Recent Remasters of Fleetwood Mac s/t and Rumours

I bought Rumours for $18.99 at a mom & pop place in L.A. I like the sound better than the recent "Very Best of Fleetwood Mac" 2CD set. There seems to be less maximization here, yet more than there is on vinyl. I still prefer the Nautilus Half-Speed LP that I transferred to CD last year.

The bonus disc is great! You actually get to hear the guitars on "Songbird" that were turned way down in the original LP's mix -- which makes the song fresh again for me. I like the stipped-down version of "Don't Stop" & "Go Your Own Way"-- they still work! It seems that very often, they had final vocal takes completed before all the instruments and arrangements were finished. I also had no idea that "Planets of the Universe" from her last CD "Sahngri-La" was originally written back then.....

Disc Two is on replay......

 

These are the first remasters I remember buying in such a long, long, long time where I really felt they did everything right. I couldn't imagine how they could duplicate all the graphics from "Tusk" into an acceptable form, but they did. I thought the sound would be overly bright and forward; they sound very nice! (I still think I like my vinyl better, but I think in this case that stems from my sentimentality and attachment to the vinyl albums themselves...)

I really only bought them for the bonus tracks and the upgraded artwork, but in my opinion, these are home runs for Warner Brothers. I'm sure as I listen more, I'll probably find something to gripe about (I think the mix for "I Know I'm Not Wrong" on "Tusk" is - like the original CD issue - still different from the original LP release), but it is obvious that a LOT of work and care went into this project.

 

So, what is the story behind this remix of "I Know I'm Not Wrong"? Did Buckingham change his mind sometime between the LP and CD releases? Anyone know?

 

Don't know but I remember the guitars were going nuts at the end of the song on vinyl but on the Cd they're quite subdued. Why indeed.

 

I really love these discs...the bonus tracks are a real treat...booklets...nice job.....and they are in jewel cases...what a pleasure that is , since I also just picked up the new Jackson Browne collection(what a mess)...but one thing always bugs me when we get outtakes, such as "Go Your Own Way" and "Second Hand News"..why do they insist on fading these tracks when we know they don't end that way...could'nt they just let the tape run to the end...these are not singles, we know they are outtakes,rough versions..they left in the false starts on some tracks why can't they let the song end..I really was looking foward to hearing GYOW last a bit longer...maybe that is how long it goes...who knows, just my feelings...minor(very minor) complaint, because I do enjoy these re-issues!!!!!

JF

 

Just got home with FM s/t and Tusk. Sound pretty nice no ear bleeds. Listening to Tusk right now. Since I didn't have any Fleetwood Mac in my collection, these releases a plus!!!

 

Because they used mixes from the 70's, not new mixes. Many of the fadeouts were done at the original sessions, probably not for this reissue.

 

Did they fade up the begining of Gold Dust Woman, or does it start full like on the DVD-A?

 

It fades up.

 

Happened to see a copy of S/T at a local shop and figured I'd give it a try. Very pleasantly suprised! Liked it enough that I'll search out Tusk and Rumours on Friday.
I'd almost forgotten that there was a time when Stevie Nicks actually could sing, instead of that annoying trilling she does these days.

 

Everything is noticeably different. The only song I was hard pressed to hear difference in is "The Ledge" from Tusk.

But here's a rundown of the Rumours bonus tracks...

Second Hand News: only has one, acoustic guitar...everything else is in place
Dreams: also has final elements...but only one guitar...and no backing vocals
Never Going Back Again: alternate instrumental take...with nice harmonics
Don't Stop: sounds like final version except it has no guitars...piano up front
Go Your Own Way: like the bootleg...alternate mix without acoustic guitars!
Songbird: alternate mix with prominent acoustic guitars
Silver Springs: alternate mix with less guitars and no backing vocals
You Make Loving Fun: alternate mix with less overdubs and different backing vocals
Gold Dust Woman: alternate mix with different overdubs and vocals
Oh Daddy: totally different mix with different backing vocals

From what I can gather, "Never Going Back Again" is the only different take.

 

Its not too often that MOST of the forum agrees on a high quality remaster from a major label!

I guess I'm gonna have to plunk down some coin for these even though I would PREFER to see if they show up on SACD SOMETIME in MY lifetime.

Chris

 

I'd prefer sacd as well but just an fyi in case you don't know, supposedly a dvd-a version of "Tusk" is coming. The latest word I've heard on a date is June.

They had also announced "Fleetwood Mac' for dvd-a but I haven't seen any mention of that recently. I really hope that happens too though.

My impression is either/both will include 5.1 mixes which is what I'm interested in but hard information about any of this is hard to come by. At one point I read second hand comments supposedly from Ken Caillat about some of this.

Just bumbling around now I found http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/kencaillat_qa1.htm
which seems to include a lot of discussion with Caillat related to 5.1 Fleetwood Mac.

Anyway, for what it's worth....

--Don

 

I give these thumbs up.

 

Is this an Inglot remaster?

 

I wish I had also bought Rumours also yesterday! I'll have to go back Sat.!!

 

Yes indeed Jamie, this is Mr. Inglot at his best at least on the S/T disc.

 

Tusk. A great CD already even better now.

Joe L.

 

One of the best remasters this year (IMHO)

 

Has anyone compared the remasters with the tracks on the 2-CD 'very best of' that came out in 2002? That was done by Bill Inglot.
If these are better then I'll have to shell out again!

TIA
13DoW

 

I have listened to the 2nd bonus disc from the Rumours set and must say the sound is superb as are all the unreleased tracks. Worth the price of the cd set alone.

 

I just picked up "Rumours", and haven't listened to it on the home system yet, but it sounded pretty good in the car. I especially enjoyed the second disc with the almost "alternate version" of the album plus other bonus tracks. The inclusion of them tells me that the record company and the band have been paying attention to all those bootlegs being circulated by fans. That Warner used the original "Burbank" label for the CDs tells me that they may have taken their cue from US, and our famous Record Label threads! Well, maybe not, but it's a nice thought.

 

Boy, Rumours is just as good as the other two. Iwouldn't bother with o/p vinyl. These are great! My vote for reissue of the year, and its early!!!!!!!

 

I would vote for Fleetwood Mac (FM/Rumours/Tusk)
Black Sabbath Box
Emmylou Harris (Elite Hotel/Luxery Liner/Quarter Moon...)

 

I compared the common CD reissue of RUMOURS to the new one, and the common one sounds absoloutely awful now. It is dull, lacks bass, and sounds distant. The new remaster ROCKS!

My next test: load it into Adobe Audition to see how much they compressed it.