Fleetwood Mac - best album (a poll)

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"Rumours" will win (as I don't think there are a lot of Peter Green fans on ILM), but "Tango In The Night" remains my pick.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 28 April 2007 00:44 (nineteen years ago)

I like Peter Green.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Saturday, 28 April 2007 00:45 (nineteen years ago)

Mystery To Me, after years of careful consideration. For a long time I though it was Bare Trees, but I was wrong. M2M is the one album where songs, production, ability to function as a coherent band, and instrumental ability are all at a peak at the same time. Only weak point is an unnecessary cover of For Your Love which, as I understand it, was a late addition.

Some of the best bits on this are easy to miss as they're so seamless: one of my favorites is the instrumental break in the vaguely Southern Boogie "Miles Away" where the drums and bass drop out but the sound actally gets *louder* (the acoustic guitar basically takes several steps forward without being dramatic about it) and when the full band finally comes back in the intensity comes down. Totally ass-backwards, and completely brilliant. And there are these amazing little subtle production bits like that all over the thing. The guitar work doesn't draw attention to itself as much as on Then Play On, but is often right up there.

God I love this album. Seems to get left overlooked in the whole Peter Green vs. Lindsey Buckingham divide, and I can only guess that most people just never get around to buying the mysterious in-between Mac albums. (Also, to be fair, Penguin and Heroes aren't so hot.)

― dlp9001, Saturday, 28 April 2007 01:27 (nineteen years ago)

Peter Green is groovy ... Then Play On is an incredible record. Just not good as Tusk or Rumours.

― Jiminy Krokus, Saturday, 28 April 2007 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

this poll caught me at the height of tusk obsession, so tusk.

― negotiable, Saturday, 28 April 2007 02:07 (nineteen years ago)

30 million rumours fans can't be wrong!

― lfam, Saturday, 28 April 2007 02:15 (nineteen years ago)

Tusk will win.

― Z S, Saturday, 28 April 2007 02:17 (nineteen years ago)

Jiminy OTM.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Saturday, 28 April 2007 02:18 (nineteen years ago)

My brain says Tusk, but my gut says Rumours. I don't trust my brain in the middle of the night.

― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 28 April 2007 04:59 (nineteen years ago)

WAit a minute. someone is erasing my posts.

I said HEROES ARE HARD TO FIND and a shoutout to dlp9001.

― Bimble, Saturday, 28 April 2007 05:13 (nineteen years ago)

TUSK x 1,000

― circa1916, Saturday, 28 April 2007 05:48 (nineteen years ago)

1975 s/t all the way ftw

― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 28 April 2007 06:02 (nineteen years ago)

"world keep turning"/"i'm so afraid" ... allayew Tusk fans can't touch that.

plus "Monday Morning" is a way better opener than "Second Hand News"

plus "Say You Love Me" -- Christine's best song (just barely edging out "Crazy Love" and "Believe Me", from dlp's fave 'Mystery To Me', and not to forget...:

"Over My Head"

― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 28 April 2007 06:07 (nineteen years ago)

It's really got to be Tusk... I like Peter Green, though...

― Keith, Saturday, 28 April 2007 08:39 (nineteen years ago)

tusk, i mean cmon

― get bent, Saturday, 28 April 2007 08:40 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.opalartglass.com/mammoth%20tusk.jpg

― JN$OT, Saturday, 28 April 2007 08:43 (nineteen years ago)

REBEL AGAINST THE CANON!!!!!

BREAK LOOSE!!!

― Bimble, Saturday, 28 April 2007 08:43 (nineteen years ago)

This is no time for a lazy Rumours vote! come ON!!!!

― Bimble, Saturday, 28 April 2007 08:43 (nineteen years ago)

Seriously, if Tusk loses I will eat my way through a hat shop.

― o-ess, Saturday, 28 April 2007 08:59 (nineteen years ago)

I desperately want someone to vote for Mirage.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 28 April 2007 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, fuck Tusk and Rumours. Fuck the soft rock revisionism!

