Rockissue

Refining Canons: Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham Albums Reissued, Expanded, and Reconsidered

Only a few artists, as of 2021, offer "super deluxe" box-set versions of a significant number of their albums. In my book, a "super deluxe," compared to a "deluxe," requires requires at least two discs of bonus material. Some recent reissues are physically large only because they combine the C. D. and L. P. formats into one release, for example each of the nine Led Zeppelin albums, only one of which, Coda, has two discs of bonus material. Of the recent slate of fancy Doors reissues, the debut self-titled album, The Soft Parade, and L. A. Woman include two such discs. Paul McCartney, though, has now done "super deluxe" reissues of 13 of his albums, the Who for five of theirs. With its recent Let It Be hoopla, the Beatles have done big boxes for the last four of their studio albums. Frank Zappa's archive operation is more complicated, but if reissues like Mofo are included, we could count up to eight "super deluxe" editions of his albums: counting Mofo as a reissue of Freak Out and Lumpy Money as a reissue of We're Only in It for the Money, plus the recent reissues/ expansions of Uncle Meat, Hot Rats, 200 Motels, Roxy and Elsewhere, Zappa in New York, and Orchestral Favorites. The number of artists' reissue operations releasing these gargantuan reissues is growing, as seen with recent releases from the Rolling Stones and King Crimson. Perhaps also artists who were more circumspect in the past (say, Pink Floyd doing "Immersion" boxes for only The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall) will become more generous in the future—if "generous" is the right word.

In the examples mentioned so far, the expanded reissues cover significant spans of the artists' careers, in McCartney's case now stretching forward to Flaming Pie. Fleetwood Mac, on the other hand, unsurprisingly have given the "super deluxe" treatment only to the five albums released from the time Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band, on the 1975 self-titled album, through 1987's Tango in the Night, after the completion of which Buckingham quit (actually, took what ended up as a decade-long break). This is not only unsurprising, but also appropriate. Fleetwood Mac's history beyond this twelve-year period is convoluted and inconsistent. Buckingham did not merely become the leader of the band and its primary composer. Beginning with 1977's Rumours, he worked closely with Richard Dashut and Ken Caillat to craft a unique studio sound that, in retrospect, proves to be remarkably consistent through Tusk and Mirage, despite the consensus being that the latter reversed some of the former's willful experimentation (Tango, with Caillat no longer present and digital electronics being more important, stands apart, as does, to a lesser extent, the self-titled album, produced with Keith Olsen). Buckingham enabled a band originally known as British Blues-Rock purists, who had in the Seventies gone willy-nilly in multiple directions, to become the only "Classic Rock" band to surpass their previous artistic and commercial heights during these years of upheaval in the Rock world: the Disco fad, the rise of Punk-New Wave-Indie, the launch of M. T. V., the development of the Adult Contemporary format, the consistent growth of Heavy Metal, and the industry's financial slump of 1979-1982. Most of the Mac's contemporaries during this period streamlined their sound or fell apart—or died.

Of these "super deluxe" reissues, the biggest is for the double album Tusk. Five C. D.s, a D. V. D. with surround-sound and high-definition versions, plus a double L. P. giving us a chance to hear the original album like it's 1979.... An impressive package, but complicated by an earlier set of reissues. In 2004, the self-titled album, Rumours, and Tusk were all reissued, the first with a few bonus tracks, the latter two with bonus discs. Whereas the 2004 versions of the self-titled album and Rumours have been made redundant by the later "super deluxe" versions (that is, all of their bonus tracks are included on the later reissues), the 2004 version of Tusk has not; i.e. some of the bonus tracks found on the 2004 reissue are not included on the 2015. There were no 2004 reissues of Mirage or Tango in the Night, leading to the discographically-awkward situation of the completist needing only the earlier Tusk reissue to get all the bonus tracks. That said, a completist may want to compare the remastering of all three of the 2004 reissues to their later counterparts anyway.

