Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac 1968 Albums

February 20, 2018

by Classic Rock Review with 2 Comments Album Reviews

The long and multi-faceted recording career of Fleetwood Mac got started in 1968 when the group was producing pure blues music and led by guitarist and vocalist Peter Green. During the year, the group released its initial two studio albums, (Peter Green’s) Fleetwood Mac and Mr. Wonderful. These are a pair of similarly laid out, 12-song records which each had a nice mix of originals and interpretive covers, and helped propel the group to the forefront of Britain’s burgeoning heavy blues scene in the late 1960s.

Fleetwood Mac was formed in April 1967 by three members of the the British blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Here, Green recorded five songs with bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood, including an instrumental which Green named after the rhythm section “Fleetwood Mac”. Soon after, Green enticed the pair to form a new band by naming it after the rhythm section and slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer was added by the end of the “summer of love”.

The group was signed to the Blue Horizon label and recorded additional tracks with producer Mike Vernon to make up Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled debut album (often distinguished by the title Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac because of later 1975 self-titled album). Despite the fact that no singles were released, this debut album was successful, reaching the Top 5 in the UK and bringing Fleetwood Mac instant notoriety. The band soon released two singles “Black Magic Woman” (later a big hit for Santana) and “Need Your Love So Bad”. Following the February album release, the group recorded a couple of singles for release, starting with “Black Magic Woman” in March 1968, which later became a huge hit for Santana.

The band’s second album, Mr. Wonderful, was recorded with Vernon in April and released in August 1968. While the song styles remained consistently pure blues, the arrangement expanded to include a horn section as well as a dedicated keyboard player, Christine Perfect of Chicken Shack, who later became the wife of McVie and a permanent member of Fleetwood Mac.

(Peter Green’s) Fleetwood Mac by Fleetwood Mac
Released: February 24, 1968 (Blue Horizon) Produced by: Mike Vernon Recorded: CBS Studios and Decca Studios, London, April–December 1967
Side One	Side Two
My Heart Beat Like a Hammer Merry Go Round Long Grey Mare Hellhound on My Trail Shake Your Moneymaker Looking for Somebody	No Place to Go My Baby’s Good to Me I Loved Another Woman Cold Black Night The World Keep On Turning Got to Move
Mr. Wonderful by Fleetwood Mac
Released: August 23, 1968 (Blue Horizon) Produced by: Mike Vernon Recorded: CBS Studios, London, April 1968
Side One	Side Two
Stop Messin’ Round I’ve Lost My Baby Rollin’ Man Dust My Broom Love That Burns Doctor Brown	Need Your Love Tonight If You Be My Baby Evenin’ Boogie Lazy Poker Blues Coming Home Trying So Hard to Forget
Group Musicians (Both Albums)
Peter Green – Guitars, Harmonica, Vocals Jeremy Spencer – Guitars, Vocals John McVie – Bass Mick Fleetwood – Drums, Percussion

On the debut album, Green and Spencer alternate originals as well as lead vocal duties. Spencer’s “My Heart Beat Like a Hammer” leads off with an explosion of his signature heavy slide blues guitar and a legit sounding blues right from jump with just enough originality and driving intensity. Green’s “Merry Go Round” is a slower blues by contrast, highlighted by the authentic singing of Green and excited, open hat drumming of Fleetwood. “Long Grey Mare” is the only track to feature bassist Bob Brunning and leans more towards pop/rock while still maintaining a blues core and adding a pretty impressive harmonica by Green.

Fleetwood Mac debut album The first classic cover is Robert Johnson’s “Hellhound on My Trail”. This features a unique, stripped down arrangement with Spencer providing impressive piano accompanied only by Green’s soulful vocals. Elmore James’ “Shake Your Moneymaker” picks up the mood picks again with a full band arrangement and a return to Spencer’s heavy slide guitar as the song builds in frenzied intensity towards a final climax. Bookmarking the end of Side 1 and beginning of Side 2 are two of the original recordings by Green, McVie and Fleetwood while still members of the Bluesbreakers. “Looking for Somebody” feature’s McVie’s heavy thumping bass locked in under Green’s harmonica intro, while Howlin Wolf’s “No Place to Go” is a constant, rotating drone riff and harmonica licks that never relent.

