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Number of The Best Of Fleetwood Mac Reviews: 3
Special
Reviewer: Anonymous, August 10, 2007 This album is special because it's the only album as far as I know with a studio -version of the song 'the Purple Dancer'
One of my all time favourites !
An oddball, but pleasant compilation.
Reviewer: Anonymous, July 28, 2003 This Reprise compilation collects material from "Then Play On," as well as material released around the same time as singles. My copy, acquired in the late 70s (glorious vinyl!), appears to be a German pressing. At the time, this was one of the few places to find "The Green Manalishi," and the studio version of "World in Harmony." While the cover art features images from the "Then Play On" LP, (including Peter Green) the album also contains "Dragonfly" and "The Purple Dancer," on which Green is nowhere to be heard, having left the band the previous year.
Still, if you run across it, this is useful if you don't have the aforementioned singles. It's not an ideal introduction, though. The version of "Oh Well" is apparently lifted right from the single mix - there is a VERY noticeable fade out a few seconds into "Part Two." There are also some strange edits on the "Madge" jams - very jarring if your first introduction to those comes from "Then Play On." Still, I haven't seen any other releases with the studio version of "World in Harmony," nor have I ever run across another album with "Dragonfly" and "The Purple Dancer." From my perspective, this is worth having just for those songs.
"Dragonfly," which is a Danny Kirwan setting of a W.H. Davies poem, catches the mood of the poem perfectly, and is typical Kirwan - wistful, delicate, and exquisitely melodic. In many ways, this is a less melancholy cousin of "Dust," from "Bare Trees." "The Purple Dancer" is an interesting suggestion of where the "Kiln House" lineup might have gone, had they stayed together for more than one album. The song has distinct movements, and Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer each sing sections of it. It also features a lovely blending of their guitars, much like "Station Man," but less laid-back. Each guitar is distinct at times, while at others meshing together into a taut, silvery web that alternately growls and sighs.
Again, not for the uninitiated, but fun for the fan seeking the rarities.
Reviewer: John Fitzgerald, Human resources staff database assistant July 19, 2001 This is a strange compilation put out by Reprise. It does appear from the packaging that it
would be a non US pressing and it doesn't seem as though it's a UK one either as the catalogue number doesn't start with a "K" the way most of the UK Reprise pressings did back then and
there's no year release listed either so it's hard to know when it was released too. My
guess would be that this is a French pressing but I can't say for sure. The main plus for
collectors is that it includes some rare early 70's singles only tracks like the rocking
"Purple dancer", the beautiful "World in harmony" & the poetic "Dragonfly".
Interestingly, "Oh well" parts 1 & 2 are spliced together but you can hear the faded
snippet of part 1 which cannot be heard on relevant copies of "Then play on" and
"Searching for Madge" is strangely edited down to five minutes flat. Even odder, all they
have done is let it play for five minutes and then just stopped it cold. They could have
chosen a better title too as "Best of" is not really indicative of this throw together of
"Then play on" tunes with some oddities. All in all though, this, with other highlights from
the "Then play on" album makes this a colorful energetic listen.
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