Some Are Clearly Easy To Please - Some Others Far Too Critical
Glancing through the 100 reviews (so far) on this item, it's obvious that those who are devoted fans of Fleetwood Mac are ready to accept anything sent their way without questioning the title of the album, and hence assign 5 stars, while some others tend to be a little too critical. The only 1-star review was given that assessment because the customer got the wrong CD in the mail! Sort of defeats the purpose of the system wouldn't you say?
Another assigns 2, lamenting the lack of their "hits and great songs from 1967-1974" while another claims that "the only good song is Tusk ... the rest of it is fluff." I tend to agree with most that give it 3 stars and for much the same reasons. First of all, the two pages of liner notes, written in 1988 by Stephen Davis, are rather "lame" - as one reviewer accurately puts it - focusing not on the "greatest hits" aspect of their career but rather on the goings-on at a 1988 concert a Wembley Stadium in London!
As for the contents, to be fair they did do a somewhat decent job of covering their "greatest hits" if you keep in mind that, to most out there, a "hit" denotes the Billboard Pop Hot 100 singles that got them heard on radio/TV, in juke boxes, and sold as 45 rpm singles at record shops (or perhaps those that made the Adult Contemporary (AC), R&B, and Country charts, depending upon the genre and artist). And since their first big such hit didn't come until late 1975's Over My Head (# 20 Hot 100/# 32 AC), I'd say this 1988 release does a fair job of presenting their other 21 hits that followed to that point.
One track - No Questions Asked - is misplaced in a volume so titled since it never was either a "hit" or the B-side to one. They also omit a minor hit (# 55 Hot 100) that came out on Reprise 0883 in early 1970, which is too bad really because that WAS their first charted single, with Part 1 of Oh Well becoming the hit side. It was primarily an instrumental culled from their album Then Play On, containing about 20 seconds of vocal over close to 9 minutes, counting both sides. Their first four hits, in fact, were on Frank Sinatra's Reprise label, the others being Over My Head (mentioned above) - which emerged over five years after Oh Well - along with Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win) and Say You Love Me (respectively, # 11 Hot 100/# 33 AC in Spring 1976 and # 11 Hot 100/# 12 AC in late summer 1976).
They also leave out three straight charters from 1980/81, the first being Think About Me (# 20 Hot 100/# 39 AC in spring 1980), Sisters Of The Moon (# 86 Hot 100 in June 1980), and Fireflies (a live recording that hit # 60 Hot 100 in March 1981). As with Sara (# 7 Hot 100/# 13 AC in late 1979/early 1980) and Tusk (# 8 Hot 100 in late 1979, recorded at Dodger Stadium with The USC Trojans Marching Band), both Think About Me and Sisters Of The Moon were culled from the album also titled Tusk.
Other omissions are: Love In Store (# 11 AC/# 22 Hot 100 in late 1982), Oh Diane (# 35 AC in May 1983), Seven Wonders (# 13 AC/# 19 Hot 100 in summer 1987), and Family Man (# 23 AC/# 90 Hot 100 in April 1988). These, along with Big Love (# 5 Hot 100/# 23 AC in spring 1987), Little Lies (# 1 AC for 4 weeks/# 4 Hot 100 in late summer 1987), and Everywhere (# 1 AC for 3 weeks/# 14 Hot 100 in late 1987) were all taken from their album Tango In The Night.
All their hits after Say You Love Me came out on the Warner label and, as the years wore on, and the personnel changed, they became much more popular on the Adult Contemporary, or Easy Listening, charts than on the mainstream Hot 100. In fact, they would have three AC # 1's (the two mentioned above plus As Long As You Follow, which registered late in 1988), but it could only manage a # 43 Hot 100. Their one Hot 100 # 1 was Dreams in May/June 1977, and it also made it to # 11 AC.
The so-called "classic lineup" of Fleetwood Mac consisted of drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, vocalist/keyboardist Christine McVie, guitarist/vocalist Lindsey Buckingham, and vocalist Stevie Nicks, and this is the gathering that was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1988. You don't get in there by doing "fluff."
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Fleetwood Mac: Greatest Hits
Greatest in the case of "Fleetwood Mac: Greatest Hits" actually epitomizes what a greatest hits album should be all about: ALL hits, no add-ons. This particular CD is thoroughly enjoyable and definitely a must for enthusiasts of true music who, like me, did not purchase their albums when the group was in its prime many years ago. For me, I became a Fleetwood Mac fan after hearing Nikki McKibbin attempt to sing a Stevie Nicks song, Edge of Seventeen, on American Idol a couple of years ago. Nicks was an essential member of Fleetwood Mac and has produced some memorable songs as a solo artist. However, it is Fleetwood Mac - collectively - that has recorded some of the best sounding music ever!!
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