Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.
I would personally rank that higher, although it's rather difficult to compare albums with drastically different lineups. There are not too many similarities between an album like Then Play On and Behind the Mask
For my list, I will also include Buckingham McVie, which is essentially a Fleetwood Mac album. I have only listened to a few tracks from Blues Jam, so I will omit that from the list. In comparison to most people, I'm probably more positive on Say You Will and Penguin. Meanwhile, the 1975 White album does not give me too many reasons to return to it, so that will receive a relatively average placement. Just to mix things up, I will also swap Mr. Wonderful with English Rose, as the latter received an official release in my home country while Mr. Wonderful did not.
18) Time - If this didn't carry the Fleetwood Mac title, I would have very little reason to return to this. McVie's tracks are easily the best, but only three are above average. "Talkin' to My Heart" is fine enough and I also have a soft spot for "Blow by Blow". "These Strange Times" could have worked without the whispered vocals.
17) Behind the Mask - Similar to Time, McVie also carries the album, although Burnette's songs are much better here, with "In the Back of My Mind" being a highlight. Nicks is marginally better on this album than Tango, but she's still a weak link. Vito's songs are probably amongst the worst on the album. The production is inoffensive and very middle of the road.
16) Buckingham McVie - Barring "Game of Pretend", all of McVie's has songs here are great, although I wish she was [more] present on Buckingham's songs. "Sleeping on the Corner" is marred with a glitch in the intro and a rather poor vocal on verse 1, but the rest of the song is considerably better. There are some decent songs on here, but it lacks the passion of some of the band's earlier work.
15) Fleetwood Mac (1968 album) - The album is very conventional in terms of song structure yet enhanced by the musicianship and harmonica playing. Spencer's schtick gets old pretty quickly, although Green contributes a varied collection of songs here, with "I Loved Another Woman" serving as a proto "Black Magic Woman" and "Long Grey Mare" possessing an infectious guitar riff.
14) Kiln House - Spencer dominates the album with his parodies, which provides a nice change of pace from his Elmore James inspired compositions from the first few albums. "One Together" and "Mission Bell" in particular are very strong, although the best song on the album is actually an instrumental penned by Kirwan carrying the title of "Earl Gray". The most notable songs on this album, namely "Jewel Eyed Judy", "Tell Me All the Things You Do", and "Station Man" were all written and sung by Kirwan.
13) Heroes Are Hard to Find - As per usual, the best songs on the album were written and sung by McVie. Of the five albums Bob Welch appeared on, this probably has his weakest batch of songs, with "Born Enchanter" in particular providing very little of substance. The meandering "Bermuda Triangle" would become even more protracted during live performances, yet it's still one of his most memorable and enjoyable songs on the album.
12) English Rose - This heavily benefits from a far superior track listing compared to Mr. Wonderful, which replaces many of the filler tracks from that album with several Kirwan tunes, "Albatross" and "Black Magic Woman". The one regrettable omission is "Rollin' Man", which could have been swapped in for one of the Elmore James derivative songs, but this is still a fine selection.
11) Fleetwood Mac (1975) - The album that pumped some new life into the band and made them commercially successful in America. I would probably rank this album higher if the single mixes of "Over My Head" and "Say You Love Me" had replaced their duller album counterparts, but the album nonetheless has some stellar songs, particularly "Crystal" and "I'm So Afraid".
10) Say You Will - A very lengthy and disjointed album that still contains some of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs, including "Murrow Turning Over in His Grave", "Steal Your Heart Away", and "Red Rover". Nicks contributed her best set of songs here since 1979's Tusk, with "Running Through the Garden" and "Everybody Finds Out" being highlights. Her vocals hinder the enjoyability of songs like "Illume", "Silver Girl", and "Destiny Rules", but the material here is very strong, even without the writing contributions of Christine McVie.
9)Bare Trees - A Kirwan dominated album, but even the filler tracks like "Danny's Chant" are worthwhile listens. It also features one the only shaky performances from McVie in her Fleetwood Mac career with "Homeward Bound", although "Spare Me a Little of Your Love" is much better. Bob Welch came with two high quality songs; this was the album that birthed "Sentimental Lady", which contains an endearing vocal delivery and arrangement far less polished than the version that later became a hit for him.
8) Mirage - While relatively safe in comparison to Tusk, the album still has some experimental moments, namely with "Empire State" and "Eyes of the World". Even "That's Alright", a conventional country ballad, carries some cool production tricks. "Oh Diane" is still one of the worst things that Fleetwood Mac has ever created, but the album is buoyed by the remaining singles on the album, especially "Hold Me" and "Gypsy", both of which are blessed with spectacular arrangements.
7) Tango in the Night - The absence of Ken Caillat's production is certainly felt and missed here, which gives way to more artificial sonic environments with Buckingham and Dashut at the helm. Still, I will give this the slight edge over Mirage due to the better song selection. There are still a few lesser songs on the album and one outright dud ("When I See You Again") but it also offers some of the best songs in Fleetwood Mac's career, including "Everywhere" and "Little Lies". "Isn't Midnight" also deserves a mention and benefits from Buckingham's guitar overdubs.
6) Then Play On - I was surprised to include the album this low on the list, but I happened to enjoy five other Fleetwood Mac albums more than this one. Incredibly varied in terms of the song selection, particularly when taking into account both parts of "Oh Well", which was appended to later editions of the album. Parts of "When You Say" sound unfinished, but this is mostly inconsequential when listening to the entire album from start to finish.
5) Pengiun - The first Fleetwood Mac album with a six-person lineup and the only album to feature Walker, who feels a bit out of place here. Still, the two songs he sings on "The Derelict" and a cover of "I'm a Roadrunner", are fine enough additions to the album. Both Welch and McVie brought in some solid material, including the album's main single "Did You Ever Love Me?", the only Fleetwood Mac song to feature steel drums.
4) Rumours - A mighty fine collection of songs that launched the band into superstardom. It contains some of their best-known songs, and even the non-singles are more popular than some of the singles found on the band's other albums. When factoring "Silver Springs", this album is even better, and I could be convinced to place this at number three
3) Future Games - Arguably the band's most pastoral album, which is particularly evident with Kirwan's "Woman of 1000 Years" and the title track, which was written by Welch. The album's only single, "Sands of Time", is one of the only Fleetwood Mac songs with portions written in an odd signature, resulting in a relatively proggy song (at least by Fleetwood Mac standards). It also marks the first album with McVie and Welch as official members (although McVie had worked with the band going back to the Mr. Wonderful sessions.)
2) Mystery to Me - Another album with a varied set of songs and it includes the band's first use of a rhythm box (found on "Forever"). With Walker out, the song selection is more homogenous, although the band still left some room for experimentation, particularly with the string arrangement found on "Keep on Going". "Good Things Come For Those Who Wait" was wisely swapped for a cover of the Yardbird's "For Your Love", although it was a misstep to relegate "Hypnotized" as that song's B-side, which may have otherwise provided Fleetwood Mac with a minor chart hit had it been released as the A-side instead.
1) Tusk - A masterpiece, none the 20 tracks are filler. Buckingham's experimental songs are juxtaposed with the immaculate songwriting of McVie and Nicks, who provided some of their best work of their careers here, particularly with "Over & Over", "Sara", "Sisters of the Moon" and "Never Make Me Cry". The title track is one of band's most ambitious recordings, which makes it even more satisfying that it became a top ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
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01-12-2025, 09:10 PM
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