Fleetwood Mac Live Jonesboro GA

Fleetwood Mac Live

Fleetwood Mac

Warner Brothers Records, 1980

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 03/30/1998

Sometimes, the term "live album" is used way too liberally.

Take the 1980 release from Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac Live. Released as a stopgap while the band finished up their album Mirage, this two-disc set features not only some lackluster performances, but also some songs that weren't recorded in front of a large audience. (But more on that in a few paragraphs.)

When this album came out, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie were still very much riding the crests of superstardom, despite the fact that their previous album Tusk was seen as a bit of a commercial letdown. While they worked their magic on Mirage (which wouldn't see the light of day until 1982), a collection of music recorded on the Tusk tour was packaged for Fleetwood Mac's first live release since, I think, Fleetwood Mac In Chicago. (Anyone wishing to verify/correct this, feel free to e-mail me.)

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: the live album is the most difficult thing for any artist to create, much less master. It is incredibly difficult to recapture the magic that you had on stage and translate it into one or two slabs of vinyl. For Fleetwood Mac, they were no exception.