The remainder of Fleetwood Mac covers familiar ground, with Spencer penning “My Baby’s Good to Me” and “Cold Black Night” and Green contributing “I Loved Another Woman” and “The World Keep On Turning”. The latter of which is a low key solo acoustic and vocal performance by Green and a true highlight of the latter part of the album because of its shear authenticity. The closes with the upbeat, full arrangement of James’ “Got to Move”, which has a real live feel throughout.

Fleetwood Mac in 1968

Mr. Wonderful is essentially a live studio album which was written and recorded much quicker than its predecessor. As a result, it has not stood up as well critically or commercially, although there are some real gems on the album. The album also features several songs co-written by Green and band Manager C.G. Adams, starting with the fine opener, “Stop Messin’ Round”, which would go on to be often covered. “I’ve Lost My Baby” is the first track by Spencer, as a blues ballad with plenty of slide in between each vocal line. “Rollin’ Man” is upbeat, almost rock with inclusion of Perfect’s piano and the call and response between the lead guitar and saxophone lead along with great rhythms by Mcvie and Fleetwood throughout.

Mr. Wonderful by Fleetwood Mac “Dust My Broom” was recorded and contributed to by both Robert Johnson and Elmore James and Fleetwood Mac does great heavy rendition of this classic here. “Love That Burns” is a long blues ballad with bleeding emotion throughout, highlighted by Christine Perfect’s nice piano lead during the fade-out.

But then there’s the less than stellar tracks. “Doctor Brown” and “Need Your Love Tonight” sound like essentially the same song while “If You Be My Baby” follows the pattern of the previous Green/Adams compositions, being a bit edgy and a bit upbeat and excitable. The upbeat instrumental “Evenin’ Boogie” and fun “Coming Home” add some life to the album’s second side before the sparse but fine closer “Trying So Hard to Forget” features harmonica-laden slow porch blues with a laid back arrangement that gives room for Green’s vocals.

Shortly after the release of Mr. Wonderful, Fleetwood Mac added guitarist Danny Kirwan, the first of many lineup shifts which would mark the multiple phases as this bands long and successful career.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1968 albums.

September 24, 2015

by Classic Rock Review with One Comment Album Reviews

Buy Fleetwood Mac

After eight years, nine albums, several lineup shifts, and many musical reinventions, the lineup and sound that would bring Fleetwood Mac to the top of the pop world finally fell into place in 1975. Fleetwood Mac, the group’s tenth release (and second with an eponymous title, after the group’s 1968 debut), was the group’s first chart-topping album and spawned their first three Top 20 singles in the US. More importantly, this new sound which fused Fleetwood Mac’s traditional British blues/rock with mid seventies California folk/rock, would be the basis of the group’s magic formula for success for the next decade and a half and reserve them an indelible spot in pop music history.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and guitarist Peter Green were all members of the group, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers , in 1967 when the trio had an opportunity with some free recording studio time. Green was so impressed with the recordings that he suggested that they all break from Mayall and start their own group. When Fleetwood and McVie were hesitant to make the move, Green enticed them by naming the new group Fleetwood Mac after the rhythm players. A year later, the new group released the initial Fleetwood Mac album, a pure blues record that was a Top 5 success in their native UK, despite having no singles. A second album, Mr. Wonderful, followed soon after with the addition of some keyboards and horns. Their third album, Then Play On, in 1969, was recorded mainly at the legendary Chess Records Studio in Chicago and would be the peak of the group’s Peter Green led blues era. Green had a bad experience with LSD which apparently contributed to the onset of schizophrenia and he had to leave the group in 1970.

The early 1970s brought much more change for Fleetwood Mac. Between 1970 and 1974 the group released six albums with five different lineups. The most significant change during this period came with the release of 1971’s Future Games, which featured the addition of guitarist/vocalist Bob Welch and Keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie, the former Christine Perfect now married to John McVie. The group’s sound radically morphed from blues to pop/rock, which caused a decline in their popularity in the UK but a gradually increase in the US. In 1974, Welch convinced the group to relocate from England to Los Angeles, which led to a new recording contract with Warner Brothers. However, after the release of Heroes Are Hard to Find in September 1974, Welch abruptly left the band, leaving the three remaining members scrambling to find a replacement.

