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List Price: $38.49 | | Label: Wea International
Salesrank: 197532
Released: July 15, 1999 |
| Our Price: $13.25 |
| Used Price: $5.61 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Editorial Review:
Two CD set. For four decades, Fleetwood Mac have survived numerous personnel changes and continue to grow in popularity. From their beginnings as the UK based Blues outfit led by Peter Green to the California hit-making machine with Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks up front, they've consistently pushed the envelope and exceeded all expectations. This double disc sampler, a condensed version of The Chain, a 1992 four CD set, includes tracks from their early days straight through to the late '80s and then some. Features 37 tracks including 'Rhiannon', 'Silver Springs', 'Over My Head', 'The Chain', 'Dreams', 'Go Your Own Way', 'Sara', `Hold Me', 'Gypsy', 'Don't Stop', 'Everywhere', 'Tusk', 'Not That Funny', 'Oh Well Pt.1', 'Bermuda Triangle', 'Albatross' and 'Black Magic Woman'. Warner.
Selections From 25 Years: The Chain Reviews:
excellent time in delivery 
2009-02-03 - only took two weeks but that was the end of december so that is real excellent thank you
Review of the Complete Box Set (4 CDs)
2007-01-11 - I really love this collection. It's not a greatest hits collection, although a good effort was made to select the best material. It is an anthology, giving an overview of many of the personalities, musical styles, and high-points of this incredibly durable band. The tracks are not organized chronologically. I really like this feature: I think significant effort was put into the choice and the order of the material; and it flows nicely.
Four discs, 72 tracks, including 4 new songs, 5 unreleased songs, 2 live and unreleased songs, and 9 alternative mix songs, so 28% of the total is not what was on the released albums and singles. And the alternative material sounds great. (I don't have the remastered Fleetwood Mac and Rumours albums (yet), so some of this might be redundant.) My favorite FM album is Tusk; but I also like Rumours, Fleetwood Mac, the Bob Welch records, and much of the Peter Green phase. (I think the Burnette/Vito period is the least interesting.)
The first disk is dominated by Mirage, Tango in the Night, and Behind the Mask material. Disc 2 is dominated by Rumours, Mirage, and Tusk material. Disc 3 is dominated by Tusk and Fleetwood Mac (white album) material with some Bob Welch era. Disc 4 is dominated by Peter Green era and Bob Welch era material. I think the Bob Welch material gets short shrift, as well as Tusk. The set was released during the Burnette/Vito period and that's reflected in (in my opinion) an unrepresentative helping of that material. The thing that amazes me is how good it all sounds. Mick and John are just rocks (pun intended) behind whoever is out front. The breadth and depth of the material is amazing. Some complain about too much emphasis on the Buckingham/Nicks period. It's not possible to do otherwise. Although the Peter Green era produced more albums (7 vs. 6), the bands success, financially and (in my opinion) creatively, peaked in the Rumours/Tusk period. It's also the most long-lived lineup. What else is to be expected with 3 songwriters of the stature of Buckingham, Nicks, and McVie?
It's a bit hard to find (long out of print) but I located a like-new copy (perfect for a except cutout slice) on ebay express for $38. Well worth the effort and the money. It appears to still be in print in the UK. Check Amazon UK for a listing. It's fairly expensive, and shipping will be as well. Enjoy.
Good, but a wasted opportunity (this review is of the full four disc boxed set) 
2006-10-25 - A lavish 4-disc boxed set that covers the band's entire first 25 years, including some rarities, a few previously unreleased tracks, four new songs, and a whole lot of big hits. All of the band's post-1975 hits are present here, except for the inexplicable exclusions of the hits "Hold Me" and "Seven Wonders" - the omissions of which are inexcusable for a thorough boxed set. An error was also made by attempting to incorporate the band's early years into the mix, which does not set well with the Buckingham/Nicks years of the band. The group's pre-1975 material is largely squeezed onto one disc, is hardly complete, and deserved to anthologized separately and better.
Having gotten those determinants out of the way, THE CHAIN still has a good amount to offer. There are four new songs, including Stevie Nicks' plodding and unfocused "Paper Doll" and two pleasant mid-tempo tunes from Christine McVie ("Love Shines," "Heart of Stone"). None of these three new songs are particularly memorable, but are somewhat significant in the sense that they are the final records by the BEHIND THE MASK lineup of the band, as both Nicks and Rick Vito abandoned ship in 1993. Lindsey Buckingham's sole new contribution, the haunting "Make Me a Mask," was probably an out-take from his 1992 solo album OUT OF THE CRADLE, but that's not a complaint as the neo-lullaby is easily the best of the new material.
