Most of what was produced during the beloved B/N era of Fleetwood Mac was mastered with the trappings of vinyl in mind... the warmer sound, the mid-range gain. That's why so much of the first-issue CD stuff sounded so hollow and disappointing (the absolutely awful Mirage CD comes to mind).
Now that we have the first three albums re-issued and remastered, I'm much happier listening to them on CD. But the bottom line is that the recording and producing process was still all analog, and the sound back then was just created to be listened to on vinyl. That's why I think you haven't heard Rumours unless you've heard that audiophile vinyl from a good turntable, a tube amp and good speakers. It sounds amazing.
And even the mass market issue LP of Mirage beats the CD six ways from Sunday. I didn't realize what a gorgeous album that was until I finally got a nice vinyl copy and listened through headphones.
~Jamie
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