For a good many years, I listened to Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours-Era & Beyond" albums exactly the way they were released... but I always kind of felt that the running orders left a bit to be desired. I had to agree with critics who said that The Mac's albums sometimes sounded too fragmented, and weren't "unified."
Now don't get me wrong, I love the fact that Christine, Lindsey & Stevie each have such disctinctive styles, and I think that lends Fleetwood Mac's music an incredible amount of variety... but I feel that the running orders do a disservice to the albums on a whole (and to many of the songs within), causing them to sometimes sound uneven.
'Tusk' for instance... how many people have said that they initially had a hard time getting into Lindsey's songs on that album? Stevie & Christine's songs are pretty "traditional," so when one of Lindsey's tunes comes on, it can be a bit jarring. Not to mention the fact that Lindsey & Stevie's songs dominate an extremely long stretch of the CD.
And then there's 'Tango In The Night'... sure, Stevie's presence on the album is unfortunately limited, but the running order only exacerbates this fact: "Seven Wonders" is the second track on the album, followed by six Lindsey & Christine songs, and then boom, Stevie's other two contributions pretty much come one right after the other, and the album is over.
So, over the years, I have taken my time and gone back thru each of the albums from 1975 onward. I arranged all of them so that each singer/songwriter is (I feel) well-represented throughout the entire album. I painstakingly (some would say "obssessively"
) sequenced the tracks so that they're each complimentary of what comes before them and after them... all the while trying to set moods and sustain them, and then creating new ones.
Some, like 'Tango In The Night,' I felt I "got right" from the get-go... others, like 'Behind The Mask,' took some time until I was pleased.
The re-arranged orders are pretty much the only way I listen to the albums now... in fact, I even burned copies of each, so that I wouldn't have to program the CD player every time I played them.
I'm not sure what anyone here will think of them, but I've shared them with some friends, and they all seemed to prefer the re-sequencings... so I figured some other Ledgies might want to give them a spin.
And, if you do, please let me know what you think!
(By the way, the running order for 'Time' is largely chiliD's, which he had posted on the original Ledge boards a few years ago... I just tweaked the order of a couple tracks. Hope he doesn’t mind!)
Johnny Stew (showing exactly how big of a Mac-Nerd he really is!
)
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FLEETWOOD MAC:
1. Monday Morning
2. Sugar Daddy
3. Blue Letter
4. Rhiannon
5. Say You Love Me
6. Crystal
7. Over My Head
8. Landslide
9. World Turning
10. Warm Ways
11. I’m So Afraid
RUMOURS:
1. The Chain
2. Second Hand News
3. Dreams
4. Oh Daddy
5. Go Your Own Way
6. Silver Springs
7. Don't Stop
8. I Don't Want To Know
9. You Make Loving Fun
10. Never Going Back Again
11. Gold Dust Woman
12. Songbird
TUSK:
1. Tusk
2. Think About Me
3. Angel
4. Save Me A Place
5. Over & Over
6. That’s All For Everyone
7. Storms
8. Not That Funny
9. Brown Eyes
10. The Ledge
11. Sara
12. That’s Enough For Me
13. Honey Hi
14. Walk A Thin Line
15. Sisters Of The Moon
16. What Makes You Think You’re The One
17. Never Make Me Cry
18. I Know I’m Not Wrong
19. Beautiful Child
20. Never Forget
MIRAGE:
1. Hold Me
2. Book Of Love
3. That’s Alright
4. Oh Diane
5. Only Over You
6. Gypsy
7. Can’t Go Back
8. Love In Store
9. Empire State
10. Straight Back
11. Eyes Of The World
12. Wish You Were Here
TANGO IN THE NIGHT:
1. Big Love
2. Everywhere
3. Seven Wonders
4. Caroline
5. Little Lies
6. Tango In The Night
7. Welcome To The Room... Sara
8. Mystified
9. Family Man
10. Isn’t It Midnight
11. When I See You Again
12. You And I, Part II
BEHIND THE MASK:
1. In The Back Of My Mind
2. Save Me
3. No Questions Asked
4. Stand On The Rock
5. When It Comes To Love
6. Freedom
7. Hard Feelings
8. Behind The Mask
9. Love Is Dangerous
10. As Long As You Follow
11. Affairs Of The Heart
12. When The Sun Goes Down
13. Do You Know
14. Skies The Limit
15. The Second Time
16. Lizard People (***optional***)
TIME:
1. I Do
2. Talkin’ To My Heart
3. I Wonder Why
4. Winds of Change
5. Sooner Or Later
6. Dreamin’ The Dream
7. These Strange Times
8. Nights In Estoril
9. Nothing Without You
10. Hollywood (Some Other Kind Of Town)
11. Blow By Blow
12. I Got It In For You
13. All Over Again
(I just made a disc gathering up the "left-overs"... non-LP b-sides, demos, one-offs, and the like... so I thought i'd share the track-listing of that one too)
RARITIES:
1. Paper Doll
2. Bleed To Love Her
3. Love Shines
4. Sweet Girl
5. Goodbye Angel
6. Temporary One
7. Fireflies
8. Cool Water
9. One More Night
10. The Farmer’s Daughter
11. My Little Demon
12. Smile At You
13. Ricky
14. Down Endless Street
15. Joan Of Arc
16. Heart Of Stone
17. Make Me A Mask
18. If You Were My Love
19. Can’t Help Falling In Love
20. You And I, Part I