I started in the middle and kind of picked around.
When the first press about the new album and tour started coming around it aroused my curiosity again. When all the hoopla happened with the Dance I remember trying to listen to their stuff via my dad's Chain boxed set and didn't like any of it at all. I found it to be boring old people soft rock. Hell, I was 16. LOL
So this time around I did the same thing, picked around on the Chain set. I found myself listening to a lot of disc 4 and really liking it, so I bought my first Mac CD, Bare Trees, and really liked it. THen I picked up Mystery To Me, and REALLY liked that. I thought, Stevie who? This other chick and Bob Magoo is what it's all about!
Being the prog-rock fan I am I decided to pick up Tusk next and challenge myself. I was excited to hear that this band wasn't scared to be arty and a little on the edge once in a while too. It has my favorite Stevie songs all in one album and some great ones from Chris too. Even though Lindsey's songs here don't always make for the best listening at least the production is interesting.
Then I bought the rest of the Welch period of the band. Some of the albums are patchy but all have their highlights. Heroes Are Hard To Find remains my favorite overall. Then I got Mirage, which I find half of to be absolutely stellar and the other half not so stellar, and then I got Say You Will a few months ago, which ended my sudden Mac fanatacism to a screeching halt with it's startling below-averageness. Rumours I already have 9 of the 11 songs on the set and am quite familiar with Oh Daddy from the radio and I Don't Wanna Know. And of course, the gem Silver Springs.
I think when I investigate again it's going to be Kiln House backwards. I downloaded Time instead of buying it because I didn't trust it, and sure enough the album sucked. So it's time for some pre-chick Mac, but not TOO much blues. Maybe one older one, Then Play On, and Kiln House.