Fleetwood Mac albums (post-Peter Green 70-74)

Maybe once Mick comes off the road, he'll realize there's some value in a box or a rarities collection from this period.
With Welch and his wife dead, I can't see any blockages from that corner...........obviously a load of hard feelings.

 

Very good call! I always thought it was John!

 

Thank you for pointing out one of my favorite (of many) Bob Welch songs. Sometimes I think my favorite FM song is called "Angel" and my least favorite FM song is also called "Angel"



also great to see so many mentions of Welch's "Bright Fire" from Penguin. A long time favorite. I didn't know people considered that good or great. I'm too used to this era getting overlooked or schitt on by most listeners/documentary makers/compilers of compilations etc etc.

 

Bob's "Angel" is a terrific rocker that would sound great onstage even today. Campbell could really open it up on the solos between each verse. On the other end of the spectrum, Stevie's "Angel" from Tusk is boring and full of her patented goat vocals.

 

(unless you're referring to her as the gREATEST oF aLL tIME, which I doubt you are )

Nothing against Stevie's vocals in general (she's kicked my ass with Live 76 Rhiannon and made me tear up with Landslide) but her song "Angel" is IMO her weakest contribution to the band- full of some of the worst lyrics I can think of in their caliber. hate it. especially since her friend Bob already had a real burner with that title on an FM album that probably only 20 % of FM fans are even aware of..

 

Don't believe anyone mentioned Christine's solo album before she joined FM.
It's called the Legendary Christine Perfect Album and here's the lead off track
"Crazy bout You Baby" which was a 1969 song by Ike and Tina

 

Love this era of Mac. This song from Bare Trees (my favorite of the Bob Welch period) has some great mellotron playing by Christine McVie.

 

As it contains the "Oh Well" single they should have made it complete by also adding "The Green Manalishi"/"World In Harmony" and "Dragonfly"/"Purple Dancer" (although the latter did get a separate release for RSD 2014). Also shows how well Then Play On fits together with the rest of the Kirwan albums and how this is not a new era with a clean break with the past.

 

This I did. Was good.

 

yea, it really sounds like a flute!

 

Great thread!
I plan on picking up the '71-'74 Mac LPs.
I have Mystery To Me and Bare Trees already.
I'm really enjoying "Heroes....." album on You Tube.

 

All of them. Overall it's my favorite period of their work.

 

I think all the albums have quite a lot of filler.

 

Underrated era, would rank the albums as follows:

Kiln House (I don't really consider this one with the others since no Bob Welch but I like it): B+
Future Games B+
Bare Trees A- (the true gem of this era)
Penguin B-
Mystery To Me B+
Heroes Are Hard To Find B

Created a playlist of the Welch era (obviously tilted toward Bare Trees):

Woman Of 1000 Years
Future Games
Sands Of Time
Child Of Mine
The Ghost
Sunny Side Of Heaven
Bare Trees
Sentimental Lady
Spare Me A Little Of Your Love
Emerald Eyes
Hypnotized
Why
Come A Little Bit Closer
Safe Harbour

 

I got into the Welch era about 20 years ago. For a while, those were the albums that I reached for when I wanted to hear some FM. I love them all, even the much maligned Penguin. I would recommend Mystery To Me or Bare Trees as an entry point. As others have mentioned, it might be a good idea to save Penguin for last.

 

The recent 3-CD release, 50 Years-Don't Stop, contains some single versions from this era (as well as the other eras) which hadn't been issued on CD, to my knowledge. Also, all the tracks from this era have been remastered.

1-9 Tell Me All The Things You Do 4:12
1-10 Station Man (Single Version) 5:11
1-11 Sands Of Time (Single Version) 3:03
1-12 Spare Me A Little Of Your Love 3:47
1-13 Sentimental Lady (Single Version) 3:02
1-14 Did You Ever Love Me 3:43
1-15 Emerald Eyes 3:35
1-16 Hypnotized 4:49
1-17 Heroes Are Hard To Find (Single Version) 2:46


Fleetwood Mac - 50 Years - Don't Stop

 

I think all Buckingham-Nicks albums have lot of filler, especially the dreary Tusk.

 

Not FM - but I rather like When The Train Comes Back (Chicken Shack).

