"Fleetwood Mac" Gets Rhino High Fidelity Edition
a band no longer singing the blues
The Buckingham-Nicks, Fleetwood Mac hook-up post the Bob Welch exit created a monster rock group but it took more than a year following the July, 1975 release for Fleetwood Mac to reach No. 1. Fans of the original blues group Fleetwood Mac were mostly disenchanted if not disgusted (my wife), but this group's success cannot be denied. It gave 1975 rockers what they wanted and at this point why it did is a waste of time to reiterate.
If you think this release is a "Boomer cash grab", consider this: a record store owner and reader of The Bob Lefsetz Letter wrote in with a list of his best 2024 sellers:
DESCRIPTION NAME SALES LAST365:
1. Aerovons "Resurrection" 330
2. Chappell Roan "The Rise and Fall 184
of a Midwest Princess"
3. Taylor Swift "The Tortured Poets 172
Department"
4. Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" 95
5. Goo Goo Dolls "Greatest Hits Vol. 1" 75
6. Charli XCX "Brat" 65
7. Vince Guaraldi "Charlie Brown 60
Xmas"
8. Taylor Swift "Midnights" 58
9. Taylor Swift "1989 T.'s Version" 57
10. Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" 52
11. Billie Eilish "Hit Me Hard and 52
Soft"
12. MF DOOM "Mm...Food" 52
13. Vampire Weekend "Only God Was 52
Above Us"
14. Led Zeppelin "IV (ZOSO)" 51
15. Pink Floud "Dark Side of the 47
Moon"
16. Beatles "White Album" 46
17. Jack White No Name 46
18. The Cure "Songs of a Lost 44
World"
19. Kendrick Lamar "Good Kid 43
M.A.A.D. City"
20. Sturgill Simpson/ "Passage Du Desir" 43
Johnny Blue Skies
21. Weezer Blue Album 43
22. Beatles "Revolver" 42
23. Noah Kahan "Stick Season" 42
24. Hozier Hozier 39
25. Beyoncé "Cowboy Carter" 38
26. Olivia Rodrigo "Guts" 38
27. Smile "Wall of Eyes" 37
The list is interesting in so many ways, and while #4 is Rumours and not this group's previous and first release, it does tell you something about its enduring appeal.
If you had told me the double 45rpm Record Store Day release was from 2012, I'd have taken the bet that it was 2020 not 2012. Man, does the time fly! That release cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Pallas, now gets triple digit dollars, upwards of $235.00.
But before listening to that one, I began the tedious comparison part of this job with the Mobile Fidelity 1/2 speed mastered by Stan Ricker edition pressed in Japan on JVC "Super Vinyl" (MFSL1-012) which had always been "the one" for me—at least back in the late '70s when my speakers were Spica TC-50s with no deep bass— a near mint copy of which sold for $75 on Discogs just last week and $100 in June!
I'm here to tell you in retrospect what it is: sounds like Stan pushed up the upper bass and a bit on top too. How that fits into your system I don't know but what I once thought was the balls, is really "in a cave" sounding. On small two-ways it might still sound good.
Next I went to an original or early pressing with the Winchester, VA "rifle" logo on it and the "heart POGO" which supposedly means Keith Olsen was at Kendun for the cut. That one sounds remarkably better balanced than the Mo-Fi. A clean copy in shrink with 'hype sticker' of that sold this month for $69. Pretty amazing considering how many copies of this record were pressed 50 years ago.
Next up the double 45 2012 Bellman cut. It has all the advantages of a 45rpm cut especially on the final tracks on the 33 1/3 edition for the reasons that every Tracking Angle reader surely knows. It's dynamic, and "punchy" but otherwise sounds "flat", uninvolving and not as transparent and pleasing as the original. Is it worth $200+? Your call, but since there was no claim of how it was cut for all we know it was cut from a digital master. It kind of sounds that way.
Finally this new Rhino. There was a 45rpm version with different mixes for singles but it's sold out. This is still available. There was a very interesting multi-mastering engineer discussion with Kevin Gray, Matthew Luttans and Patrick Milligan on Steve Westman's YouTube channel wherein Kevin Gray explains that the flat Kendun master as it existed was unusable because of oxide flaking on a few tracks ("Blue Letter" and "Crystal") that had been mixed to a new and not particularly robust Scotch formulation. According to producer Patrick Milligan the master tape "had not been used for decades", so perhaps the double 45 was in fact cut from a tape copy or from a digital file.
For this release Gray got permission to cut in the best vault copies and so this edition is the first in a long time to use the flat production master Keith Olsen used at Kendun all those years ago (with the two song exception). So how does it sound?
This is the best sounding version, even better than the original, which though cut from the fresh tape with Keith Olsen present has a "commercial patina" about it, with some obvious compression. Here you can really hear into the mix details and image three-dimensionality is intense. "Warm Ways" clinches the deal. The delicacy is key.
Though "Blue Letter" is from a "best available source," there's real bass on the track that makes its presence and power immediately noticeable. The guitar solo has grit and texture, plus there's a space behind it. I'm not sure who could tell it wasn't from the flat master (maybe Kevin Gray who cut it).
The keyboard parts of "Rhiannon" are presented with notable clarity and the bass line bounces as never before. "Crystal" does take a clear sonic hit but otherwise, when side two starts and you hear "Say You Love Me" you'll know your money was well-spent! It might be the best sounding track on the whole record. The banjo clarity is just plain ridiculous.
I'm done. This is the best edition of Fleetwood Mac ever—at least from the versions I've heard. I figure if kids are buying Rumours 50+ years after it was first released, they'll be playing this one too. Think of it as entertainment and as a financial instrument. Limited to 5000 copies at the link above.
