Review of Fleetwood Mac, Live In Boston

Introduction

These people have been around the block a few times and many of these tracks will be familiar to some of our more mature viewers. Their most famous album is Rumours which became famous for all the wrong `Hello-magazine` type reasons but remains a stalwart due to its endless replayablity-one day there will be a question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and I shall not fail to list the correct order of tracks without phoning a friend. They followed that with `Tusk` which was also huge in terms of album sales; it sold 4 million, but was dwarfed by Rumours which notched up over 17 million.

This two disc set has a good selection of the songs from the 1970s Mac era. I`m not overly familiar with the original line-up but I did once have a CD of Peter Green`s who was a founder member and the sound has evolved quite considerably I think with the American influence since then.

Mick Fleetwood remains the stalwart of the band and still seem to enjoy it; he could be the glue that sticks them together.

The most important part of the band is the songs and the following are included in this film

DVD tracklist: The Chain, Dreams, Eyes Of The World, Peacekeeper, Second Hand News, Say You Will, Never Going Back Again, Rhiannon, Come, Gypsy, Big Love, Landslide, Say Goodbye, What`s The World Coming To, Beautiful Child, Gold Dust Woman, I`m So Afraid, Silver Springs, Tusk, Stand Back, Go Your Own Way, World Turning, Don`t Stop, Goodbye Baby.

Whether you love or hate them these songs are rich in content and meaning. Everyone has a song that means something to them, even if it is The Chain because it was used for the BBC Formula One programme for years.

These songs are the stories of the writers and singers lives and to some people mark periods in their own life; heartbreak, passion, despair and hope.

Video

As far as a film of a concert goes it is alright although advertised as filmed digitally I didn;t find the images that crisp but that might be down to the lighting.

It offers nothing spectacular, these people are singers and musicians with no special tricks or pyrotechnics to offer.

Audio

With 5.1 sound advertised this still feels like it mainly comes from the front. It has some power and individually though and; special mention for the drummers both Fleetwood and his `helper` provide some excellent solos.

Lindsey Buckingham takes centre stage a lot of the time however with some superb solo guitar work that makes you want to rush and out and get some lessons. It is an amazing sound and combined with his superb vocal range ensures this is one DVD which will be played over many times. Stevie Nicks also adds her own memorable rendition of some of my all time favourite songs.

Features

Thanks guys, a nice little live CD is included in the package which has 10 live tracks. They are not all to my taste but I will probably wear out certain tracks.

I`m not a fan of live albums but it certainly makes a change to have a big crowd in my kitchen and the quality is good.

CD tracklist: Eyes of The World, Dreams, Rhiannon, Come, Big Love, Landslide, Silver Springs, So Afraid, Stand Back, Go Your Own Way.

Conclusion

The return of the Mac. Well they haven`t been away just a little shaky on who`s in and who`s out. The line up changed suffers a little from the lack of Christine McVie who was unable to take part in this reunion. However Lindsey Buckingham seems to have shaped the band around his own distinctive playing and this is all to the good.

This group seem to have a love hate relationship that puts the plot of many soap operas to shame which all adds to the mix. And so to the music itself; well, I`m a fan and still love it after getting a tape of Rumours from a friend 25 years ago. I confess I only recently replaced it. Listening to this live perforamce put some of the passion that I felt about it all those years ago.

The band sounds very good with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks doing the main vocals.There is a good selection of songs from loud to soft to "Tusk". It`s a great, gutsy and emotional mix.

I do miss Christine McVie because she has another very distinctive sound that they cannot capture without her and nobody else can do "Songbird" and thankfully didnt`t try. It seems she has jjust had enough of touring.

As to the DVD there is nothing special about the visuals but I really enjoyed it anyway. The performances just seemed to hit a nerve somewhere.

This DVD seems to be available at a very reasonable price and you should snap it up.