FLEETWOOD MAC : THE DANCE

 

  1. The Chain
  2. Dreams
  3. Everywhere
  4. Rhiannon
  5. I'm So Afraid
  6. Temporary One
  7. Bleed To Love Her
  8. Big Love
  9. Landslide
  10. Say You Love Me
  11. My Little Demon
  12. Silver Springs
  13. You Make Loving Fun
  14. Sweet Girl
  15. Go Your Own Way
  16. Tusk
  17. Don't Stop

Label : Reprise Records

Length : 79:06

Release Date : August 19, 1997

Recording Date : May 23, 1997

Venue : Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank, California, USA

Review (AllMusic) : Two years after the Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks/Christine McVie-less incarnation of Fleetwood Mac crashed and burned, their classic '70s lineup reunited for an MTV Unplugged session and an accompanying tour. Although it's likely that the reunion was for monetary purposes, it made creative sense as well - no members were as compelling solo as they were with the group. Despite this, the Unplugged-styled setting wasn't ideal for a reunion, since the group decided to devote nearly a quarter of The Dance to new material, inevitably resulting in unfair comparisons to their warhorses. Since there's so much new material, The Dance can't be a truly nostalgic experience either, because the new songs interrupt the flow. Not that they're bad - both Buckingham's gentle "Bleed to Love Her" and nervy "My Little Demon" are first-rate - but they aren't given the full-fledged production they deserve. Similarly, the older songs suffer from the slightly hollow unplugged production. All the hits are performed in nearly identical arrangements to the originals, with the exception of Buckingham's solo "Big Love" (an improvement on the original) and the addition of Tusk's marching band to "Don't Stop," which makes the differences all too apparent. Much is the same - McVie and Nicks sound terrific, and the band is tight and professional - but Buckingham has lost some of his range, which undercuts some of his songs. Still, that isn't enough to prevent The Dance from being an entertaining listen; it just isn't a substantial one.

Review (Wikipedia) : The Dance is a live album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1997. It hailed the return of the band's most successful line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks, who had not released an album together since 1987's Tango in the Night a decade earlier. It was the first Fleetwood Mac release to top the U.S. album charts since 1982's Mirage. This was the last Fleetwood Mac album to date that featured Christine McVie, who left the group a year after the album's release; although she returned to the band in 2014, it has not released an album since her return. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 199,000, The Dance became the fifth best-selling live album of all time in the United States, selling a million copies within eight weeks, spending more than seven months within the top 40, and eventually selling over 6,000,000 copies worldwide. The DVD version has been certified 9x platinum in Australia for selling 135,000 copies. The 44 date tour grossed $36 million. Unlike 1980's Live, which was a collection of live recordings over a series of 60 shows, The Dance was recorded in one night, albeit with good isolation to allow for overdubs. The concert was recorded for Fleetwood Mac's MTV The Dance special at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California on 23 May 1997, and features the University of Southern California Marching Band who perform on the tracks "Tusk" (having played on the original studio recording) and "Don't Stop". Although predominantly a live greatest hits package, The Dance also features new material written by each of the primary songwriting members of the band (two from Buckingham) as well as popular album tracks. For example, "Bleed to Love Her" was a previously unreleased track when this album was released, although a studio recording of the song was later included on the Say You Will album. No tracks from the Mirage album were included on the CD, although "Gypsy" is included in the video and DVD versions. The album cover, taken by David LaChapelle, has Mick Fleetwood recreating his pose from the cover of Rumours, the band's most successful album, and Lindsey Buckingham holding the cane used on the cover of the Fleetwood Mac album, Rumours' predecessor. This album spawned three singles in the USA: "Landslide", "The Chain" and "Silver Springs", and earned the band three Grammy nominations in 1998, in the categories "Best Pop Album", "Best Rock Performance by a Group or Duo with Vocal" for "The Chain" and "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "Silver Springs". A fourth single, "Temporary One," was released in some European markets. The band later embarked upon a 44 date tour across the United States with one stop in Canada in support of The Dance. The setlist was similar to that of the album, but with "Over My Head" and "My Little Demon" being replaced by "Oh Daddy", "Second Hand News", "Stand Back", "Farmer's Daughter" (the Beach Boys song from Surfin' USA), and "Not That Funny". "Eyes of the World" was played instead of "Second Hand News" on opening night in Hartford, Connecticut.