25 Years The Chain Box Set...

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by TrueFaith77

RTTG is one of my alltime favorite STevie songs!!!!

I really like it and think the lyrics are beautiful and moving - and her vocal is scorching. I do think, however, that LB's production of it sucked a$$$ and that a better production could have propelled the song into the tep 10 - ditto for SYW, though La Nicks' lackluster vocal also killed that one.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I really like it and think the lyrics are beautiful and moving - and her vocal is scorching. I do think, however, that LB's production of it sucked a$$$ and that a better production could have propelled the song into the tep 10 - ditto for SYW, though La Nicks' lackluster vocal also killed that one.

Those days passed the Mac a long, long time ago. Anyway, I'm not sure that having a top 10 hit these days is anything to write home about.

[Zombie]

Originally Posted by TheWILDheart

am I the only person here that totally LOVES RTTG, Paper Doll, Sweet Girl, No Question Asked and really likes Silver Girl?? Surely, I cannot be alone

You're not alone. I adore "No Questions Asked." And I quite like "Paper Doll," too - "Yesterday, I was fascinated by somebody else" is a great line.

I have this box set, and ripped it to mp3 so I can just throw it on while I'm working and have constant music without having to shuffle around. There are songs on it that I'm neutral about, but nothing I hate enough to stop what I'm doing and skip past.

I think box sets like this are great, especially for a band like Fleetwood Mac that has gone through so many different incarnations over the years and cranked out great music the whole time via sometimes drastically different genres. So I think that a set like this serves as a good introduction to the casual fan, or even a big fan that's perhaps not familiar with the pre-Buckingham/Nicks Mac or vice versa. Disk 4 has a good sampling to check out from the Peter Green days - best British blues guitarist, bar none.

And this clip pretty much makes my life complete:



Hef waxing philosophic about Buckminster Fuller as a means to introduce Peter Green singing a song about masturbation? Yes, please. Also, nice shirt, Mick.

All hail the dirty ol' Mac!

[OutsideTheRain]

I def think that most of us can agree that LB's production of Stevie's songs had been lackluster for almost all of SYW (save maybe Illume). Thrown Down was beautifully written and should have been a hit (the drum track demo was better than the studio version). As a musician, I can tell you that they should of had Chris Lord-Alge mix the entire record. The album lacked a cohesive sound. Stevie's vocals were mixed HORRIBLY (too much high end, almost no reverb). The lack of Chris' keyboards made for a weak sounding rythm section and in my opinion, gave Lindsey TOO much room to overplay on almost all the tracks. The whole album lacked the ETHEREAL sound that made Fleetwood Mac successful. Let's pray for an outside producer for the next album!!!

[nailatixela]

Originally Posted by TheWILDheart

am I the only person here that totally LOVES RTTG, Paper Doll, Sweet Girl, No Question Asked and really likes Silver Girl?? Surely, I cannot be alone

I love RTTG, Paper Doll, Sweet Girl, and NQA as well! They are some of my favs. Sweet Girl and No Questions asked are extra great.

[wolfontherun]

Wait a minute. I thought this thread was about the 25 years box set? How did SYW get involved?

[TrueFaith77]

Originally Posted by OutsideTheRain

I def think that most of us can agree that LB's production of Stevie's songs had been lackluster for almost all of SYW (save maybe Illume). Thrown Down was beautifully written and should have been a hit (the drum track demo was better than the studio version). As a musician, I can tell you that they should of had Chris Lord-Alge mix the entire record. The album lacked a cohesive sound. Stevie's vocals were mixed HORRIBLY (too much high end, almost no reverb). The lack of Chris' keyboards made for a weak sounding rythm section and in my opinion, gave Lindsey TOO much room to overplay on almost all the tracks. The whole album lacked the ETHEREAL sound that made Fleetwood Mac successful. Let's pray for an outside producer for the next album!!!

I actually love the sound of Say You Will, but I know I'm in the minority. There've discussions about producers in the past. I agree that SYW did not have the recognizable sound of Mac. . . but I also think they should go outside the box, while remaining within the popular idiom. My initial thought was Timbaland. But also, why not?, Brian Eno! It'd be about time.