 

I think the 4 albums from Then Play On (UK version) to Bare Trees are solid gold, and Mystery to Me is not far behind. I'm always shocked that the little attention they get usually involves some mention of being "inconsistent" or otherwise inherently lesser than the Rumours era albums. As far as I'm concerned, Fleetwood Mac didn't make a bad album in their first 20 years. The weak albums (Mr. Wonderful, Penguin, Heroes Are Hard to Find and Mirage) are still very much worth listening to.

The UK version of Then Play On is a masterpiece, with each song segueing into the next, or even cutting without warning. It's a great mesh of blues/blues-rock, folk, older pop, and avant-garde psychedelia.

Kiln House is a fantastic balance of old and new sounds, with each informing the other. The 50s throwbacks are among the best ever recorded, and have a good energy to them, while the newer sounds are absolutely killer songs, and the two play off of each other well. It's all tied together with a Sun Records production.

Future Games is a sleeper of a gem. It has a coherent misty ethereal reverby sound, and can be best approximated as floating down a river of music, letting it take you where it will. Some of the songs are breathtaking... beauty and melancholy fused. Others aren't afraid to kick thing up a bit, though never so much that it kills the vibe.

Bare Trees retains its predecessor's melancholy, but exchanges the delicate ambiance for a sharper, more rocking sound. It's tighter. Instead of floating around, this album is great for hitting the highway. Two great instrumentals give pure feeling, while the rest of the songs range from Steppenwolf-style rocking to a death ballad.

Penguin very nearly has an identity, but forfeits it for the first 3 songs, which are nice, but generic. The album doesn't really wake up until the throwback blues song, but from then on, it's quite good. The album is very slick sounding, and features a more adventurous palette, with steel drums, banjos, jungle rhythms, etc. (that this is missing on the first 3 songs may be part of why they're so bland) The guitar/piano piece at the end is also really beautiful.

Mystery to Me is has much of the same polished sound as Penguin, though with less of the extra instruments. Despite this, it manages to be more distinctive and work much better. (though it takes a few swings that arguably miss more than anything on Penguin) Some of the reason it works is that there's a depth in the production that creates a good sound. Despite the occasional arrangement blunder (drum machine reggae? Disco?), the songs hold up.

Heroes Are Hard to Find is a hidden gem. It mostly sounds the same as the previous two, but is less flashy. But it has some great songs. The title track is killer, and there's a song that rocks harder than anything since "Road Runner". The proceedings are spiced up with a nice soundscape of a jam, and another song sounds very ELO. It ends on a sweet note.

 

I, like several others on here it seems, consider Kiln House to be in the Green era, musically. Especially if you consider the Jeremy Spencer solo LP, which is worth a listen. The piss takes can wear thin quickly, but the more sincere songs (which are thankfully the majority) work.

In fact, I split the Green era into 2 eras: pure blues and vintage rock. This is made easy by the fact that the change happens at "Albatross", so you can go by the 6 Blue Horizons releases for the pure blues era, and everything up to Jeremy Spencer's departure for the second. Though, I suppose Danny Kirwan's albums have an emotive quality that got immediately swapped for more polish upon his dismissal, so that can be looked at as a different dividing line, depending on how you look at it.

For me, it's:

Fleetwood Mac, The Original Fleetwood Mac, Mr. Wonderful, The Pious Bird of Good Omen, Blues Jam at Chess (2xLP)

Then Play On, Jeremy Spencer, Kiln House
(also, the non album singles which should have had a compilation, and the Boston recordings are too phenomenal to exclude)

Future Games, Bare Trees, Penguin, Mystery to Me, Heroes Are Hard to Find

And then the 6 Rumours era albums, and then the modern albums.

 

This thread prompted me to look thru my collection to see what I titles here I have. I do have several of them, and I pulled out both Heroes Are Hard To Find and Kiln House tonight. Neither look to have been played much - if ever at all. Heroes is a beautiful Kendun copy and Kiln House is a minty looking 1A/1B that was mastered at Artisan. Can't wait to give these a proper cleaning and do some exploring!

 

Heroes Are Hard To Find is my absolute fave FM album, pity it sounds like it was recorded in a cardboard box.

Strangely, it's only the Welch songs that sound so bad...and they are my favorites

 

Bump! Was going to ask the exact same question, so I’m going to thoroughly enjoy reading through this and hopefully spurring some more discussion.

I got the fairly recent CD set of Kiln House to Mystery To Me (excludes Penguin) and have been enjoying first and last a great deal indeed.

love the Kiln House cover art:

 

Station Man
Woman of a 1000 Years
Sometimes
Sentimental Lady
Hypnotized

 

Artwork by Christine McVie.