Making a mid-period Fleetwood Mac compilation - what should go on it?

DUST

 

Actually Christine didn't join the group until AFTER the album had been recorded. She (IIRC according to Fleetwood's first book) only reluctantly joined the band for the tour. I seem to recall that she thought she had retired from music when she got married. She'd already been an occasional session player for the band starting with their second album. Not to mention (most significantly) she hadn't contributed any songwriting/lead vocals for the Kiln House album.

So even more reason Kiln House belongs to the first (so-called Green) era!

PS - Interestingly (according to wikipedia) the debut album is the only Fleetwood Mac studio album with no contribution from Christine at all. I was momentarily skeptical until I remembered her guest musician contributions to 'Say You Will' which were recorded while it was still a Buckingham solo album, and retained (with her permission) when it evolved into a band album.

 

I know it's only Wikipedia, but it does cite her as an uncredited contributing musician to Kiln House, and she does appear in the Station Man video.

 

I love the Bob Welch era. No love for The Ghost here? Jeez

 

Right - but my point is that doesn't make her a band member. If it did then she would have also been a band member on the second album as well (even prior to Danny joining). The decision for her to join was made after the Kiln House album recording when they decided they wanted someone to replace Peter Green as a fifth member for the Kiln House tour.

 

YES!

 

Not sure why Keep On Going from Mystery to Me isn't on the list.

 

I think the Danny Kirwan line-up needs its own disc. When he left, the shift to Cali soft rock really started, the edge gone.
But OK.

Station Man
Jewel-Eyed Judy
Dragonfly
Purple Dancer
Woman of a 1000 Years
Future Games
Child of Mine
Homeward Bound
Dust
Spare Me A Little of Your Love
Sunny Side of Heaven
Nightwatch (only cause Peter Green plays lead)
Emerald Eyes
Hypnotized
Why
Heroes are Hard To FInd
Prove Your Love

 

Mystery to Me is a damn fine album. I'd put it in the top 5 personally, though I know that puts ME in the minority. meh

 

Keep on Growing is superb. Bob Welch on bass, written by Bob Welch but lead vocals by Christine.

I really like Mystery To Me and the artwork too.

 

I wound up dropping "The City" - after listening to it a few more times, it seems more like a promising idea rather than a really good track. I did load up on more Danny Kirwan - he really was a standout guitarist and songwriter, so "Dust" and "Bare Trees" were added. Since Kiln House kind of started this trek into pop territory, I added his three songs from that album too. (I'm not much of a fan of Spencer's rockabilly pastiches - the rewrites of Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue Got Married" and Elvis's version of "Good Rockin' Tonight" - so I don't think it's an album I'd ever get.) Penguin is not a good album but McVie had some excellent stuff on there, especially "Remember Me." Mystery to Me is an okay album, but in the end there were only two tracks that I would really enjoy going back to. Bare Trees is certainly the best album of this period - there are a handful of tracks that I don't like so much, but if one wanted to buy whole albums, that's definitely the one to get IMHO.

 

No way - that’s my favourite on that album. The guitar work is really meaty. It’s the flip side to ‘Empire State’ on Mirage, which is all about how great NY is, but Welch isn’t having it.

 

Since we are naming our favorite album from the mid-period of FM I would have to go with Heroes Are Hard To Find.

I know I am one of the few if only one who would pick this album. I really think Bob and Christine really stand out on this one.

 

Future Games for me. I have a promo poster framed on my wall for that album. The 5 band members stood outside the gate to their Surrey base back in 1971. Bare Tree's and Mystery To Me in joint 2nd place.

 

I only picked up Mystery To Me recently and it's really growing on me - Bob Welch is an underrated musician IMHO.

 

Kiln House a bad album??
Even the much-reviled Penguin I’d consider worthwhile despite Dave Walker’s bikerrock approach.

 

I don't think Kiln House was bad, but pretty uneven. Spencer's songs are mainly retro pastiches and/or covers - charming but a little lightweight. Kirwan's three songs are gems, especially "Station Man" and "Jewel Eyed Judy."

Penguin sucks but Christine McVie came up with three gems on that one too, which actually makes that album perfect for a compilation, just to save anyone the trouble of having to sit through the rest.

 

Danny rules!

 

I'd put Kiln House in the middle period because, unlike all of the Mac albums preceding it, there's no blues. Tell Me is the closet thing to blues, but it's really just rawk. I'm in the school that likes Kiln House, One Together being the only song that does nothing for me whatsoever.

 

Yes, but "Kiln House" is literally the Peter Green line-up sans Peter - the Bob Welch version of the band feels like a whole different chapter from it.

 

I just don't get it at ALL when the "Future Games" and "Bare Trees" LP's are referred to as being from the Bob Welch era. Yes, I understand that he is "on" those albums, but Danny Kirwans' presence and songwriting is much more dominant than Welch's on those 2 albums, particularly "Bare Trees".