Though the "super deluxe" Tusk notes which of its bonus tracks were previously unreleased, on the other hand the tracks that had previously been made available on the 2004 reissue are confusingly not titled the exact same way. To be precise, the 2004 bonus tracks tended not to have identifying subtitles added to them. To compare the two reissues effectively, we can run through each of Tusk's original 20 songs, delineating the differences among the varied alternate takes included on either the 2004 or 2015 releases. Before beginning, note that the 2015 bonus tracks take up two C. D.s, entitled Singles, Outtakes, Sessions, the second disc, and The Alternate Tusk, the third disc. The latter, as suggested by its title, includes alternate takes of every Tusk track; it has also been released separately on vinyl.

1. ‘Over and Over’. The 2004-exclusive bonus track, ‘One More Time (Over and Over)’, like much of the alternate version on the 2015 reissue, entitled ‘Over and Over (4/2/79)’, lacks the backing vocals of the final version; the 2015 alternate does include Buckingham repeating "over and over" throughout its outro, but since this vocal part stands alone it can be deemed a secondary vocal instead of a backing or harmony. Both alternates have more of a live-in-the-studio sound compared to the final track, as not only Christine McVie's lead vocal but many other parts are left untreated. Since the 2004 alternate lacks the "over and over" mantra that would prove so crucial, it may be the earliest of the three versions. The later recording's outro is marked by a rising intensity, perhaps showing the band refining their performance, getting us closer to the end result, but the cymbals in that same outro are too intrusive. Overall, the two alternates are not especially compelling, especially when compared to the sublime beauty of the final track.

2. ‘The Ledge’. The alternate version on the 2015 third disc, entitled ‘The Ledge (3/13/79)’, is the same as that on the 2004, entitled ‘Can't Walk Out of Here (The Ledge)’, or at least they are so similar as to be indistinguishable—the caveat being that the 2015 track has an extra couple seconds at the beginning. The track listing on the back cover of the 2015 box does not claim that its alternate version was previously unreleased, so very likely the 2004 track's beginning was merely excised ever-so slightly. Both alternates are quite similar to the final album version and, as with ‘Over and Over’, the listener is not given much of anything new here.

3. ‘Think about Me’. An alternate version on the 2004, compared to the 2015 alternate (entitled ‘Think about Me (2/18/79)’), features Lindsay Buckingham first contributing backing vocals (as he does on the final version), then surprisingly taking over the lead vocal from Christine McVie in the refrain. This does not happen on the final version or the 2015 alternate, the latter of which instead features Stevie Nicks on backing vocals. Both of these alternate versions have minor, but interesting, differences in instrumentation and how the songs' elements are mixed. The 2004 version also gives the electric guitar more of the prominent place that it would win in the final version. The single version, with its "hot" mix and less of a fade-out, is found on both the second disc of the 2015 box and the 2004 reissue.

4. ‘Save Me a Place’. Curiously, the 2015 disc-two alternate version is entitled ‘Save Me a Place (10/10/78 2nd Version)’ though we are not given a first version from that day. The Alternate Tusk version, called ‘Save Me a Place (10/18/78)’, is arguably superior to the final version, its relatively-bare production makes what is already a serene break from Buckingham's frenetic Tusk contributions even calmer. The earlier version is not much different: John McVie's bass is busier. It is more subdued on the later, and more effective.

5. ‘Sara’. The alternate, extended version of this song (as legend would have it, edited down from an even-longer original take, or at least longer original vocal performance by Stevie Nicks) is found on both the 2004 reissue and the third disc of the 2015, on the latter entitled ‘Sara (3/10/79)’. Though some fans may love hearing the portions of Nicks' performance rendered extemporaneous by the editing process, in no way at all is the longer version superior. It lacks Mick Fleetwood's crucial later additions; as he has related, he subtly varied his drumming pace to make the total performance less meandering. Only this change made the song conceivable as a single, and I still think that releasing it, instead of Nicks' ‘Angel’, was a marketing mistake—but what do I know of such things?

