Over the last few years, Fleetwood Mac and Warner Music have worked together to expand their most "classic rock" era--the albums recorded with the line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood between 1975 and 1987. After deluxe editions of Rumours, Tusk, Mirage and Tango In The Night, the group finally unites the chain with a new expansion of their self-titled 1975 album, the first to feature this line-up, due in January 2018.
Before the album that became Fleetwood Mac was made, the British-based blues-rockers had been a quartet: Mick Fleetwood and John McVie had served as the rhythm section (drums and bass, respectively) since the group's inception in 1967; Christine McVie had contributed vocals and keyboards since 1970. The group's most recent album, 1974's Heroes Are Hard To Find, was the last for singer/guitarist Bob Welch, a member since 1971. When Welch left to join the band Paris, Fleetwood took a suggestion from producer Keith Olson, who'd just done an album with Buckingham and Nicks--singers, songwriters and romantic partners whose distinctive styles proved to be the necessary creative boost the band was looking for.
Armed with tracks written for both Buckingham Nicks and a never-completed follow-up album, Fleetwood Mac were now a powerful, straightforward rock outfit with a myriad of unique creative perspectives that connected with wide swaths of the record-buying public. Fleetwood Mac became the band's first major success in America, where it topped the Billboard 200 for a week in the fall of 1976--more than a year after its release--sold more than 5 million copies and put three singles in the American Top 20: "Over My Head," "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me." (Years later, in 1998, a live version of the beloved, Nicks-penned "Landslide" became a Top 10 adult contemporary hit.) While the band was headed for unbelievable tension, as all five members' relationships (four of which were with other band members) ended simultaneously, the result was the unprecedented smash album Rumours and a destiny of entering the pop-rock canon.
Having been previously expanded on CD in 2004 with four single mixes and an unreleased studio jam, this new version of Fleetwood Mac turns up the unreleased content. A double-disc edition retains all those bonus tracks (with the mixes appending the original album on Disc 1) and adds another 16 outtakes, including early versions of every song on the album and a 1976 live-in-studio set.
The new 3CD/1DVD/1LP edition adds an additional disc of live concert performances in support of the album, plus an exciting new 5.1 surround sound mix of the album on DVD (alongside 24/96 kHz high-resolution stereo versions of the original album and single mixes) as well as a 180-gram vinyl pressing of the original album--all packed in a 12" x 12" embossed box that includes unseen photos and a new essay by David Wild featuring new interviews with the band members.
The box set, 2CD and single-CD remaster of the original album will all be available on January 19. Full track list and pre-order links are below!
Fleetwood Mac: Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros., 2018)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)
3CD/DVD/LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)
CD 1: Remastered album (released as Reprise MS 2281, 1975) and single mixes
- Monday Morning
- Warm Ways
- Blue Letter
- Rhiannon
- Over My Head
- Crystal
- Say You Love Me
- Landslide
- World Turning
- Sugar Daddy
- I'm So Afraid
- Over My Head (Single Version) (single A-side - Reprise RPS 1339, 1975)
- Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win) (Single Version) (single A-side - Reprise RPS 1345, 1975)
- Say You Love Me (Single Version) (single A-side - Reprise RPS 1356, 1975)
- Blue Letter (Single Version) (U.K. B-side to "Warm Ways" - Reprise K 14403, 1975)
CD 2: Studio outtakes (previously unreleased except Track 16, from expanded edition of album - Reprise R2 73881, 2004)
- Monday Morning (Early Take)
- Warm Ways (Early Take)
- Blue Letter (Early Take)
- Rhiannon (Early Take)
- Over My Head (Early Take)
- Crystal (Early Version)
- Say You Love Me (Early Version)
- Landslide (Early Version)
- World Turning (Early Version)
- Sugar Daddy (Early Take)
- I'm So Afraid (Early Version)
- Over My Head (Live from The Burbank Studios - 1/26/1976)
- Rhiannon (Live from The Burbank Studios - 1/26/1976)
- Why (Live from The Burbank Studios - 1/26/1976)
- World Turning (Live from The Burbank Studios - 1/26/1976)
- Jam #2
- I'm So Afraid (Early Take Instrumental)
CD 3: Live (previously unreleased)
- Get Like You Used To Be (Live @ The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ - 10/17/1975)
- Station Man (Live @ Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT - 10/25/1975)
- Spare Me a Little (Live @ Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT - 10/25/1975)
- Rhiannon (Live @ Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT - 10/25/1975)
- Why (Live @ Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT - 10/25/1975)
- Landslide (Live @ Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT - 10/25/1975)
- Over My Head (Live @ Campus Stadium, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA - 5/2/1976)
- I'm So Afraid (Live @ The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ - 10/17/1975)
- Oh Well (Live @ The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ - 10/17/1975)
- The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) (Live @ The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ - 10/17/1975)
- World Turning (Live @ The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ - 10/17/1975)
- Blue Letter (Live @ The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ - 10/17/1975)
- Don't Let Me Down Again (Live @ Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT - 10/25/1975)
- Hypnotized (Live @ Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT - 10/25/1975)
DVD: 5.1 surround mix of original album and 24/96 kHz stereo version of original album and single mixes
LP: Original album
Patrick says
AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!
Zubb says
Now THIS one I am interested in!
Joe says
I have bought all of the previous four reissues (though only the smaller double disc versions) and I have been very happy with them. These reissues have really made me appreciate Mirage and Tango In The Night more too.
I was wondering why they never started with the self titled album reissue first. I had assumed they did not have anything extra in the vault to release but they do.
I will be looking forward to this release.