― I eat cannibals, Saturday, 28 April 2007 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

You know, I could swear that years ago, I read that on the day of release of Tusk, the governor of California made it a holiday, to celebrate its release.

Now, I can't find anything to back this up nowadays. Did I just totally make this up?

― Keith, Saturday, 28 April 2007 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

"Oh Well" on Then Play On and "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite" on some ealy album I've never owned are my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs. Kiln House is great. "Tusk" is, um, a great single on a mostly boring (in an "interesting" way, obviously, who cares) album. "Rhiannon" is better than anything on Rumours. I voted for Rumours. Sorry.

― xhuxk, Saturday, 28 April 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

Tusk is almighty. It's my favorite, therefore it's the best. (xhuxk taught me that in music-algebra class.)

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 28 April 2007 18:03 (nineteen years ago)

i love tusk too but, c'mon, rumours is absolutely perfect from beginning ("second hand news") to end ("gold dust woman").

also, does anyone know who was the primary songwriter of "the chain"? and is that the only song of the lindsey-stevie era to be credited to the whole band?

― fact checking cuz, Saturday, 28 April 2007 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

Though I've already voted, this thread is going to be a sad thread if Rattlesnake Shake doesn't also get a shout-out.

Now, I know this guy
His name is mick
Now, he don’t care when he ain’t got no chick
He do the shake
The rattlesnake shake
Yes, he do the shake
And jerks away the blues
Now, jerk it

Best song they ever did, even if it's not from my favorite album. Down w/the post-Welch Mac!

― dlp9001, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

[x] None of them, I don't like Fleetwood Mac

― ☪, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

Rumours vs. Tusk is an interesting argument. Concise, tuneful perfection vs. the dropped jaw and curious awestruck reaction. Obviously, Tusk is more of a statement record. But Rumours has among the best drum recordings ever -- I LOVE the drum sound.

FWIW, I'd still say "Oh Well" is the best song Mac ever did ... the verion of it they cranked out with Buckingham on the 2003 tour when I saw them proved that.

― Jiminy Krokus, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

then play on

I love the F-mac/rumors/tusk trilogy too. and bare trees is a sleeper.

― m coleman, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

Wouldn't be surprised if Nicks came up with melody on the Chain. Sounds like something she'd do. End of that song from the bass riff on is amazing.

― Jiminy Krokus, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:31 (nineteen years ago)

unfortunately none of the green-era records contain the studio versions of "green manalishi" and "man of the world."

i'm going with the triple-disc Live at the Boston Tea Party. For me, that's up there with Allman's Fillmore recordings and Live Dead.

― QuantumNoise, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I just wanted to second your love for Mystery To Me, dlp9001, even though I picked Heroes. You are also right that their cover of "For Your Love" is probably the low point of that record. I will have to give Rattlesnake Shake a try.

― Bimble, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

unfortunately none of the green-era records contain the studio versions of "green manalishi" and "man of the world."

this is a major disappointment. for all the reissues of the last 15 years you'd think they could do an expanded Then Play On with these two songs. make me chairmen of warner bros records, ok?

― m coleman, Saturday, 28 April 2007 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

also, does anyone know who was the primary songwriter of "the chain"? and is that the only song of the lindsey-stevie era to be credited to the whole band?

Nicks wrote most of the song.

I voted for Rumours too. Was it Christgau who wrote in 1977's P&J essay that it would prove to be a better record than Never Mind The Bullocks?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 28 April 2007 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

I will Mark but you have to throw in poor Danny Kirwan's "Dragonfly" while you are at it ok?

― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 28 April 2007 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

(this is actually the rekkid to get which has all those tracks:)

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drh400/h445/h44597ffm3a.jpg

― Stormy Davis, Saturday, 28 April 2007 20:10 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, Dragonfly's great. I was just busy trying to work out if that was on a record or not...