[David]

Originally Posted by OutsideTheRain

Stevie's vocals were mixed HORRIBLY (too much high end, almost no reverb).

I don't like reverb.

[Musicman408]

Shoot, I may need to buy this, just for the new tracks and whatnot.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Those days passed the Mac a long, long time ago. Anyway, I'm not sure that having a top 10 hit these days is anything to write home about.

I agree in that most of the top ten stuff is not my deal. But, I think a solid five million selling CD would have enabled The Mac to get out a few more records in they wanted to. In other words, I think SYW was a direct result of The Dance's financial success. In the end, we got two from LB, so there's that.

Plus, I just want them to go out on a high note (think History of the World

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

IMO, the biggest treasure in the set is a previously unreleased Danny Kirwan song called Trinity. It's perhaps my all-time favorite Fleetwood Mac song these days, and really is reason enough to buy the set.
The alternate version of Bob Welch's Lay It All Down is pretty killer, too.

Disc four is great and turned me on to how great FM was before S&L.

[michelej1]

Newsday, December 13, 1992

25 YEARS: THE CHAIN

Fleetwood Mac

(Warner Bros.)

When Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" (" . . . thinking about tomorrow") became the unofficial Clinton-Gore campaign song, some people thought it was groovy that any putative rock song would be invoked to celebrate a major party's presidential nomination. Others wondered how groovy the Clinton-Gores could possibly be, shaking their booties to a 15-year-old Fleetwood Mac tune.

Such ambivalence has long dogged Fleetwood Mac itself, a band that has, in its quarter century, been all things to all people. It evolved, with numerous volatile personnel upheavals, from Brit blues band to pretentious art rockers to Amerenglish pop group to L. A. rock band to erratic experimentalists to arena rock dinosaurs. At the peak of its fame, in the mid-1970s, Fleetwood Mac was simultaneously the best and worst rock band in the world: the best, for its versatility and pop-craft on huge-selling albums such as "Fleetwood Mac" and "Rumours"; the worst because its finicky self-absorption, its soap opera lifestyles, and huge expenditures of time and money in the recording studio made it a symbol of everything that had gone wrong with the music business.

"25 Years - The Chain" covers four compact discs in roughly reverse chronology: Disc one begins with "Paper Doll" and "Love Shines," two of four new songs included in the package, while disc four begins with "I Believe My Time Ain't Long," Jeremy Spencer's "Dust My Broom" rip-off that was the band's first British single (1967).

Most listeners who respect Fleetwood Mac's best work but don't identify themselves as fans will want to avoid the extremes of derivativeness and conventionality on these two discs and concentrate on the appealing, wide-ranging pop and rock on the middle two discs. In retrospect, Stevie Nicks' songs such as "Gold Dust Woman," "Dreams" and "Rhiannon" have a toughness that contradicts the ethereal space cadet image with which she's been saddled; Christine McVie still sounds like someone with whom you'd like to spend an afternoon shooting pool and drinking beer; and Lindsey Buckingham's experiments like "Tusk," "Teen Beat" and "Not That Funny" sound like the ravings of a rich, brilliant, disturbed child.

Still, better Buckingham's primal screams than the wan Seals and Crofts-ish pop of Bob Welch's "Sentimental Lady," or the Led Zep-ish shenanigans of Peter Green on "Green Manalishi," or the antiseptic newer songs featuring Buckingham replacements Rick Vito and Billy Burnette. Only the most cursory attention is given to underrated albums such as "Kiln House" (1970), from which there's only one song. But what can you do? Fleetwood Mac isn't one band: It's been at least half a dozen bands, which explains why this four-disc set seems both like way too much and hardly enough.

- Wayne Robins

[michelej1]

Virginia Pilot and Ledger-Star (Norfolk, VA), November 27, 1992




FLEETWOOD MAC

''25 Years - The Chain''

(Warner Brothers) 4 CDs, 72 tracks

This compilation tracing Fleetwood Mac's transformation from British blues band to pop superstars to bickering millionaires plays to the strength of the box set.

