In 1975, a new lineup of the already reconfigured-many-times-over band
Fleetwood Mac
emerged, overhauling their sound with the addition of dual songwriters/vocalists
Stevie Nicks
and
Lindsey Buckingham
. Everything after that is rock & roll history, with the band's supernatural chemistry and their newfound blend of pop magic and mysterious, moody songwriting instantly topping the charts and quickly making
one of the most popular and successful bands in the world.
Fleetwood Mac 1975 to 1987
presents the studio output of the band's unparalleled run at their commercial and creative heights. The five albums included here in chronological order begin with the self-titled 1975 record, an impressive collection of hit singles and decent non-single tracks. The album topped the chart and positioned
as contenders in the mid-'70s radio rock landscape. However, nothing could have prepared the world for the ubiquitous success of 1977's
Rumours
, one of the best-selling and most acclaimed albums of all time. The album's importance in the canon of popular music is singular, and its perfect construction and timeless songs still sound fresh and exciting decades later. By the time of 1979's
Tusk
, success and excess had gotten to the band, and some detractors found the album to be bloated and confused. While the sprawling double-album isn't as focused and perfectly executed as
, it still creates a world unlike anything else, even if it's a world where pop smarts are overwhelmed by chaos more often than not. 1982's
Mirage
found its way back to a more accessible kind of soft rock, with singles like "Gypsy" and "Hold Me" easing the band into the '80s. Finally, the set is rounded out by 1987's
Tango in the Night
, a commercial return-to-form for the band that includes huge mid-'80s hits "Little Lies" and "Everywhere" in an album that became the group's biggest seller since
. All five of these LPs are platinum-selling smashes, all of them landing within the Top Ten of the Billboard chart, with only
failing to hit the number one spot. Having the band's entire output from this incredible stretch in one place is a fantastic way to zero in on what made these songs -- even those that were so popular they were inescapable -- so special and so welcome despite their omnipresence. ~ Fred Thomas