News

All-Analog Reissues of Early Reprise-Era Fleetwood Mac LPs Coming From Rhino

Michael Fremer  |  Jul 23, 2020

Rhino will release on September 4th two new early Fleetwood Mac box sets: an 8 CD set Fleetwood Mac 1969-1974 that includes 7 studio albums plus an unreleased 1974 concert, and two versions of an all analog 4 LP+ 7" single set cut from the original master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

The 8 CD set covers the five year span during which the core band of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Jeremy Spencer were joined on the various albums by Danny Kirwan, Christine McVie, Dave Walker, Bob Welch and Bob Weston. The albums are Then Play on, Kiln House, Future Games, Bare Trees, Penguin, Mystery to Me and Heroes Are Hard To Find. The CD set also includes a December 15, 1974 Record Plant, Sausalito concert simulcast on KSAN-FM, San Francisco.

The 4 LP all-analog box set Fleetwood Mac 1973-1974 cut by Bellman and pressed on 140g vinyl includes the unreleased live concert along with Penguin, Mystery To Me, and Heroes Are Hard To Find along with a 7" single "For Your Love" (Mono Promo edit) and on the flip side the previously unreleased "Good Things (Come To Those Who Wait)".

The second version of the LP box set is a limited edition color vinyl set available exclusively on Rhino's website.

My suspicion is that original tapes or any good usable tapes were unavailable of Then Play on, Kiln House, Future Games and Bare Trees and that's why they weren't included in the vinyl box set, because in my opinion those are the best of this time period that ended just before Buckingham/Nicks joined the band. If you are unfamiliar with those post blues band/pre pop band Fleetwood Mac, you are in for a treat if you can find clean used copies. The band had an almost Fairport Convention-like folky, wistful sound. Future Games recorded by Martin Rushent at Advision is particularly well-recorded. None of these records charted well but they are musically well-worth checking out.

COMMENTS
Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on Thu, 2020-07-23 10:43

$120 for 4 lps + 7".

I agree about pre-pop Fleetwood.. Thanks for the heads up!

zebra22's picture
Submitted by zebra22 on Thu, 2020-07-23 12:46

I love these albums, especially the Kirwan tunes. It looks as though there is a Then Play On reissue of some sort coming in Sept., though its not Rhino or Grundman so who knows.

https://thesoundofvinyl.com/*/Limited-Edition/Then-Play-On-Deluxe-Double...

ankysoho's picture
Submitted by ankysoho on Thu, 2020-07-23 13:21

These other 4 were already released in a similar set (https://www.discogs.com/Fleetwood-Mac-Fleetwood-Mac-1969-To-1972/release...) so makes sense this focuses on the other titles.

Vinyl On Tubes's picture
Submitted by Vinyl On Tubes on Sun, 2020-07-26 18:34

Reissue it to have the matching sets of CDs to vinyl.

Roy Martin's picture
Submitted by Roy Martin on Thu, 2020-07-23 15:31

...it makes me want to do the "rattlesnake shake."

Tom L's picture
Submitted by Tom L on Fri, 2020-07-24 07:41

don't ya do that stuff around here!

Drummer's picture
Submitted by Drummer on Thu, 2020-07-23 20:38

Have never been out of my play rotation for long since they were new releases. Great news!

davip's picture
Submitted by davip on Fri, 2020-07-24 00:52

Hurrah -- say no to VTA-distorting, expensive-to-post, difficult-to-balance-in-the-hand, wasteful-of-resources 180g vinyl

Babysharks's picture
Submitted by Babysharks on Fri, 2020-07-24 05:41

I couldn't agree more. From the mid-60s thru mid-80s, I bought a lot of vinyl. I don't remember ever getting a warped or damaged LP. Now (in the last three years) that my attention has returned to vinyl, at least 20% of my 180g purchases have some defect. In my opinion, record companies need to either step up their quality control or rethink the 180g process.

Mile High Audio's picture
Submitted by Mile High Audio on Sat, 2020-07-25 11:52

So very sad to hear that Peter Green has passed away at 73.

Thank you for all the great tunes and may you rest in peace.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53539989

robert r dawson's picture
Submitted by robert r dawson on Sun, 2020-07-26 04:15

I have never heard Future Games. I will hafta rectify that.

Tom L's picture
Submitted by Tom L on Mon, 2020-07-27 08:53

...last night where the Griffins and friends went on a "yacht rock" cruise that turned into a strange, gory satire of The Poseidon Adventure. For some reason, much was made of the fact that Bob Welsh died in 2012, with several interludes of the cast mourning him as "Sentimental Lady" played. The song was sort of his signature tune, and was a solo hit as well as appearing on Bare Trees. I certainly never considered it to be yacht rock, just a nice soft rock number.
Family Guy is a really weird show.

Paul Boudreau's picture
Submitted by Paul Boudreau on Mon, 2020-07-27 12:53

“ My suspicion is that original tapes or any good usable tapes were unavailable of Then Play on, Kiln House, Future Games and Bare Trees and that's why they weren't included in the vinyl box set, because in my opinion those are the best of this time period that ended just before Buckingham/Nicks joined the band.“

Rhino put out a vinyl box of those LPs in 2013, not sure of the sources. Here’s one on EBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/392886728768

Trevor_Bartram's picture
Submitted by Trevor_Bartram on Fri, 2020-07-31 07:27

I traversed these albums around the time the Then Play On CD remaster came out, having already collected earlier and later Mac albums. I enjoyed Bare Trees and Penguin the most however Penguin is not highly regarded in some circles, I can't remember why, I like it!

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