Now, the negatives. "Silver Springs" has been inserted between "Songbird" and "The Chain," right at the side transition on the original LP, and not at the end where it should have been placed. This disrupts the original intended flow of the album, which, lest it be forgotten, was one the biggest-selling albums recorded by a group for some years following its release. It would seem that they did something right with the original running order, among other factors. Secondly, the bonus material, to be frank, consists of a collection of forgettable and at times dreary material that in my opinion was better left on the cutting room floor. I don't find the outtakes and demos to be of much interest as anything other than curiosities, and the "jam session" tracks are meandering at best and downright boring at worst. The bonus material often comes across sounding uninspired, at least to my ears, and isn't of sufficient quality or interest to warrant a listen unless you're a Fleetwood Mac completist.

Where the 2004 release really gets me, though, is in the mastering. This album just does not sound right to me. I should note that I am very familiar with Rumours, having been a huge Fleetwood Mac fan back in the day and possessing literally all the band's studio albums all the way back to 1968. I long ago lost count of the number of times I've listened to this, and having it both on original 1977 vinyl and the original CD release, I couldn't help but notice that things sounded notably less exciting the first time I listened to the remaster. At the time I couldn't articulate just why this was, but the difference was noticeable enough that my at the time untrained ears could pick up on it. Even before I was aware of the phenomenon of dynamic range compression on compact disc releases, I could still hear that something was wrong. And that speaks directly to why the remaster is the loser in this comparison.