The set also includes some B-sides and previously unreleased material, although I'm sure there's even more great material lurking the vaults somewhere. I was a bit disappointed that "Cool Water" (the B-side to 1982's "Gypsy") and "You and I, part I" (the B-side to 1987's "Big Love") were not included, but it was great to finally have a legitimate copy of the gorgeous "Sliver Springs" (the B-side to "Go Your Own Way") on CD. The highpoint of the previously unreleased material are two 1982 Lindsey Buckingham compositions, both left off of the album MIRAGE. The mid-tempo ballad "Goodbye Angel" is a beautiful fifties' homage, while the madcap "Teen Beat" is a wild instrumental (with some non-syllabic vocal ad libs thrown in) in the same vein as "Tusk." It is total mystery why these two tracks failed to make the cut the first time around.
There are also many terrific album tracks selected (which isn't that big of deal seeing that the band's entire discography is available on CD), and I was particularly pleased with the large amount of material from 1979's underrated masterpiece TUSK. The many tracks that are listed as "alternate mixes" are very misleading, however, as most sound identical to the original versions. The big exception here is the unedited version of "Gypsy," which has a has longer fadeout featuring more delightful interaction between Stevie and Lindsey and actually improves upon the classic original. Nicks' fans will also be delighted by the 1988 live version of her 1983 solo hit "Stand Back," which strips away the disco arrangement of the original and is performed as a straight ahead rock song.
Overall, THE CHAIN features enough fresh and interesting material to be a worthy buy for fans, but it is still somewhat of a wasted opportunity. The compilers obviously tried to cram in all of the many variations of this constantly evolving band into one package, and the results are simply not completely pleasing. This, the missing hits, the minimum of previously unreleased material, and the ho-hum new songs prevent the package from really hitting the bull's-eye. It may not be the definitive Fleetwood Mac collection that many were hoping for, but it certainly does have it's charms.
Review for Box Set - The Chain
2004-01-24 - First off, I don't know why the box set is out of print. It's a crime IMO. So, since there is no box set, I will review it anyways under this title.
Basically this CD is a condensed version of the out of print box set- a sampler if you will. It is worth noting that this set includes a track not on the out of print box set - Bermuda Triangle (which orignally was from Heroes Are Hard To Find).
Now, as a box set, this is pretty good. It has tracks from all eras/line-ups of Fleetwood Mac represented up to that point (1992). It does include 1 b-side "Silver Springs" (which is also now available on The Very Best of FM), as well as a few unreleased gems from the Mirage period, a Danny Kirwin track titled Trinity, as well as a track from the proposed Jeremy Spencer EP called String-A-Long.
Also included are a few live tracks taken from FM Live '80 and other sources.
As far as "easily obtainable" material, the set does a good job at covering the band's most popular songs, although it would have been nice to see "Hold Me" and "Seven Wonders" on here as well.
The older material (aka Peter Green era) is concentrated on the 4th disc. They do a good job covering the basics of what the original FM sound was with most of the big songs by them during that period (Black Magic Woman, Albatross, Need Your Love So Bad, I Believe My Time Ain't Long (Dust My Broom), Oh Well, Rattlesnake Shake, etc). I do think that their "middle period songs" feel a little out of place on this disc, as well as the Hypmotized and Lay It All Down on CD 3. I believe they should have added another CD with the "middle period" stuff and add more to CD 4 of Peter Green material (maybe some live gems).
All in all, a very good set, if not for CD 4 alone, as there is not a good "compilation" of older FM material out there that can equal what CD 4 is (there are imports out there though if you look hard).
BUT, with this set being out of print, you'd be better off trying to look in a used CD store or auction site to find it.
In the meantime, enjoy this "sample" disc and relish in some of these great tunes.
Something For Everyone.
2001-08-22 - If you've followed the various incarnations of Fleetwood Mac over the twenty-five year span this anthology covers and if you have an appreciation for all the genres represented here from Elmore James style guitar rave-ups to ultra-cool LA Pop, then you'll love this two-disc set.
What I find interesting, and other reviewers seem to loathe about this collection, is how it skips from the early Peter Green blues jams to the Bob Welch era pop ballards to the Lindsey Bunkingham light jazz classics and back to the Danny Kirwan / Jeremy Spencer Elvis rockabilly. Throughout all the changes in personel and all the stylistic experimentation, one thing has remained constant....Their rock solid rhythm section. The steady drumming of Mick Fleetwood and the ever so thick bass lines of John McVie have provided FM with the kind of heavy bottom most rock units would kill for.
So wheather your bent is hearing Stevie Nicks belting out Rhinnon, with a smokey rasp as only she can, or if your preference his hearing Peter Green's wailing guitar on his orginal version of Black Magic Woman, Green Manalishi or his Santo and Johnny sound-alike, Albatross...Then again you may prefer Lindsey Buckingham's vocal pyrotechnics on Big Love or maybe Christine McVie's classic Don't Stop is right for you, (it seemed to serve well for Bill Clinton's re-election campaign). Either way there's something for just about everyone in this interesting 25 year cross-section.
