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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Cryptical17, Aug 13, 2019.

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  1. wildstar

    wildstar Senior Member

    Location:
    ontario, canada
    Agreed. 'Bare Trees' is my favorite of the five "middle/Welch" era albums. I love it - except the old woman poem reading track, of course. If you want to talk actual music, the only two tracks from the album I could live without (though I don't hate them) are 'Danny's Chant' and Chris's 'Homeward Bound'.

    Not only is the album really good but it is home to three should-a-been hit singles:
    1 - Sentimental Lady - which actually became a hit when Welch re-recorded it
    2 - Spare Me A Little - as worthy a hit as any Chris had during the B&N era
    3 - Sunny Side Of Heaven - if Albatross could become a hit single, then why not this?
     
  2. tdcrjeff

    tdcrjeff Senior Member

    Location:
    Hermosa Beach, CA
    The two "in-studio" live broadcasts just before the demise of the Welch era in fall/winter of 1974 are the best representation of the band, IMO. The play the best of the Welch-era cuts and they rock. Some goofy and fun commentary by Bob as well.

    Ultrasonic Studios Oct 8, 1974
    The Record Plant Dec 15, 1974

    In addition to some of the best Welch and McVie songs from the era (Angel, Future Games, Hypnotized, Sentimental Lady, Bermuda Triangle, Why, Spare Me a Little of Your Love) they tackle some Peter Green songs (Black Magic Woman, Green Manalishi, Oh Well, Rattelsnake Shake). Both shows are on youtube in full, as well as those grey area European "radio broadcast" CDs.
     
  3. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    Now that I've watched the Midnight Special video marmil posted, I'm guessing the guitar work on Revelation is Weston and not Welch? Weston is a hell of a guitar player and love his tone. Also, that's a unique Les Paul Custom he's playing; the first I've seen with two humbuckers and a P-90 in the center spot.
     
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  4. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    That is some great playing! Thanks for posting that one!
     
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  5. jeffrey walsh

    jeffrey walsh Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, Pa. USA
  6. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    These albums need to be reissued. Pure and simple.

    I have them all now. Future Games is my favourite. Woman of 1000 Years is gorgeous.

     
  7. jeffrey walsh

    jeffrey walsh Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, Pa. USA
    Great cover

     
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  8. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    Best track on that album. Superb. The track I mean, album isnt bad but not as good as the others from this Welch era.
     
  9. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    Big fan of Mystery to Me too. Bass on this track by Welch i believe. Also written by Welch but sung by Christine.

     
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  10. I like them all but I would get 'Bare Trees', 'Future Games' and 'Mystery to Me' first. Despite having a couple of great tracks 'Penguin' is the weakest album and should be the last you buy.
     
  11. dickens12@excite

    dickens12@excite Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phillipsburg, NJ
    Kiln House and Future Games both sound like Fleetwood Mac were heading in the jam band direction, but they tightened things up and became more song oriented from Bare Trees on. I think this period of their history is terrifically underrated, especially the contributions of Bob Welch.
     
  12. Blue Cactus

    Blue Cactus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Let's not forget the excellent (UK) single Dragonfly/Purple Dancer that was issued after Kiln House and before Future Games.

     
  13. Blue Cactus

    Blue Cactus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
  14. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Bare Trees is the standout album from this group.
     
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  15. muddlehead

    muddlehead Forum Resident

    Location:
    santa rosa ca
    Kiln House is one of the greatest albums of all time. Penguin is not.
     
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  16. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    I think my favorite vibe of this band was with Kirwan--even moreso than Green. I guess it depends whether you prefer a more folk-rock slant or a more blues-rock slant. I also liked the Welch period more than what came after, which was a bit too pop.

    If I had to choose, Future Games would be my fave.
     
  17. 99thfloor

    99thfloor Senior Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    Yes, that would be Bob Weston, who was added as lead guitarist for Penguin and Mystery To Me.

    Penguin gets undeservedly lambasted, if you remove the two Dave Walker tracks it is (almost) as good as the surrounding albums. (I don't understand why they felt the need to add an extra dedicated lead vocalist, and on top of that then only use him for two tracks, they must have changed their minds quickly. Nothing against Dave, but he really didn't fit at all.)

    -

    Here are my favourite tracks and some thoughts quoted from another thread:
     
  18. Mr.La Page

    Mr.La Page Smoking with the boys upstairs...

    Location:
    The Custerdome
    Do yourself a favor and grab all those. Great incarnation of the Mac. I think Bare Trees is my favorite. Bob's The Ghost is fantastic. Moody and perfect. :agree:
     
  19. wildstar

    wildstar Senior Member

    Location:
    ontario, canada
    Agreed. I don't consider Penguin a bad album - however I definitely do consider it a weird album. The two Walker-sung tracks sound absolutely nothing like any of the rest of the tracks on the album and using steel drums on Chris' 'Did You Ever Love Me" was just bizarre. Outside of all that the rest of the tracks on the album are fine. Also Danny (who wrote more than half of the previous album) had just left, so a bit of an "unsure of themselves"/"time of adjustment" was understandable.

    Having said all that I would definitely strongly suggest that anyone wanting to discover the Welch-era of FM leave Penguin for last, as like I said I don't think its a bad album, but it is definitely a weird (and somewhat unrepresentative) album.

    Gotta feel bad for Dave Walker though. They hired him away from another band (Savoy Brown IIRC) keeping him just long enough to ensure that it was too late for him to go back to that band when things didn't work out for him in FM. From what I read the only member of FM who was sad to see him go was John McVie as they had quickly become drinking buddies.

    Ironically they didn't write him anything to sing on Penguin (perhaps he joined too late/too close to the recording of the album for them to write anything with him/his voice in mind) but they did write songs for him to sing on the followup album - and when they fired him just before recording that followup album (Mystery To Me) they had to re-write/modify those new songs so that they (Chris & Welch) could sing them instead.
     
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  20. Maseman66

    Maseman66 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Westchester, NY
    I like them all from this period but Kiln House, Future Games and Bare Trees are 3 of my favorite FM albums, mainly because of Danny Kirwan.
     
  21. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    As AlmostSimon mentioned earlier, this period of Fleetwood Mac needs the deluxe treatment or a box set, and these two releases are all the more reason for that to happen, especially Purple Dancer. I'm guessing these are both Kirwan compositions? Sounds like Danny on lead vocals on both. I've never heard these before, never knew they existed until now. Thanks for sharing these!
     
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  22. Helter Skelter

    Helter Skelter Forum Resident

    I like stuff on all of them.
    I LOVE Mystery To Me though. Emerald Eyes, Hypnotised, The City. Bob Welch was great.
     
  23. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    Yeah, Dave Walker was a strange hire for Fleetwood Mac and I'm surprised he made the move from Savoy Brown. Street Corner Talkin' and Lion's Share are my favorite albums from Savoy Brown and Dave's vocals worked very well within their format. It was too bad we only got those two releases with him.
     
  24. Greg Gee

    Greg Gee "I tried to change but I changed my mind..."

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    Have these ever been released on audio? Great info, by the way.
     
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  25. agundy

    agundy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lock Haven, PA
    Kiln House bores me to tears...every other album from this era is at least 3/4 awesome... Bare Trees, Mystery and Heroes rank way higher for me. Heroes is without a doubt the most underrated album in the band's discography - nearly every song is great, but you have to appreciate Bob Welch to agree:)
     
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