Remastered Pre-Rumours Albums?

[markolas]

In addition to the Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, and Tusk remastered CDs being released (hopefully) soon, has anyone heard whether or not the pre-Lindsey/Stevie era albums are going to receive similar treatment?

Then Play On and Kiln House both desperately need to be remastered and re-released.

[wetcamelfood]

Well, when I had spoken to David McLees about this he did say that "Rhino were planning to remaster all of the WB/Reprise FM albums though they would be starting with the BN era ones" and that they "would all have bonus tracks and not just be straight reissues with no bonus tracks" (so I guess it's safe to assume from this that the next batch will include the likes of "Mirage", TITN etc.).

I know Bob Welch is not optimistic about this from his 2nd Penguin Q & A comments about it and I can see why many would doubt this happening but Rhino have remastered band's catalogs in the past and included their duds as well as thei hits (Chicago comes to mind) so I'd imagine what are considered FM's "less popular" albums will get the same treatment as the likes of Chicago 13 & 14 etc.

John

[markolas]

All I can say is that I hope it happens. I can understand them starting with the first three BN era albums, but I'd really love to see some of the pre-BN albums come out next. Personally, I think I could live without a remastered Mirage or Tango in the Night, at least for the time-being (unless they put some pretty awesome bonus tracks on them).

[EricBliss12345]

I hope they don't remaster the mid-period albums. I'd be really pissed. I just bought all of them.

[markolas]

Heh. Well, if it's taking this long just for them to get the first three BN-era albums out, then it'll probably be a good year or two before they do the mid-period albums. I don't own any of the Bob Welch-era albums, but I've considered getting them because I'm interested in hearing Christine's songs on them. I've never been much of a fan of Bob Welch (even if we do have the same last name).

[macfan 57]

Originally posted by markolas
Heh. Well, if it's taking this long just for them to get the first three BN-era albums out, then it'll probably be a good year or two before they do the mid-period albums. I don't own any of the Bob Welch-era albums, but I've considered getting them because I'm interested in hearing Christine's songs on them. I've never been much of a fan of Bob Welch (even if we do have the same last name).

I will believe it when I see it. They're taking forever just to get the Fleetwood Mac, Rumours & Tusk re-issues released. I think it will be a VERY long time if ever before we get the pre-Buckingham/Nicks re-issues released.

And, those Bob Welch era albums are definitely worth getting just for Christine's songs alone, although I do like most of Welch's songs, too. Every one of her songs on those albums are terrific.

[EricBliss12345]

The mid-period albums are all definately worth checking out.

To be honest these are my favorite albums I own by the band. They're a little scattered but I get more satisfaction out of listening to them trying to find their feet and experimenting with different styles of music than I do from the polished Buckingham/Nicks stuff. The music was more rough around the edges and most of the time Bob Welch comes up trumps. Some of my favorite Fleetwood Mac tunes are his.

As far as Christine, once you start getting into these albums you'll see where the golden age of Christine really is. Her older tracks are so fun and lighthearted, and 10 times catchier than the stuff she did with Buckingham/Nicks. Plus, they just rock way more and the more ballady ones tug more heartstrings than her later ballady songs. "Prove Your Love" is her prettiest song, and "Come A Little Bit Closer," from the same album, her 2nd prettiest. Her 3rd prettiest is "Why" from Mystery To Me. I think I'll give 4th to "Warm Ways" but only because I'm running out of pretty songs of hers from that era.

I'm being long winded, but you need these albums. I'll rank my faves for you.

1. Heroes Are Hard To Find - Shows them dabbling in the most styles of any Mac album (more than Tusk), and most all of the time they work perfectly. You get Bob's cool, dark mystical stuff (Bermuda Triangle) Christines should-have-been-a-major-women's-lib-movement-song-but-wasn't (Heroes Are Hard To Find) frenzied prog-rock psychedelia (Coming Home) a Bo Diddly style rocker (Bad Loser) shimmering Beach Boys pop (She's Changing Me) tunes that straight up rock (Angel, Silver Heels) and Chris's most gorgeous ballads (Prove Your Love and Come A Little Bit Closer). It's my favorite Mac album and in my opinion, contains their most memorable tunes and showcases Chris's very best work.

2. Mystery To Me - This is usually the favorite of this era, and I can see why, it's really good. It works better as an album than Heroes but overall the songs aren't as strong. Once again, you get a nice variety of styles with some funky R&B (Somebody) more of Bob's too cool mystical stuff (Hypnotised) the tracks that just ROCK (Miles Away, The City) and a few of Chris's best in the insanely catchy, bouncy Just Crazy Love, her 4 to the floor rocker Believe Me, and one of her best ballads, Why.

3. Bare Trees - This one rocks a lot, thanks to Danny Kirwan, who gets the lions share of the writing credits. In addition to his rockers he also contributes the gorgeous instrumental Sunny Side Of Heaven. This is also the album that contains Bob's not-quite-a-hit-yet Sentimental Lady (this version is FAR superior to his soft-rock remake) and a couple good ones from Chris in the form of the rocking "Homeward Bound" and the soulful ballad Spare Me A Little.

