Fleetwood Mac and ZZ Top come to the audiophile’s format of choice – but you’d better hurry
Two landmark rock albums from the 1970s are now available in the reel-to-reel tape format: Fleetwood Mac and ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres.
Each album was meticulously duplicated in real time from a 1:1 copy of the flat analogue master tapes. This means a “master-quality listening experience that captures the full dynamics of the recording without the surface noise or groove wear of vinyl,” according to the albums’ label Rhino, which is the legacy arm of Warner Music.
So what about the tape itself? The 15 IPS (inches per second) half-track 1/4-inch tape is produced to the IEC equalisation standard on premium RTM LPR90 tape stock and stored on a 10.5-inch metal reel.
To play them, you will, of course, need a dedicated reel-to-reel tape machine.
And the albums? Released in 1975, Fleetwood Mac (also known as The White Album) was actually the second album of that name to be released by the band. It marked a change of course, with newcomers Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks lending a more pop-driven sound. It wasn’t a huge success at first, but reached number one after a year of the band touring. It has now been certified platinum nine times over.
