in chronological order, the first batch of songs on the streaming edition is all over the place, you can check out the sequence at this link.
However minor criticisms put aside this collection is a nice set of remastered songs that allow the listener to immerse themselves in the changing world of Fleetwood Mac over the last fifty years, if you do not already have the semi-recent greatest hits collections The Very Best of Fleetwood or 25 Years: The Chain this is a fine addition to your music collection and even if you do, the early remastered tracks from the band’s career are a nice edition with this set.