While in an LA studio with producer Keith Olsen, Fleetwood heard a recording from the album Buckingham Nicks and soon asked vocalist/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham to join the band. Buckingham agreed only if his musical partner and girlfriend Stevie Nicks also become part of the band, and the classic Fleetwood Mac lineup was officially in place on the last day of 1974. Within a month, the quartet was in the recording studio, working on arrangements of individual compositions for a new album, co-produced by Olsen.

Fleetwood Mac by Fleetwood Mac
Released: July 11, 1975 (Reprise) Produced by: Keith Olsen & Fleetwood Mac Recorded: Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA, January–February 1975
Side One	Side Two
Monday Morning Warm Ways Blue Letter Rhiannon Over My Head Crystal	Say You Love Me Landslide World Turning Sugar Daddy I’m So Afraid
Group Musicians
Lindsey Buckingham – Guitars, Vocals Christine McVie – Keyboards, Vocals Stevie Nicks – Vocals John McVie – Bass Mick Fleetwood – Drums, Percussion

“Monday Morning” starts the record off as a driving folk/pop anthem by Buckingham, who adds a good melody progression and a slight slide lead guitar in conjunction with the rolling shuffle of rhythm by Fleetwood. Christine McVie’s ballad “Warm Ways” follows and immediately establishes the diversity of Fleetwood Mac’s new sound. This soulful ballad, built on electric piano and a nice, subtle mixture of acoustic and calmly picked electric guitars, was released as the lead single from the album in the UK. “Blue Letter” features lead vocals by Buckingham with harmonies by Nicks and is an upbeat, quasi-county, Eagles-like California tune. Originally intended for a second Buckingham Nicks LP, the song was written by Michael Curtis and Richard Curtis in 1974.

Stevie Nicks’ introduction to the Fleetwood Mac audience arrives in one of the group’s most indelible songs ever, “Rhiannon”. The song is lyrically based on a Welsh legend of a goddess who possesses a woman. This soft and mysterious ballad lays nicely on top of a thumping bass line by John McVie and rich group vocal harmonies during the hook. Buckingham adds slight guitar leads in the spaces where needed, making for an all around great song, which peaked at #11 on the pop charts in the summer of 1976. Another hit single, “Over My Head”, follows as a pure, mid seventies pop song by Christine McVie which is steady and pleasant throughout. This track also features some non-standard rhythms, especially the bongos played by Fleetwood subtly in the background. The album’s first side ends with “Crystal”, a soft rock / alt country song featuring acoustic guitar and electric piano. While written by Nicks and originally featured on the 1973 Buckingham Nicks LP, this track features Buckingham on lead vocals with Nicks adding much backing harmony throughout.

“Say You Love Me” is a pop track built on a simple piano riff with sparse and slow chord changes during the verses and a bit more movement during the choruses. Led by Christine McVie, the song features pleasant melodies and harmonies and a classic minimal guitar lead by Buckingham, all making for the third big from this album. Nicks’ “Landslide” is the album’s high-water mark. With a simple arrangement featuring fingerpicked acoustic with the slightest guitar overdubs by Buckingham and exquisite vocals rendering the philosophical lyrics by Nicks. Reserved, sparse and beautiful the song paints a great lyrically scenery and features a great, distant electric guitar lead, which perfectly fits the vibe and mood of the song.

After a long intro with fade-in of bluesy guitar rotation by Buckingham accompanied by animated hi-hat action by Fleetwood, the song proper of “World Turning” arrives with alternating lead vocals between Buckingham and Christine McVie. A pleasant enough sounding song with Christine McVie providing a nice mix of piano and organ to her lead vocals, “Sugar Daddy” does lack the compositional quality of much of the material earlier on the album. However, the music recovers on the closer “I’m So Afraid” as rolling drums set a dramatic mood matched by Buckingham’s equally dramatic vocals and later fine, harmonized lead guitars.

Among dedicated fans, Fleetwood Mac is often referred to as the “White Album” and, while this only experienced modest success upon its release, the group’s heavy touring pushed the album to the top of the charts, 15 months after its release. Following the massive success of Rumours in 1977, interest in this 1975 album was re-ignited and it eventually was certified 5x platinum in sales.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1975 albums.