4. Penguin - Usually considered their dud, but not so! Once again, Chris turns in two of her all time best in the form of groovin' Dissatisfied (which kicks Don't Stops ass) and the carribean flavored Did You Ever Love Me (which has some great steel drums on it). Night Watch is one of the most intricately arranged and produced Fleetwood Mac songs and rivals Lindsey Buckinghams most lavish production efforts. It's one of the Mac's darkest tunes and has a really great atmostphere to it. Dave Walker sings a cover song that rocks and an original that sucks. He was worthless. The instrumental Caught In The Rain is also really pretty and a great album closer.

5. Future Games - Snooze.....Bob Welch didn't exactly make a grand entrance with this album. Actually, it's Danny Kirwan that brings it down. The opening track Woman Of A Thousand Years is probably their most boring song ever, and his rambling, pointless Sands Of Time overstays it's welcome big time, almost clocking in at 8 minutes without many changes during the song. This album, for the most part, is pretty uninteresting folk-rock stuff, which was mentioned by somebody else who reviewed this album that I agreed with. Luckily, it contains two really great songs. Chris's "Morning Rain" has a great, jammy vibe to it and is either my favorite or 2nd favorite song of hers, depending on how much I like Prove Your Love that day. Bob's title track is a fantastic extended epic, with some great vocal harmonies and a killer musical buildup at the end. With an almost 9 minute running time it takes up enough space to make buying the album worth it. His energetic funk-rock workout Lay It All Down is also pretty good, although the version on The Chain boxed set is light years better. Neither version has good lyrics I'm afraid.

But god, get some of these albums! They're the ones I started buying. I made it a priority to get all of these, yet I still only have 2 Buckingham Nicks albums and I'm not in a hurry to get any more. check them out.

[wetcamelfood]

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on these albums Eric.

I just wanted to say though that the timings they list on some of the FG tunes are wrong. "Woman of 1000 years" is NOT actually 8 minutes (though it sounds like it seems it for you Eric I respectfully disagree). My CD player shows it as 5:23 when it ends. Though this will undoubtedly vary with all of our CD player's counters, it will be still be in the FIVE and NOT EIGHT minute regions.

I also noticed that "Morning rain" is a full minute shorter than what the album credits list.

I guess whoever was timing these orginally was smoking some good stuff.

"The derelict" will probably grow on you over time like it has on a few of us. I've already said my piece elsewhere on DW here so I won't repeat but I do respect the opinions of those that aren't big on him.

I DO agree though that the Mac stuff in general but perhaps Christine's tracks in particular were/was VERY interesting at this time as they were vulnerable then, they weren't sure what THEY wanted to do so they sniffed around (musically speaking as Eric says). OK, Welch wanted to get more heavy rockin' at that time and the others didn't want to but generally speaking, they did much more toe dipping then than they had/have in any other time in FM's history (in any real sense). By the time of the BN stuff they knew what sold and they just did that. As said, I enjoy what they did then as well but there's something to be said for being your own artist rather than being a label's robot (well, OK, Mick mainly).

John

[marc402]

i like this period too
but have to admid haven't listened to it as much as the buckingham nicks stuff and the peter green era stuff
but every now and than i put one on and definately like em allot
(i also picked up bob welsh''s fleetwood mac years and beyond album) i must say he does a great version of oh well.
Anyway hope these remasters happen
i will buy each one without giving it a second thought
of the era
christine's "spare me a little of your love" (bare trees)
and
bob's "hypnotized" (mystery to me)
are my favorites

greetings marc

[EricBliss12345]

I just wanted to say though that the timings they list on some of the FG tunes are wrong. "Woman of 1000 years" is NOT actually 8 minutes (though it sounds like it seems it for you Eric I respectfully disagree).

Here's what you said.

Here's what I said.

and his rambling, pointless Sands Of Time overstays it's welcome big time, almost clocking in at 8 minutes without many changes during the song.

Stop skimming!

[wetcamelfood]

Oops, OK fair enough, but I STILL wanted to point out to those that don't know that they goofed on the running times of WO1000Y & MR.

John

[wondergirl9847]

I love Future Games (the album...well, yeah, AND the song. LOL) and WOATY is an AWESOME song, it isn't boring to me, but hey, whatevah floats yer boat. In fact, I think Danny (like another guitarist/singer/songwriter I love and adore) can do almost no wrong, he's GREATNESS, IMO. I like his mystical, airy-fairy sound.

I hope we can get ALL the FM albums remastered with extra (RARE PLEASE!!!!) tracks before we all croak. I'd kill to hear some VERY rare stuff from the Danny/Bob/Christine era and the Danny/Peter/Jeremy era!!

[Denmeister99]

Anyway, getting back to the original subject --

I just checked the Rhino website, no FM cd's listed in their
upcoming releases section????

so when are these reissues scheduled to come out?

anybody know?

[markolas]

I think they pushed it back to February, or somewhere around there.

*sigh*