― Keith, Saturday, 28 April 2007 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

There is only one Fleetwood Mac that contains "Little Lies" and "Everywhere". Sadly, I'm afraid it won't win, although it's their best.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 28 April 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

The Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac contains "Dragonfly," "Green Manalishi," and "Man of the World," but I agree with m. coleman, i'd rather have an expanded edition of Then Play On that contained Green-era Mac's final singles.

― QuantumNoise, Saturday, 28 April 2007 22:48 (nineteen years ago)

BTW, I've never been able to figure out if there exists a studio version of "Only You." Anybody know?

― QuantumNoise, Saturday, 28 April 2007 22:51 (nineteen years ago)

bump

― félix pié, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

I voted for "Rumours" - terrific record. "Tusk" has stellar moments but a lot of arsing about.

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

I like "Mirage" a lot too.

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

Okay, look. Let's call a truce. Please let the self titled Fleetwood Mac from 1975 beat Rumours. PLEASE. I can even find it in my record collection in a heartbeat even though it isn't in proper alphabetical order. Not bad.

― Bimble, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

Oh I like that one too.

― Groke, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

Arguments to be made for several, and I love Tusk to death, but Rumors was lightning-in-a-platter.

― Vornado, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:07 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks for bumping this. Felt the need to point out that the 24 minute live version of Rattlesnake Shake is often godlike. Thank you, and back to Rumours vs. Tusk. Yawn.

― dlp9001, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Self-titled '75 for me. In the words of David Crosby, "We tune because we care".

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

I love the Peter Green era, but I gotta go with Rumours. I would pick Tusk - if it weren't for all the painfully boring non-Buckingham tracks.

― will, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 34 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Tusk is one of the most fascinating records to listen to, precisely because it goes all over the place, and it represents the imposition of Lindsay Buckingham's will. It's a testament to the album's strangeness that my least favorite song on it, "Sara," has perhaps the best arrangement/production job. Well, that and "That's All For Everyone," which I wish Christine McVie had sung just for the experience of hearing her in those overdubs.

This thread illustrates an interesting point: In criticism, what does calling something the "best" really mean? The most perfect production? The most challenging? The weirdest or most beautiful? The one that triggers the most personal response?

I mean, I can make the following argument -- Rumours is the best, but Tusk is the best -- and not really sound too stupid. Ain't rock great? :-)

― Jiminy Krokus, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

The name of the book was Unknown Pleasures, so my phrasing was a shorthand for that. It was an excuse for music journalists on Melody Maker to write a short essay on a record they loved but which was either little-known or underrated. Obviously Tusk would have fallen into the latter category in Simon's opinion!

― Groke, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

Ha ha ha, the liner notes in my Tusk CD Reissue this quote from the Rolling stone review:

the one Seventies group that can claim a musical chemistry as mysteriously right... as the Beatles'

But the original quote is:

the one Seventies group that can claim a musical chemistry as mysteriously right -- though not as potent -- as the Beatles'

Can you spot the difference?

― I know, right?, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

That's revisionism!

― I know, right?, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

...

― m coleman, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:38 (nineteen years ago)

This thread gives me a good excuse to link to Stephen Holden's fine review of the record for Rolling Stone -- a personal favorite of mine.

― Jiminy Krokus, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:41 (nineteen years ago)

that tie is pretty bloody strange...

― Charlie Howard, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:47 (nineteen years ago)

"great unknown album" eh? sold four million worldwide

Which I'm pretty sure was considered a letdown after Rumours, much in the way Bad was considered a letdown after Thriller. I don't know--I remember Rumours being EVERYwhere in '77 and '78--Tusk didn't generate a fraction of the interest--or it died out much, much quicker. But maybe that's my selective memory.

― sw00ds, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

Was "home taping" as much a factor in its "disappointing" sales as Mick Fleetwood alleges?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

Apparently, some radio station early on played the entire thing--and tons of people taped it! Or so the story goes...I think.

― sw00ds, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

radio stations used to do that all the time in the mid 70s! by 1979 the practice had died out to some extent. don't forget 1979 was a huge sales slump in the music business, the equivalent of the 1929 crash.