Tango In the Night by Fleetwood Mac

September 24, 2012

by Classic Rock Review with No Comment Album Reviews

Tango In the Night is the fifth and final studio album by successful quintet that brought sustained stardom for Fleetwood Mac. Like their previous four albums, it found popular success driven by the angst and inner turmoil of the band and resulted in the parting of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham soon after its release. The album went on to become the band’s best selling since Rumours a decade earlier, which was one of the top selling albums of all time. Somewhat ironically, the album sprang from a Buckingham solo project, meant to be his third solo album, and the soon-to-depart Buckingham ended up with the bulk of the songwriting credits on the album.

Following the band’s previous album Mirage in 1982, most members dedicated some time to respective solo careers. Vocalist Stevie Nicks released two albums, while Buckingham and Keyboardist Christine McVie each released one during this era. All met a measure of commercial success, which prompted rumours of a band breakup.

However, by 1985 the band had reconvened for this new album, with Buckingham and Richard Dashut co-producing. Together, they forged a unique sound that used just the right amount of 1980s-style synthesizers along with vast use of diverse rhythms, driven by drummer Mick Fleetwood. The result was a commercially successful album that was also distinct from anything the band had produced previously.

Tango In the Night by Fleetwood Mac
Released: April 13, 1987 (Warner Brothers) Produced by: Lindsey Buckingham & Richard Dashut Recorded: November 1985 – March 1987
Side One	Side Two
Big Love Seven Wonders Everywhere Caroline Tango In the Night Mystified	Little Lies Family Man Welcome to the Room…Sara Isn’t It Midnight When I See You Again You and I (Part 2)
Band Musicians
Lindsey Buckingham – Guitars, Percussion, Vocals Christine McVie – Keyboards, Vocals \| Stevie Nicks – Vocals John McVie – Bass \| Mick Fleetwood – Drums, Percussion

The album kicks off with Buckingham’s “Big Love” with its unique driving rhythms and decorated cool soundscapes. The intense, shouting lead vocals are flanked by overdubbed guitars and vocals harmonies and chants throughout. Nicks’ “Seven Wonders” provides an immediate contrast to follow. Co-written by Sandy Stewart, the song was an immediate pop radio hit. Christine McVie’s “Everywhere” completes the initial circuit of pop songs in the style that McVie had composed so often through the 1970s and 1980s. It is decorated with great vocals and harmonies, nice keyboard riffs, and just a touch of mystical sound sequences.

A trifecta of Buckingham penned songs rounds off the first side. “Caroline” is percussion driven with African beats at the start before morphing into a more Caribbean rhythm for the verses and choruses. The title song, “Tango In the Night” is a moody, methodical rocker with distinctive sections. “Mystified” was co-written by Christine McVie and contains Baroque style keys over yet another drum beat.

“Little Lies” was written by Christine McVie and her current husband Eddy Quintela. Ironically, she kept the surname of her previous husband, bass player John McVie, who has a strong presence in the song. The song contains great vocal parts for each of the band’s singers along with bent-note keyboard effects for its signature riff. The song reached #4 on the Billboard charts in the US and #5 on the UK charts.
The ill-advised “Family Man” follows as a cartoonish 1980s pop caricature.

Stevie Nicks’ “Welcome to the Room…Sara” is a pleasant and moderate ballad with a strong beat but melancholy sentiments about her time in rehab. Her acoustic ballad “When I See You Again” contains a spare arrangement and some duet Buckingham vocals towards the end. “You and I, Part II” concludes the album as a sequel to a non-album B-side to the single “Big Love”.

Shortly after the release of Tango In the Night, tensions came to a head and Buckingham departed the band prior to their scheduled tour in support of the album. Although this classic lineup of Buckingham/Nicks/Fleetwood/McVie/McVie would reunite a decade later for the live album The Dance in 1997, they would not again record a studio album.

~
R.A.

Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

January 19, 2012

by Classic Rock Review with 3 Comments Album Reviews

Buy Rumours

It took the band Fleetwood Mac ten albums and many lineup shifts to achieve mainstream commercial success, but the group got there with their 1975 eponymous release. This was the first album to feature songwriters and vocalists Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who joined the band following the departure of Bob Welch. Cashing in on that success, the band expanded the formula with their eleventh album, 1977’s Rumours. Produced by the band along with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut, this album would become not just the band’s top seller, but one of the highest selling albums ever up to that point in time.