Why? Because it does more than just package the hits. It tells the story of one of rock's most enduring - and chameleon-like - bands.

Those fans who climbed aboard with 1975's ''Fleetwood Mac'' will be astonished at the band's versatility, particularly on the first disc, which traces the pre-Lindsay Buckingham/Stevie Nicks years.

Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967 with drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and guitarists Peter Green (one of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) and Jeremy Spencer. Their rollicking blues were a hit in Britain.

The first CD is an eye-opening retrospective, collecting 19 songs from nine different albums as well as some unreleased material. Spencer was an Elmore James fanatic and the disc opens with the band's first U.K. single, James' ''Dust My Broom.'' From there, it moves through slow, dirty blues, Zeppelin-style blues and even a horn-fired R&B raver, ''Stop Messin' Around.''

''Albatross'' is a beautiful instrumental that went No. 1 in England and ''String-A-Long'' could fit seamlessly on an Everly Brothers album.

The latter is the marker: With the addition of smoky Christine Perfect, who soon married McVie, and the departure of Spencer and Green, Mac turned towards pop.

''Fleetwood Mac'' and ''Rumours'' are heavily represented on the final three discs. Not surprisingly, those cuts hold up more than 15 years later; the news is that the dozen tracks from ''Tusk,'' which was shunned because of the pop experimentation inspired by Buckingham, stand strong alongside them.

And while Nicks may have the solo career, this collection shows Christine McVie to be Mac's most affecting vocalist. She can caress even the thinnest of lyrics in a way that gives them credibility.

Earlier this year, Mick Fleetwood said there basically was no way Fleetwood Mac would regroup. It's just as well. ''25 Years - The Chain'' is an essential set. 5 Stars

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Earlier this year, Mick Fleetwood said there basically was no way Fleetwood Mac would regroup.

Your love gives me such a thrill. But your love won't pay my bills. I want money. That's what I want. Just give me money...

[wildheart048]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Virginia Pilot and Ledger-Star (Norfolk, VA), November 27, 1992




FLEETWOOD MAC

''25 Years - The Chain''

(Warner Brothers) 4 CDs, 72 tracks

This compilation tracing Fleetwood Mac's transformation from British blues band to pop superstars to bickering millionaires plays to the strength of the box set.

Why? Because it does more than just package the hits. It tells the story of one of rock's most enduring - and chameleon-like - bands.

Those fans who climbed aboard with 1975's ''Fleetwood Mac'' will be astonished at the band's versatility, particularly on the first disc, which traces the pre-Lindsay Buckingham/Stevie Nicks years.

Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967 with drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and guitarists Peter Green (one of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) and Jeremy Spencer. Their rollicking blues were a hit in Britain.

The first CD is an eye-opening retrospective, collecting 19 songs from nine different albums as well as some unreleased material. Spencer was an Elmore James fanatic and the disc opens with the band's first U.K. single, James' ''Dust My Broom.'' From there, it moves through slow, dirty blues, Zeppelin-style blues and even a horn-fired R&B raver, ''Stop Messin' Around.''

''Albatross'' is a beautiful instrumental that went No. 1 in England and ''String-A-Long'' could fit seamlessly on an Everly Brothers album.

The latter is the marker: With the addition of smoky Christine Perfect, who soon married McVie, and the departure of Spencer and Green, Mac turned towards pop.

''Fleetwood Mac'' and ''Rumours'' are heavily represented on the final three discs. Not surprisingly, those cuts hold up more than 15 years later; the news is that the dozen tracks from ''Tusk,'' which was shunned because of the pop experimentation inspired by Buckingham, stand strong alongside them.

And while Nicks may have the solo career, this collection shows Christine McVie to be Mac's most affecting vocalist. She can caress even the thinnest of lyrics in a way that gives them credibility.

Earlier this year, Mick Fleetwood said there basically was no way Fleetwood Mac would regroup. It's just as well. ''25 Years - The Chain'' is an essential set. 5 Stars

My box had disc 4 being the pre Buckingham/Nicks disc...does anyone actually have this with it being Disc 1? I just always assumed that it was the way mine is? I'm intrigued...