It must be that the vaults of Classic Rock artists are running dry of studio recordings. Over the years, we’ve had box sets with unreleased tracks, alternate versions, and remixes. Now, we’re getting sets of live recordings of old concerts.
The latest is Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage Tour ‘82. It’s a two CD or three Record set of 22 songs from a 1982 two-night stay at The Forum in L.A.
Here are the tracks. The same recordings are on the CD’s and vinyl.
It’s a really good lineup of songs, but if you’re a major Mac fan, you could already own 16 of these recordings. That’s because only 6 of the 22 tracks are previously unreleased. The list prices are…$25 for the CD’s, $60 for the black vinyl records, and $79 for the clear vinyl. The release date was September 20th, 2024.
On that same date, a much more extensive box set was also released.
This is meant for people who really love Bob Dylan and the Band, because their concert tour from 1974 is represented by this huge set.
That’s a total of 27 CD’s from that 1974 tour at a list price of $130. The thing is, the playlist varies a little bit from disc to disc, but overall, you’re getting a whole bunch of versions of the same songs. Normally, an artist would put together a live album from a tour by choosing the best version of each song that was played, then issue a single or double album of the result. Releasing 27 discs has to be a record. Maybe really hardcore fans will love it, but how many versions of “Lay Lady Lay” do we really need?
No one is forcing us to buy sets like these. It’s up to us to determine if this is how we want to spend our money and our time. Also, most music fans subscribe to a streaming service, and can check out the songs without having to make another purchase. Or, we can just buy individual digital tracks if we want to own them. It’s good to have choices.