Newbies, start here.
Yes, of course: Every quality collection ought to include Rumours. Bet yours already does. True devotees also would/should want pressings of the self-titled ‘75 LP, probably Tusk, either of the ‘80s titles or both, plus at least a representative platter for both the Bob Welch era (I vote Bare Trees) and the foundational Peter Green years (Then Play On is tops, although there’s a Greatest Hits for that phase as well, from ‘71).
But if you’ve just begun acquiring vinyl, dig the hit-making Mac years yet are keeping to a budget and can only afford one album, I might give a slight edge to this set over any monolithic predecessor — especially when found on sale for under $20.
Obviously three selections from Rumours isn’t enough; add a copy of that as cheaply as possible, pronto. This ‘88 package, though frustratingly shorter on vinyl than other formats, nonetheless provides nearly all of the band’s ‘80s singles and most crucial Tusk cuts. Song for song it may best suit the person who can’t tell Christine McVie from Stevie Nicks and might think Lindsey Buckingham is female.
I’d favor this choice even more if by now Warner/Rhino/Whoever had issued an expanded 2LP edition. Not only could/should they restore two McVies (‘Over My Head,’ ‘You Make Loving Fun’) and one Buckingham (‘Big Love’) that were trimmed for time, but there’d be room enough for other worthy but missing items: ‘Seven Wonders,’ ‘Oh Diane,’ ‘Think About Me,’ ‘Gold Dust Woman.’ Instead this retrospective bafflingly remains available on wax only in abridged form.
What it contains, in all versions, that no other FM disc does are then-new tunes from Stevie (the closing ‘No Questions Asked’) and Christine, whose romantic sparkler ‘As Long as You Follow’ is an essential leftover languishing among strays in her discography.
Characteristically optimistic — she was, after all, gleefully in love with new husband Eddy Quintela, the song’s co-writer — its hopeful breeziness is bolstered by one of McVie’s most impassioned vocals post-‘Rumours.’
She always meant every word she sang.
But she really makes you feel it on this one.
Lest it go unmentioned, it’s worth pointing out that the fresh material on Greatest Hits (incidentally their biggest-selling album after Rumours) are also the first recordings by the first new Fleetwood Mac lineup since ‘75. That’s them on the back cover photo, with the Fab Five seen only as a painted memory. As you’ll recall, Lindsey Buckingham bounced amid much animosity (particularly from Stevie Nicks) just as Tango in the Night arrived.
We encountered one of his two replacements, Billy Burnette, in this series’ 36th post, when he initially entered tangential Mac orbit as a fellow traveler emerging from a reenergizing country scene. But he was strictly a rhythm man on six strings. Enter Rick Vito on lead guitar; he’s apparently especially proud of his solo on ‘No Questions Asked.’
Their combined presence never measured up to one Lindsey and was understandably subsumed by stronger talents still sharing the spotlight. Not surprising, then, that this roster only held together long enough to make one proper album, Behind the Mask in ‘90. That’s still to come on this deep dive into the work of the late great Christine McVie.