6. ‘What Makes You Think You're the One’. The version on the Alternate Tusk, ‘What Makes You Think You're the One (2/24/79)’ is the only alternate take and its differences from the final version are minimal.

7. ‘Storms’. The alternate version on the 2015 second disc (‘Storms (11/30/78 Version)’ is the same as that on the 2004. The instrumental backing is considerably simpler than in the final version: strumming acoustic guitar, droning organ. A booming drum beat and some harmony vocals come in later. The extra alternate version of the 2015 disc three, entitled ‘Storms (6/2/79)’, is an intimate performance, Nicks backed by a Buckingham acoustic-guitar performance more intricate, but perhaps too intrusive compared to the November 1978 version. For the final version, Buckingham switches to electric guitar, the organ takes on more of an active role, and backing vocals come in earlier and more prominently.

8. ‘That's All for Everyone’. ‘Lindsey's Song #2 (That's All for Everyone)’, only on the 2004, is an early non-vocal version. Like "Lindsey's Song #1," an alternate version of ‘I Know I'm Not Wrong’ that is also non-vocal, this seems to be a Buckingham-only demo. The alternate version on disc 3 of the 2015 set starts with a bare drum beat and features different lyrics than the final album version. This alone makes it more compelling than many of these alternate takes.

9. ‘Not That Funny’. The 2015 second disc includes the single remix of this track, and the third disc includes an alternate: ‘Not That Funny (5/19/79)’. Varied differences in the mix pop up here and there, but in the end this alternate does not offer much.

10. ‘Sisters of the Moon’. The version on the 2015 Alternate Tusk, ‘Sisters of the Moon (11/12/78)’, is one of the few tracks on that disc to have already been released on the 2004 reissue (alongside versions of ‘The Ledge’ and ‘Sara’ noted above). The primary difference is the relative minor position taken by the electric guitar, both the crunchy riffing that drives much of the final version of the track, especially its refrain, and minor overdubbed parts filling up the sonic space.

11. ‘Angel’. With no alternates on the 2004 reissue or the second disc of the 2015, only the Alternate Tusk includes an extra version: ‘Angel (4/2/79)’. This again, as with most of these alternates, gives us a rawer, in-progress version of the final track. Stevie Nicks' vocal take is different, definitely more "off the cuff," its kinks getting worked out.

12. ‘That's Enough for Me’. The extra, presumably earlier, title for the 2004-exclusive alternate version, ‘Out on the Road (That's Enough for Me)’, suggests it could be an earlier, demo version of the song. The 2015 track, ‘That's Enough for Me (9/29/78)’, does sound more like the final version, less like a demo, but grants less of a role for the electric guitar. Perhaps this performance was an early run-through with the band (as Christine McVie is heard speaking at the beginning), with the electric guitars that Buckingham intended for the track having not been added yet.

13. ‘Brown Eyes’. The version found only on the 2004 is more clearly a later recording than the alternate on the 2015, as the latter features completely different lyrics and more of a prominent place for Buckingham's electric guitar, which furthermore he plays in a style closer to standard Blues-Rock than is his wont. Its vocal is also a single-track, "live" performance unlike the other alternate version and the final album version, both of which feature layering of higher-pitched vocals, creating a hazy ethereal sound.

14. ‘Never Make Me Cry’. The 2004 alternate is repeated on the second disc of the 2015 release, there titled ‘Never Make Me Cry (4/17/79 Version)’, though the former is longer by a few seconds because it includes a count-off at the beginning. The Alternate Tusk version is entitled ‘Never Make Me Cry (2/8/79). It is markedly different from the final album version. It is primarily performed on the piano and adds a bridge led by Christine McVie's wordless vocal. More than two months later, the other alternate takes us closer to the final album version. Piano is present, but not nearly as dominant.