― m coleman, Friday, 4 May 2007 14:07 (nineteen years ago)

that's true--that was when the boom went kinda bust, I suppose (and Fleetwood Mac obviously weren't the only ones hurt).

― sw00ds, Friday, 4 May 2007 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

Let's not forget that the RIAA certifies albums per record. Tusk is certified double platinum, but that's cuz it's a double album. Mirage and Tango in the Night actually outsold t.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 4 May 2007 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

fleetwood mac albums ranked by actual sales in the soundscan era, i.e. how record buyers have judged them in the past 15 years, not including greatest hits:

1. the dance (soundscan-era release)
2. rumours
3. say you will (soundscan-era release)
4. fleetwood mac
5. tango in the night
6. tusk
7. mystery to me
8. bare trees
9. mirage
10. then play on

fleetwood mac 2004 expanded reissues ranked by sales:

1. fleetwood mac
2. rumours
3. tusk
(the first two are neck and neck, with tusk way behind)

― fact checking cuz, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

albums ranked by actual sales in the soundscan era, i.e. how record buyers have judged them

Does not compute.

― sw00ds, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

Are you getting this from the RIAA site, cuz?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

them's from a friend with access, not RIAA. what doesn't compute?

― fact checking cuz, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

assuming that sales = how people "judge" albums. it's a contributing factor, but hardly the only one. I'm pretty sure Pet Sounds isn't the biggest selling Beach Boys record, for instance.

― sw00ds, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:12 (nineteen years ago)

The Dance's ranking at the top makes sense; but the second best-selling should be the 1988 comp, according to the RIAA.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

wow, interesting post fcc. amazing that Bare Trees and Mystery to Me beat out Mirage and Then Play On.

on the other hand...

fleetwood mac 2004 expanded reissues ranked by sales:

1. fleetwood mac
2. rumours

general public in being right shocka!

― Stormy Davis, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

(x-post)
ain't no better judge that the public's dollars! doesn't mean #1 is BETTER than #2, but it categorically means that more people wanted it. and that's exactly how the public judges such things.

i'm sure you're right about pet sounds. i'm also sure that while critics and record geeks and many of my close personal friends adore it, the public at large would not rate it as their favorite. not even close.

― fact checking cuz, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

alfred, i was excluding comps.

― fact checking cuz, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

doesn't mean #1 is BETTER than #2, but it categorically means that more people wanted it.

i kind of see what you're saying, but you can't always assume that albums that people wanted (and bought) ended up being albums that people liked, especially in earlier eras when most people bought albums before they had a chance to hear them. rumours kind of refutes this, i guess, because it got played on the radio so much; tusk, on the other hand, surely made a lot of its initial sales by dint of the fact that it was the same group who did rumours--not necessarily because all those people liked it.

― sw00ds, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

oh my god, Rumours & Tusk neck and neck.

Well, I realize some folks may have liked Tusk when it came out but I do think overall most people felt it was a great disappointment overall when it came out, with good reason. To me the beauty of Tusk is in hindsight. And I don't wish that to be lost on anyone.

― Bimble, Saturday, 5 May 2007 04:03 (nineteen years ago)

Whoops! *southern hillbilly accent* I gotta check mah overalls! :)

― Bimble, Saturday, 5 May 2007 04:07 (nineteen years ago)

Nice to see I'm not alone in my love for "Tango In The Night". That's an underrated one for sure.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 5 May 2007 09:30 (nineteen years ago)

is that the same Stephen Holden that now writes film reviews for the Times??

― poortheatre, Sunday, 6 May 2007 00:18 (nineteen years ago)

I definitely prefer Tango in the Night, which is also uneven but just has amazing singles.

TS: "Big Love-Seven Wonders-Little Lies-Everywhere" vs "Tusk-Sara-Think About Me-Sisters of the Moon"

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 6 May 2007 00:24 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

I was in a restaurant and thought they were playing a Best-Of album. Turns out they were playing "Rumours"...

― more leik Kingsley Anus rite (King Boy Pato), Saturday, 29 May 2010 10:29 (sixteen years ago)

"TUSK" IS STILL THE BEST FLEETWOOD MAC ALBUM, THROUGH!!

