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The Music:
1. Second Hand News
2. Dreams
3. Never Going Back Again
4. Don't Stop
5. Go Your Own Way
6. Silver Springs
7. The Chain
8. You Make Loving Fun
9. I Don't Want to Know
10. Oh Daddy
11. Gold Dust Woman
12. Songbird
The DVD
SOUND: "Rumors" is presented in remastered 96khz/24 bit 5.1 & 2.0 DVD-Audio versions for this release and the results are as similarly impressive as the DVD-Audio release of the Doors' "L.A. Woman". "Rumors" also sounds similarly reborn on this new release, with an impressively crisp and clean sound that is an absolute pleasure to listen to.
The songs are mixed rather basically, but occasionally some light changes to the strategy occur, such as the opening of the first track "Second Hand News" where the guitars play in the rears for a few seconds before the music kicks into high gear in the front speakers. The audio mix generally adds these kind of minimal touches every so often to keep things from becoming too similarly presented and use like this remained appropriate sounding to the material as well as not distracting. For the most part though, the traditional positioning occurs: vocals & some instruments are spread out across the front speakers while the surrounds carry additional instruments.
Again, the clarity and detail of the music is often exciting. Every note played on the guitar during "Never Going Back Again" rings so clearly that it feels like the band is playing in the same room. Vocals also came through with good presence in the mix, especially during "Don't Stop", "Go Your Own Way" and "Gold Dust Woman". I don't think the bouncy "Don't Stop" has come through with this much energy and fresh life in quite some time.
Overall, the music sounded warm and rich, with respectable bass. The instruments came through distinctly and clearly in the mix, with every detail easily heard. There has been some discussion that certain parts of songs have been brought up in the mix that weren't apparent before or possibly, weren't included before. I'm not a giant fan of "Fleetwood Mac" so my depth of familiarity with the details of the album is limited on some of the songs, but I wouldn't be suprised if this DVD-Audio release brought out subtle details that weren't previously apparent on earlier releases on more primitive formats.
Extras: Although I was initially pleased with the documentary presentation that was on the DVD-Audio release for "Buena Vista Social Club", the extra feature on this disc is definitely the best extra I've ever seen on a DVD-Audio release. Click on the "Making Of Rumors" selection on the menu and you will be taken to another track listing for the album. These are the same songs that are included on the album, but when you actually play them, the song plays without vocals and you just hear the instrumentals in 5.1 audio - while the song is playing, the various members of the band discuss their thoughts about how the songs came together and the roles that they played in each song. It's a terrific extra - where some releases have provided text commentary from the band, Fleetwood Mac have figured out an interesting way to do actual song-to-song audio commentary. This extra is also probably why this is the only DVD-Audio disc that I've seen that is a dual-layered disc.
Also new is the inclusion of "Silver Springs", which was recorded during the sessions for "Rumors" but not included on the original release due to time constraints.
Final Thoughts: "Rumors" is certainly one of the all-time classic albums, with several songs that went onto become huge hits. Brought back to new life on this DVD-Audio presentation, the music is presented with superb clarity and detail that the format can really provide. It's an exciting release, especially with the cleverly done "audio commentary" extra.
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