15. ‘I Know I'm Not Wrong’. Early C. D. versions of Tusk replaced the original version of this song with a remixed version. The 2004 reissue continued to feature this revision, but the 2015 returned us to the original album version. In other words, this is another reason why the 2004 reissue has not been made redundant (but not necessary, as you can get the alternate version on a different early C. D.). However, the 2015 box failed to include the later version, despite offering numerous other versions of the song. Indeed, ‘I Know I'm Not Wrong’ seems to have been the Tusk song, besides the titular track, to get the fullest Lindsey Buckingham treatment. Two demo versions are found on the 2004 reissue. One of them ('Lindsey's Song #1 (I Know I'm Not Wrong)') as noted above is a non-vocal version; it is repeated on the 2015, retitled 'I Know I'm Not Wrong (Demo - Lindsey's Song #1)'. The 2004-exclusive track is called 'Song #1 (I Know I'm Not Wrong)'—is this title supposed to indicate it is an earlier version? It does not sound like it; it has vocals, most tellingly, with some being vocable fill-ins. This makes it closer to the six other versions found on the 2015 reissue. These numerous other versions are fun to explore, even if they reveal less than the numerous alternate versions of the song ‘Tusk’ described below. Even two versions done only one day apart (the ‘11/3/78 Version’ on the second disc and the ‘11/2/78’ version found on the third) are significantly different, November 2nd's rendition having a prominent Stevie Nicks backing vocal, its mix quite dry and up-front. The ‘10/10/78 Version’ makes Buckingham's guitar and single-tracked vocal quite "hot" in the mix and definitely has a sort of demo quality to it. Buckingham apparently approached this track in so many ways that the version dated ‘4/25/79’ sounds less like the final version than the version dated ‘1/23/79’. Later in the year, on the version dated ‘8/13/79’, he is still tinkering.

16. ‘Honey Hi’. The 2004 alternate is repeated on the 2015 disc two, there entitled ‘Honey Hi (10/18/78 Version)’. The other alternate version, on The Alternate Tusk is dated earlier: ‘Honey Hi (10/11/78 Version)’. And indeed it is considerably different, with piano in place of organ, accompanied by acoustic guitar. Christine McVie's vocal on this version is less subdued; and overall this performance is rougher and looser, more "live in the studio," and makes for a charming addition to the Mac discography.

17. ‘Beautiful Child’. The version only found on the 2004 reissue de-emphasizes backing vocals and features a prominent place for the electric guitar in the right channel that is gone from the final version. For the 2015 alternate take, ‘Beautiful Child (10/9/78)’, the electric guitar is the left channel instead, and we still do not have much in the way of backing vocals, with Buckingham coming in towards the end; this version could be earlier or later than the 2004 track.

18. ‘Walk a Thin Line’. The 2004 alternate, entitled ‘Song #3 (Walk a Thin Line)’, is repeated on the second disc of the 2015, there entitled ‘Walk a Thin Line (3/13/79 #3)’. This version is both quite primitive compared to the album version. Buckingham's vocal is a different take, awfully high-pitched compared to the album version. The 2015 third disc includes another alternate, ‘Walk a Thin Line (4/6/79)’, with Buckingham's vocal similar but with more double-tracking. The rhythm parts are mostly different, as is the instrumental break.

19. ‘Tusk’. The 2004 having no alternate takes, the 2015 made up for this lack with a total of six alternates, five on the second disc and of course another on the Alternate Tusk. This is obviously a treat for fans of Buckingham's contributions to the album. Most of these alternates let us hear the song as Buckingham initially crafted it: taking what had been a riff that the band used for rehearsal jamming, and building the track that would in many ways define Buckingham's style, at least through the Eighties. The first alternate, ‘Tusk (1/15/79 Demo)’ is "bare bones" to say the least, arguably an unnecessary inclusion. The next version, ‘Tusk “Stage Riff” (1/30/79 Demo)’, is the best way to start: a non-vocal run-through of the basic backing track. The version entitled ‘Tusk (1/23/79 Outtake Mix)’ begins to feature some of the extraneous sounds, mostly vocal, that would end up in the final version and features a longer outro with plentiful percussion additions. Only a week or so later, the version entitled ‘Tusk (2/1/1979 Outtake)’ gives Buckingham's lead vocal greater emphasis. The treasure here—perhaps the crucial bonus track of all these Fleetwood Mac reissues—is the version performed by the University of Southern California marching band: ‘Tusk (6/4/79 U.S.C. Version)’, allowing their contributions, somewhat buried in the final mix, to be heard alone. The Alternate Tusk version (‘Tusk (7/19/79)’, as indicated by its later date, is fairly close the final album version, with some extra sounds that later got omitted.