― more leik Kingsley Anus rite (King Boy Pato), Saturday, 29 May 2010 10:30 (sixteen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/v/DhTNu6ETd3s

This is my favourite thing ever. If the rest of this gig exists, I've got to know about it.

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, 29 May 2010 12:02 (sixteen years ago)

Would totally have voted for Mirage here.

― Sean Carruthers, Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:43 (sixteen years ago)

really! how so?

― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:02 (sixteen years ago)

Not saying it would be the right thing to do, for sure, but Mirage holds a really special place in my heart - was one of the first albums I really spent any time listening to in any kind of depth. My parents had a record collection but it was largely country and more easy-listening stuff, and up until that point my own collection was ABBA, so discovering the wonko Buckingham tracks on this had a huge effect on me, in the end. So it's largely a nostalgia/sentiment thing I guess.

That said, even if I rationally admit that the pop songcraft on Rumours was stronger, and the Buckingham tracks were wonko-er on Tusk, there were STILL some killer tracks on Mirage! So even though I realize it's challopsy, I know it doesn't raise the aroma that voting for, say, Time would.

― Sean Carruthers, Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:46 (sixteen years ago)

Mirage is the safest of the Buckingham-Nicks records, but it's got "Hold Me," "Gypsy," "Love in Store," and "Eyes of the World."

― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:48 (sixteen years ago)

I definitely appreciate Christine McVie a lot more on this record that I usually do, that's for sure!

― Sean Carruthers, Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:53 (sixteen years ago)

(Not to say that I didn't appreciate McVie on Rumours etc, it's just that she was so much stronger than the other offerings on Mirage.)

― Sean Carruthers, Saturday, 29 May 2010 16:09 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

42 votes for Rumours but only one for the self-titled? They're almost the same damn album!

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 10 July 2012 03:32 (thirteen years ago)

I heard Christine's "Got a hold on me" for the first time in a long ass time last weekend at a shitty steak house in Heber Springs, Arkansas.
It's still in my head.

― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 10 July 2012 03:37 (thirteen years ago)

I love the outro.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 July 2012 11:14 (thirteen years ago)

six years pass...

RUMOURS still the one!

― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 13 September 2018 14:19 (seven years ago)

kinda incredible this thread tied

mirage and s/t robbed

― niels, Thursday, 13 September 2018 14:24 (seven years ago)

tango ahead of tusk rmde

― rip van wanko, Thursday, 13 September 2018 14:44 (seven years ago)

Yeah the tie with that many voters is amazing !
Mirage way too low indeed.

― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 13 September 2018 16:26 (seven years ago)

six months pass...

Is Rumours better than Tusk?

It's really not even close is it?

― Nick Chiveon (rip van wanko), Friday, 12 April 2019 03:38 (seven years ago)

Fleetwood Mac - best album (a poll)

(it was a tie, if you recall)

― Nick Chiveon (rip van wanko), Friday, 12 April 2019 04:12 (seven years ago)

six years pass...

Jon Pareles writes in the NY Times about the first album with Buckingham & Nicks.

― birdistheword, Sunday, 10 August 2025 20:06 (nine months ago)

(Mainly for the 50th anniversary box set.)

― birdistheword, Sunday, 10 August 2025 20:06 (nine months ago)

five months pass...

so i've been doing a really exhaustive discog runthrough, like i even made it through behind the mask and time for the first... time. i didn't care for behind the mask, or at least it doesn't seem up to much, not even the mcvie songs, and the album as a whole sounds brittle and thin in a way that tango in the night never did. but time is... perfectly ok? the production is AWESOME, the band sounds amazing, and even though christine mcvie characterized this record as a hostage situation, her songs are phenomenal pieces of songcraft and atmosphere (so i guess business as usual), especially this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVXpicB4Dc

― ivy., Wednesday, 4 February 2026 21:00 (four months ago)

Good tune!

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 4 February 2026 21:46 (four months ago)

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