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Today in "sure, why not": Rhino will release a box set of Fleetwood Mac's classic albums as a quintet.
1975 to 1987, available March 28, is exactly what it states: a box set of Fleetwood Mac (1975), Rumours (1977), Tusk (1979), Mirage (1982) and Tango in the Night (1987) - available as a 5CD set or a 6LP crystal-clear vinyl box. (D2C orders from Rhino will add an additional reissue of a promotional 12" on crystal clear vinyl, offering stereo and mono versions of Rumours-era non-album cut "Silver Springs" and that album's standout "Go Your Own Way.")
It's hard to imagine what else to say about this era of Fleetwood Mac that hasn't been said before. When drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and his wife, singer/keyboardist Christine, added singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and his singer girlfriend Stevie Nicks to the British blues-rock band's oft-changing line-up, it set off a chain reaction of events that shaped rock and roll forever. Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie were firing on all cylinders as the principal songwriters of the band from that point forward, enjoying their first chart-topping album and U.S. Top 20 singles with "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me" off their 1975 self-titled release. Of course, we all know what happened next: everyone's relationships soon fell apart (including Fleetwood's) and they improbably kept going, releasing 1977's Rumours - one of the best-selling albums of all time and the first to yield four Top 10 hits in America ("Go Your Own Way," the chart-topping "Dreams," "Don't Stop" and "You Make Loving Fun"). They followed it up two years later with an ambitious, sprawling double album called Tusk and a leaner, sleeker one in 1982's Mirage.
After five years away (and Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie established to varying degrees as solo artists), the quintet rallied for the popular Tango in the Night (1987) before the line-up began to fracture through the rest of the '80s and '90s. But you couldn't keep most of this unit apart for too long: they reunited once after the election of American president Bill Clinton (who used "Don't Stop" as his campaign song) and again for 1997's live The Dance. Christine McVie retired shortly thereafter, leaving the group to release 2003's Say You Will as a quartet, but came back for tours starting in 2014. In 2018, another acrimonious falling out between Buckingham and Nicks led to the guitarist's replacement by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House; that line-up would stay together as a touring unit until Christine McVie's passing in 2022, putting an end to the group after 55 years.
With these albums released and reissued in nearly every possible configuration - many more than once, all accounting for a total of 35 million albums in combined certified sales in the U.S. alone - fans old and new now have another way to hear these albums in case they somehow missed them. You can pre-order the box at the links below; as an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
1975 to 1987 (Warner/Rhino, 2025)
5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
6LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com (with bonus 12")
CD/LP 1: Fleetwood Mac (Reprise MS 2225, 1975)
CD/LP 2: Rumours (Warner Bros. BSK 3010, 1977)
CD 3/LP 3-4: Tusk (Warner Bros. 2HS 3350, 1979)
CD 4/LP 5: Mirage (Warner Bros. 23607, 1982)
CD 5/LP 6: Tango in the Night (Warner Bros. 25471, 1987)
Rhino.com Exclusive 12": Silver Springs b/w Go Your Own Way (stereo and mono mixes) (released as Warner Bros. PRO 652, 1976)
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Is there any information that would suggest these recordings have been remastered in any way?
There was not, and I should suspect that these will sound no different from what's been released since these albums started getting big box sets. And that's fine by me - I'm more than happy with Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch's work!
(D2C orders from Rhino will add an additional reissue of a promotional 12" on crystal clear vinyl, offering stereo and mono versions of Rumours-era non-album cut "Silver Springs" and that album's standout "Go Your Own Way."
What's D2C?
That's an industry abbreviation for "direct to consumer" - i.e., bought from the manufacturer instead of a retailer. Seriously, thank you for highlighting this; my time in the music business has made me really try NOT to use terms like these. (I'm on the record as being insulted anytime a press release uses "DSPs," an abbreviation for "digital service provider" that no regular buyer or enjoyer of music should have to think about.)
Love Fleetwood Mac but me a reason to buy these again. No bonus or unreleased stuff?
No interest in buying these unless they contain remastered sound or additional tracks. Beating a horse to death with these reissues.
Agreed
This set was released on colored vinyl in 2019. The only difference here is the clear vinyl and the bonus disc (which I would imagine most die hard fans, myself included, already have the original promo, it’s not that hard to find). They have milked the Rumours album and the Rumours line up albums for as much as they can. Move on to the later albums. Not as popular, but they’d still find an audience.
It would be nice to see expanded editions of the Behind the Mask and Time albums on CD.
This set is pointless to me, although i understand why they did it...as a sequel to the blue "1969 - 1974" set which i have as the blue 8CD set...these 5 i have as the big mixed media boxes (CD/DVD/LP) as well as the 1980 live album box...HOWEVER if they did a Part 3 followup covering 1990's "Behind The Mask" through the final EP (which never came out in physical form), i would surely buy THAT...and they could expand the EP with odds & ends like the 4 exclusive tracks from the 1992 4CD box "25 Years: The Chain" & other spare tracks lying around, released & unreleased...people would buy that im sure...
This set is pointless to me, although i understand why they did it...as a sequel to the blue "1969 - 1974" set which i have as the blue 8CD set...these 5 i have as the big mixed media boxes (CD/DVD/LP) as well as the 1980 live album box...HOWEVER if they did a Part 3 followup covering 1990's "Behind The Mask" through the final EP (which never came out in physical form), i would surely buy THAT...and they could expand the EP with odds & ends like the 4 exclusive tracks from the 1992 4CD box "25 Years: The Chain" & other spare tracks lying around, released & unreleased...people would buy that im sure...
Now if EACH of these featured Dolby Atmos or at least DTS Blu-Ray remastering, well...I simply would now own yet another version of these great albums. No matter how many different formats I have purchased over the years of this stuff, from original vinyl to cassette to first edition CD, 'Rumors' for example still opens with Second Hand News.