20. ‘Never Forget’. The version only found on the 2004 reissue, ‘Come On Baby (Never Forget)’, features a prominent electric guitar in the left channel. Perhaps this version is earlier than the alternate on 2015's Alternate Tusk, as that recording cuts down on that guitar part and adds reverb to Christine McVie's lead vocal.

The 2004 reissue also includes two out-takes not found on the 2015, both covers: ‘Kiss and Run’, originally by Jorge Calderón, apparently exclusive to this release; and the Beach Boys' ‘Farmer's Daughter’, a song that later ended up on the band's 1980 Live album. The notes for the Live have always claimed that ‘Farmer's Daughter’ was recorded live, pre-show, for "crew and friends," but many have claimed that it was a studio recording with some applause added at the end. The studio version on the 2004 reissue, however, features one fewer percussion part (brushes on a drum) and is shorter than the Live track. The song remains a mystery because of the unfortunate decision, after all these years, not to provide any details in the liner notes of the Tusk "super deluxe." Indeed, while the essays featured in each of these box sets are fine and dandy, none of them delve into the details of the recording session. Observations from Buckingham or at least Dashut or Caillat would have been ideal.

Finally, the 2015 reissue includes single versions of ‘That's All for Everyone’, ‘Not That Funny’, and ‘Sara’ that the 2004 did not feature; but both reissues include single versions of ‘Think about Me’ and ‘Sisters of the Moon’. There is at least a slightly-abridged version of the single version of ‘Sisters of the Moon’ that has not been included on either reissue.

For convenience's sake, the track listing of the 2004 Tusk bonus disc is provided below; if the same track appears on the 2015 reissue, it is noted.

1. One More Time (Over & Over)
2. Can't Walk Out of Here (The Ledge) = Tusk 2015, disc three, track two: The Ledge (3/13/79)
3. Think about Me
4. Sara = Tusk 2015, disc three, track five: Sara (3/10/79)
5. Lindsey's Song #1 (I Know I'm Not Wrong) = Tusk 2015, disc two, track 12: I Know I'm Not Wrong (Demo - Lindsey's Song #1)
6. Storms = Tusk 2015, disc two, track eight: Storms (11/30/78 Version)
7. Lindsey's Song #2 (That's All for Everyone)
8. Sisters of the Moon = Tusk 2015, disc three, track 10: Sisters of the Moon (11/12/78)
9. Out on the Road (That's Enough for Me)
10. Brown Eyes
11. Never Make Me Cry = Tusk 2015, disc two, track 10: Never Make Me Cry (4/17/79 Version)
12. Song #1 (I Know I'm Not Wrong)
13. Honey Hi = Tusk 2015, disc two, track seven: Honey Hi (10/18/78 Version)
14. Beautiful Child
15. Song #3 (Walk a Thin Line) = Tusk 2015, disc two, track six: Walk a Thin Line (3/13/79 Song #3)
16. Come On Baby (Never Forget)
17. Song #1 (I Know I'm Not Wrong) (Alternate)
18. Kiss and Run
19. Farmer's Daughter
20. Think about Me (Single Version) = Tusk 2015, disc two, track one: Think About Me (Single Remix)
21. Sisters of the Moon (Single Version) = Tusk 2015, disc two, track three: Sisters of the Moon (Remix)

