Selections from 25 Years: The Chain

Here are two discs culled from the original four-disc box on Warner documenting Fleetwood Mac's first 25 years. While there is plenty of room for argument about which tracks to include -- and exclude -- here, the notion to include new songs was plainly a bad idea when a band has as rich a history as this one did at the time. Perhaps the thinking here was that they wanted to be known as a going concern despite the fact that their singles potential had all but worn utterly through by this point (in 1992). The set includes the rarity "Silver Spring," which had been only released as a B-side, and remains an eternal fave of fans. There are some alternate mixes and edits in the set, but disc one is made up of huge hits and new songs (none of which measure up, by the way). Disc two, which kicks off with the Tusk material -- "Sara" being the big single from the period -- also includes the original mono version of "Oh Well, Part 1," which is not as great as the single or album version. Bob Welch's "Bermuda Triangle" is the only tune by the him on the set, which makes no sense, and the early Peter Green/Jeremy Spencer blues material makes up less than a third of the collection. It's a mixed bag to be sure, but there was no way to win. Fans of the early to middle period Mac tend not to like the blissed-out '70s pop, and fans of the later material will blanch at the sheer raw ugly beauty of the electric British blues.