New Greatest Hits...making the best of a bad idea

[chiliD]

Being as such as I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of a new Greatest Hits package as our next Fleetwood Mac release before an album of all new material, here's my theory as to what would still be a pleasing addition to my Fleetwood Mac collection without TOO much pain & suffering at the thought of purchasing most of these songs for the 4th or 5th (or more) time. And, still having a few rarities to make it a worthwhile purchase.

If they release a 2-disc set:

The singles, mostly:

Disc 1:
Over My Head (45 mix)
Rhiannon (45 mix)
Say You Love Me (45 mix)
Go Your Own Way
Silver Springs (original studio version)
Dreams
You Make Loving Fun
Don't Stop
Tusk
Sara (original album length)
Think About Me
Fireflies
Hold Me
Gypsy (video mix)
Oh Diane
Love In Store

Disc 2:
Big Love
Seven Wonders
Little Lies
Family Man
As Long As You Follow
Skies The Limit
Save Me
In The Back Of My Mind
Love Shines
I Do
Landslide (The Dance version)

Since alot of folks have made mention of the fact that Christine never seemed to officially announce her "retirement", and as a decent "farewell" to the band, round out the 2nd disc with a couple of "new" Christine McVie tunes (who knows, they might have a studio cut or two "in the can" from when they all were working on "Gift Of Screws") and a couple of other "GoS" tunes that the entire band played on ("Steal Your Heart Away", "Twist Of Fate", or ????) to get the "completists" to buy it, and, VOILA! There you have it, a double Greatest Hits album.

[Mike B]

I like your list of songs, but what I really wish they would do is follow U2's lead from their "Best Of" CD a few years ago. Not only did they have a disc of their hits, they compiled an entire CD of b-sides and rarities along with it. Of course, this was only a decade's worth of material, so they didn't have as many songs as FM to include. (I'm still waiting for U2's" Best of '91-'01", I guess). But this would be an excellent way to please the casual fans and the hardcore fans.

Let's see...the second disc could consist of (and I'm leaving out b-sides that were on the box set):

1) Cool Water
2) Book of Miracles
3) Ricky
4) Down Endless Street
5) You and I, part I
6) Lizard People
7) ???

I know I'm leaving some b-sides out. And sure, I have all of these in one form or another, but it would be cool to have them on an official CD.

In addition to the b-sides, and a few new tracks, (and I love the idea of a final Chris track, esp. if she isn't on the new album) how about some live tracks? Maybe something from the Tusk tour that didn't make it on the Live album? I'm thinking one of the Sisters of the Moon performances would be killer. Or throw in something really random, like a live version of Brown Eyes from '87. Or for pure kitsch, one of the remixes from Tango. ;)

Of course, I don't believe any of this will happen. But the idea of a new Greatest Hits package, if done creatively, is not <i>totally</i> unappealing to me.

Mike B.

[Johnny Stew]

I like your track-list, chili... it's exactly how I would like to see them handle this greatest hits compilation. (The radio mixes of the three Fleetwood Mac singles are an essential addition, IMO)

Sure, 1988's Greatest Hits made for some nice one-stop shopping for casual fans, but there was considerable room for improvement... and hopefully this new release will be the "definitive" greatest hits album for the "Rumours+" era.

And I agree with Mike, it seems to me that there's plenty of room for some of those non-LP b-sides... and they'd be an awesome addition.

Some newly recorded tracks would also be cool... and I'm in complete agreement that a little "farewell" would be nice from Christine. It would be a sweet little gesture, and might even help some fans ease into the "new" version of Fleetwood Mac with a sense of closure to the Christine Years.



Johnny Stew