While not as plentiful, the bonus discs of the other "super deluxe" Mac boxes still plenty of fodder for discographical musing and perhaps even alternate histories. An Alternate Mirage also came out on vinyl, though unlike the Alternate Tusk it had not been presented as such in the Mirage box. The Alternate Mirage actually consists of 11 of the 20 tracks included on Outtakes & Sessions, disc two of the box. But our present-day vinyl fetishists do get ripped off often, yes? As with the Alternate Tusk, we are hardly gifted with a genuine counterpart of the original. The alternate versions, if not billed as "early" versions instead of "alternate," are nonetheless clearly rough drafts, not some unauthorized or samizdat text that will change any opinions about the album, like, say, the original Jamaican version of the Wailers' Catch a Fire. Either way, the outtakes and rarities also included on the box's disc two may prove more compelling to most listeners. Besides several otherwise-unavailable songs, the disc includes the original version of Stevie Nicks's ‘Straight Back’, apparently used on all early L. P. copies. The alternate cassette version became the C. D. version became the official version—again, no explanation of this provided in the liner notes. If you are keeping track, thus both Tusk and Mirage had tracks substituted for alternate versions (‘Straight Back’ and ‘I Know I'm Not Wrong’), rare occurrences but not unheard of; usually a single version, however minute its differences, would replace the original album track, as was the case with Michael Jackson's ‘Billie Jean’, the original album mix of which is hard to find (a similar switch had been made with ‘Rock with You’ and ‘Get on the Floor’ from Off the Wall). Also included is the "video version" of ‘Gypsy’. Digging through the band's discography, we find that the single version of ‘Gypsy’ is shorter (sometimes named as ‘Gypsy (Edit)’), whereas the "video version" is longer. We are not told if the other tracks released as singles in such form had different mixes, as no single versions are included on the disc.

The Demos, Alternates & B-Sides extra disc in the Tango box also includes more previously-unheard songs, but fewer alternate versions of the album tracks. Of these, the demo version of the song ‘Tango in the Night’ showcases a superior guitar solo from Buckingham, whose vocal performance, not superior to the original, returns us to the falsetto heard above on the demo version of ‘Walk a Thin Line’. An alternate version of ‘Mystified’ also stands out. Most attention-grabbing, though, is the long-sought full version of ‘You and I’. Only Part II of the long track fit its way into the original album. But since that song is what I call album glue—good enough not to be filler, yet hardly something you look forward to when listening to the whole album—and, as you could have guessed, Part II is better than Part I, this listener did not get the epic he hoped for. Meanwhile, the previously-unreleased songs ‘Special Kind of Love’, ‘Where We Belong’, ‘Juliet’, and ‘Ooh My Love’ are not likely to make many listeners imagine an alternate tracking of the final album. Neither do the B-side tracks. None of that stopped the release of a separate Alternate Tango in the Night on L. P. only; it includes ten of the thirteen songs on the box set's second disc; truly bedeviling is that five of these 10 tracks are not alternate versions of songs on Tango. No joke. The box set's third disc, consisting entirely of 12-inch extended mixes, presents versions so out-of-place that I never made my way through it, though the mixes are by two Eighties dance-music stars, Arthur Baker and Jellybean.

‘You and I’ being a two-parter brings up a digression: Go Insane, Buckingham's second solo album, even further immersed in the digital-electronic sonic terrain explored on Tango, included a song split in two, ‘Play in the Rain’ with the first part fading out, perhaps only so that part of it could fit onto both the A and B side of L. P. and cassette copies. An extra treat for vinyl buyers: the A-side portion of the track ended in a locked groove. Another treat: the full track, undivided, was featured on a European-only 12-inch 45. Yet, except for an early European pressing, all of the C. D. versions of the album continue to split the song in two, creating an awkward pause that—for the purist I suppose—recreates the break between the two sides, but overall seems unnecessary. After all, with your C. D. player you can create all the pregnant pauses you would like. A reissue of this album would ideally include the undivided version as well as the divided. The undivided version essentially presents the locked-groove version of the L. P., though I suppose you could create a third version that extends the portion of music found in the locked groove in order to replicate the vinyl-only experience of leaving the locked groove longer than one probably should.

