Disco de Fleetwood Mac: “Greatest Hits”

This album contains many of the charted singles Fleetwood Mac had in its Rumours lineup incarnation, but there were several that may or may not have been singles that could be worthy of a Greatest Hits Volume II - "The Chain," "Second Hand News," "Gold Dust Woman," "Love in Store," "Sisters of the Moon" from the Mirage video...

I remain mystified at some of the choices for the album, such as "As Long As You Follow" for one of two new songs on the album, and I'm puzzled about "Seven Wonders" missing the cut. But, there are plenty of timeless classics on this album ("Rhiannon," "Dreams" -their only US #1),"Go Your Own Way," and ESPECIALLY "Gypsy").

This was the first Fleetwood Mac album I bought, some years ago. As such, it was a wonderful introduction to the realm of the band, at least its Buckingham-Nicks lineup (without a doubt their most successful period, and arguably their greatest creatively). Contains the whole gamut of hits, "Rhiannon," "Go Your Own Way," "Little Lies," yada yada yada. And if you're new to FM, or only know their Rumours stuff (as was my case), this really is a good start. You get to hear Fleetwood Mac at their most radio-friendly, without some of the other aspects of each songwriters' talent that might take some time to adjust to (Stevie's six-minute cosmic rants, Lindsey's insanity). You miss out on a lot (I had no concept of TUSK from hearing this album), there are a couple curious omissions (where's "The Chain?"), and a band such as Fleetwood Mac really deserves to have its entire catologue heard (otherwise you'd miss gems like "That's Alright" and "World Turning"), but it is a good CD, and as one guy pointed out, a great party album. The two new songs are pleasent, nothing exceptional-- "As Long As You Follow" has a great melody and catchy guitar solo, but the production is a little watered-down in light of the sonic collages from TANGO. However, this is really a great intro to Fleetwood Mac-- and actually, I found this compilation better represented the B-N era of the band than THE CHAIN box set. Go buy it!!

Fleetwood Mac is one of my favorite classic rock bands, though I am more of a Stevie Nicks fan. It's no big surprise, then, that my favorite FM songs are the ones Stevie leads, like "Rhiannon," "Gypsy," "Dreams," and "Sara" (a favorite since my name's Sara, and this is one of the few songs where the spelling's the same). In my opinion, Stevie Nicks' distinctive voice is one of the best attributes of FM.

Visually, there's not much to the booklet, just a couple dozen black-and-white photos of the band, as well as a brief two-page account of a 1988 UK concert. There are also a few hits that seem to be missing, like "Landslide," "The Chain," and "Gold Dust Woman." But as they say, you can't please everybody on a greatest hits album. Yet this CD still gets the job done and is worth owning if you're a FM fan. However, I'd recommend listening to "The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac" instead for the complete hits of FM.

This is a great, great collection of songs by the legendary group, all from the first 13 years of the Buckingham-Nicks era 1975-88. Almost all of the best ones are here, the ones that I feel are missing are 'Landslide', 'Gold Dust Woman' and 'Second Hand News off of the album "Rumours" and 'Monday Morning' off of the 1975 album "Fleetwood Mac". They have so many great songs that this could easily have been a 2-disc set. However this is still an immaculate 5-star collection in my book. Stevie Nicks' songs 'Rhiannon', 'Gypsy', 'Dreams', 'Sara' and 'No Questions Asked' are my favs, the other 11 songs are a very close 2nd. Stevie's background vocals on 'Little Lies' are simply magical. These 5 members pour their heart and soul into their music, that's why they were and still are one of the premier groups of all-time. I also hear that they are about to begin work on a new album to be released sometime in the next year or so, and you know it will rock. If you want all of their greatest songs, get this 'greatest hits' collection, 'Rumours' and the 1975 'Fleetwood Mac' album. Also a great live CD is 'The Dance'. If you want to listen to great music, then listen to this group. ROCK ON!

Fleetwood Mac was the best thing about late '70s rock 'n' roll, and "Greatest Hits" does hit all the high points. (My only quarrel is that it overlooked "Monday Morning.") However, Fleetwood Mac's late '70s work - "Fleetwood Mac," "Rumours," and "Tusk" - are really too essential to sample through a greatest hits collection. Buy this disc to get the best of their '80s work, but buy their late '70s masterpieces as well.