While I said before that the 2004 versions of the self-titled album and Rumours had been made redundant by the "super deluxe" boxes, in one way that is untrue. On the 2004 Rumours, the Stevie Nicks tune ‘Silver Springs’, originally a B-side track for the ‘Go Your Own Way’ single, was made track seven on the main disc, that is: between what were originally the A side and B side of the album. Originally ‘Silver Springs’ failed to make the cut because it would have made either side of the L. P. about 25 minutes in length instead of 20. And perhaps it would have hindered the flow of the album. Or maybe Lindsey Buckingham or Mick Fleetwood, who insisted upon its exclusion, or at least had to stand up to Nicks' frustration, thought that its inclusion would make for one long-ish, dramatic Nicks track too many, with ‘Dreams’, ‘Gold Dust Woman’, and Nicks' portion of ‘The Chain’ already included. Regardless, the 2004 reissue to an extent rewrote that history. Only for the 2013 reissue to put ‘Silver Springs’ at the end of the album on its first disc. This still gives the song a prominent place, but does not attempt to rewrite history. A track tacked onto the end is just another bonus track. Indeed, the B-side track ‘Cool Water’, another cover of a Beach Boys song, is now found at the end of Mirage, albeit as a hidden track.

The previously-unreleased material found in the "super deluxe" versions of the self-titled album and Rumours do not amount to more than is found in their Mirage and Tango counterparts, in both cases being largely early rough versions of the songs. The self-titled album gets its own track-by-track "alternate," comprised of tracks one to 10 of its second disc, Early Versions & Live from the Warner Bros. Sound Stage and again released separately as an L. P. However, the main appeal of both the 2004 and 2018 reissues of that album is the inclusion of the single versions of four of the album's tracks, as these are considerably different from the album versions.

The fifth disc of the 2013 "super deluxe" Rumours, entitled Recording Sessions, Roughs and Outtakes, is the same as the second disc of the 2004 reissue, while the fourth disc, entitled More from the Recording Sessions, contains previously-unreleased material. Of this "new" material on the fourth disc is one major attraction: hearing in their early distinct forms the two songs, Christine McVie's ‘Keep Me There’ and Nicks' ‘The Chain’, that were eventually merged, with other material composed by the other three members of the band, to form the album track ‘The Chain’. The fifth disc of the "super deluxe"/ second disc of the 2004 offers a sort of alternate version of the final album, except that ‘Silver Springs’ is in the place ultimately taken by ‘The Chain’. (However, when an Alternate Rumours vinyl-only release finally came in 2020, seven years after the box set, it actually consisted mostly of tracks from the fourth disc—confused yet?) Of all these early drafts, ‘Gold Dust Woman # 1’ warrants mentioning because its leaner mix and slower tempo allow the wailing, moaning vocable sounds toward the end of the song to be heard more clearly. In contrast to the self-titled album's "super deluxe" version, the Rumours box also offers more songs that did not make the final album: ‘Think about It’, written by Nicks with Roy Bittan and later recorded for Nicks' debut solo album Bella Donna; ‘Planets of the Universe’, another Nicks tune, later recorded for her 2001 album Trouble in Shangri-La; and Buckinghamn's ‘Doesn't Anything Last’.

Perhaps the biggest change in our appreciation of Lindsey Buckingham-era Fleetwood Mac caused by the "super deluxe" box sets is the significant increase in the amount of concert recordings from the era now officially made available. Each box set except Tango in the Night (Buckingham quit the band before they hit the road to promote that album) features newly-released live recordings.

The "super deluxe" version of the self-titled album includes Live from the Tour: 14 tracks, six of which are from the album, the remainder being a selection of older Mac tunes plus ‘Don't Let Me Down Again’ from the Buckingham Nicks album that the duo had released in 1973.

The "super deluxe" Rumours includes Live, 1977 "Rumours" World Tour, featuring 11 songs (not counting a concert introduction) all from the self-titled album or Rumours.

The Tusk box has two discs of concert recordings: Tusk Tour Live I and Tusk Tour Live II, allowing for a broader selection of material. Out of the 21 songs featured (plus another concert intro), nine are from Tusk, six are from Rumours, and five are from the self-titled album; plus there's a rendition of the earlier Mac tune ‘Oh Well’.

The Mirage "super deluxe" takes a different tack: a single disc all from two shows: Live at the Forum, Los Angeles, CA (October 21-22, 1982). Of its 13 songs, only three are from Mirage, three are from Tusk, four are from Rumours, and three are from the 1975 self-titled album.

The 2021 reissue of Live, the double L. P. originally released in 1980, only features one disc of bonus material, thus not counting as a "super deluxe" by my standards but still coming in a larger, L.P.-size box because, like all of these Mac reissues, a vinyl copy of the original album is included.

The original Live, out of 18 songs, included six from the 1975 self-titled album, four from Rumours, three from Tusk, in addition to ‘Oh Well’, ‘Don't Let Me Down Again’, the aforementioned ‘Farmer's Daughter’, and two new Mac songs: Nicks' ‘Fireflies’ and McVie's ‘One More Night’, both of which as with ‘Farmer's’ supposedly recorded "for crew and friends" before a September 4th, 1980, show at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica.

The Live bonus disc of additional concert recordings includes 15 songs: one from the self-titled album, five from Rumours, six from Tusk, an early performance of ‘Hold Me’, well before it came out on Mirage, a "remix" longer version of ‘Fireflies’, and a performance of the earlier Mac tune ‘The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)’. Clearly, this extra disc intends to rectify the low number of Tusk songs on the original Live, which of course was released the year after Tusk's commercial failure relative to Rumours.

Other reconsiderations of the Buckingham albums prompted by these big boxes.... As already suggested, Mirage does not seem like such a dramatic step-back from Tusk. Fewer songs overall meant fewer Buckingham tunes, yes. But the primary reason why the album was more commercially successful was that Christine McVie's and Stevie Nicks' contributions included two obvious singles, ‘Hold Me’ and ‘Gypsy’, respectively, while their songs on Tusk were not so obviously "hit" material. On Tango in the Night, McVie again came through with the hit songs: ‘Little Lies’ and ‘Everywhere’, whereas Nicks, struggling with personal problems, had a hit, ‘Seven Wonder’, mostly written by a protege of sorts, Sandy Stewart; and even Buckingham turned out a hit, ‘Big Love’. Buckingham himself asserts that, having helmed an album, Mirage, more in line with what executives and promoters were looking for, for Tango he was out of the "penalty box" and given freer reign. However, the album began as a solo-Buckingham album; and with both Nicks not heavily involved in the production, and Buckingham and Christine McVie collaborating more on composing songs, one cannot imagine any scenario wherein Buckingham would not be allowed to do what he wished.

With the exclusion of ‘Caroline’, a Buckingham tune that we could diplomatically define as "melodically challenged" (every time I hear the refrain, I wonder when he will finish singing the word, Caroline) and hampered by the worst lyric Buckingham has ever concocted, Tango could easily stake a position as artistically superior to Mirage, to a greater extent than it was financially. Perhaps the latter, though it offers some major high points of the Buckingham era (besides the two aforementioned singles, the trifecta that opens the album: Christine McVie's ‘Love in Store’, Buckingham's ‘Can't Go Back’, and Nicks' ‘That's Alright’), will always struggle to claim attention given the solo albums every member of the band except John McVie were releasing in the years, 1981-1985. The band was obviously still prolific, unlike in the later half of the decade, but the results were scattered across two Buckingham albums, three Nicks albums, one Christine McVie album, and two Fleetwood albums. And that brings a final note: of all these solo albums, only the first and second Nicks solo albums, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart have received expanded reissues, both with an bonus disc.

–Justin J. Kaw, January 2022