Much of the album was recorded in a small cabin north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate in Sausalito, CA. Although Rumours is filled with pleasant, easy-going, and melodic pop/rock throughout, the album’s creation and production was anything but cool and steady. All five members of the band, which included two married couples, struggled with relationship breakups around the time. Buckingham and Nicks were having an on and off relationship with constant fighting. The band’s other primary writer and keyboardist Christine McVie and bassist John McVie had recently divorced after eight years of marriage and refused to speak to each other except when working on songs. Drummer Mick Fleetwood faced his own domestic problems after discovering his wife had an affair with his best friend. It was later revealed that Fleetwood and Nicks started a relationship around this time. Further, there was much press intrusion into the member’s lives as well as unsubstantiated rumours (giving the album its name). This stressful situation and internal strife influenced many of the album’s lyrics but, to the band’s credit, this strife did not adversely effect the quality of the album or its production.

The album has high quality harmonies among three vocalists and was inspired by many different genres. Buckingham took charge of the musical directions of the sessions as the record had an original working title of “Yesterday’s Gone”. During the formative stages of compositions, Buckingham and the classically trained Christine McVie played guitar and piano together to create the basic song structures. They were latter joined by the rhythm section of Fleetwood and John McVie, who were the last remaining members of the original blues band which was formed in the late 1960s. Nicks believed that Fleetwood Mac created the best music when in the worst shape and her lyrical focus allowed the instrumentals in the songs that she wrote to be looser and more abstract. The goal of the band and their producers was to have a completely “no-filler” final product, with every song having the potential of being a single or radio hit. They would come remarkably close to reaching this goal.

Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
Released: February 4, 1977 (Warner Brothers) Produced by: Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat, & Richard Dashut Recorded: Record Plant Studios, Sausalito and Los Angeles, CA, 1976
Side One	Side Two
Second Hand News Dreams Never Going Back Again Don’t Stop Go Your Own Way Songbird	The Chain You Make Lovin’ Fun I Don’t Want to Know Oh Daddy Gold Dust Woman
Band Musicians
Lindsey Buckingham – Guitars, Vocals Christine McVie – Keyboards, Vocals Stevie Nicks – Vocals John McVie – Bass Mick Fleetwood– Drums

The moody and complex song “The Chain” originated from a pair of demos by Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks which were fused together. The tempo is increased starting with a bass solo by John McVie through the song’s coda. “The Chain” is the only collaborative song on the album, composed by every member of the band, as the rest of the compositions were made solely by one of the band’s three primary writers.

Buckingham’s songs include the album’s opener “Second Hand News”, a Celtic influenced rock song with “chair” percussion for effect. It is not the strongest opening number, but it does set up the later pop tracks nicely. “Never Going Back Again” is much better, a largely overlooked classic on Rumours. It is a pleasant and melodic guitar diddy done nearly entirely by Buckingham, with just the slightest backing vocals during the shortest durations, This really should be out of place on this album of pop songs, but it works nevertheless.

Fleetwood Mac in 1977

“Go Your Own Way” is the most popular song on the album written by Lindsey Buckingham. It was released as the album’s first single and became the group’s first top ten hit in the U.S. The song’s lyric offers a pessimistic view of his complicated relationship with Stevie Nicks. Nicks offered her own view of that relationship in “Dreams”, which would go on to become the band’s only number one Billboard song.

From first listen, “Dreams” is an instant classic. The minimal backing rhythm provides a perfect canvas for Nicks to paint her vocal masterpiece masterpiece. Nicks claims she wrote the song in Sausalito in “about ten minutes” and the band started recording it the very next day. Some of the more complex guitar and bass patterns were later added in Los Angeles. Although incredibly simple, the song’s arrangement gives it an air of complexity which makes it sound fresh decades later.

Nicks’ other two compositions appear late on the second side. “I Don’t Want to Know” is leftover from the pre-Fleetwood Mac, “Buckingham and Nicks” days and contains harmonized vocals throughout. The album’s closer, “Gold Dust Woman” features some cool sounds from a dobro, percussive instruments, and several acoustic guitars. This song about cocaine addiction is haunting but never tragic as the soundscape sets a dreamy scene with a tinge of hope.

Christine McVie composed four songs on Rumours, starting with the smash hit “Don’t Stop”, which has become one of the Fleetwood Mac’s signature songs. Trading lead vocals with Buckingham, Christine’s lyrics offer an optimistic view following her divorce from band mate John. “It seemed to be a pleasant revelation to have that ‘yesterday’s gone’,” she remembers. “You Make Loving Fun” is a much better song, perhaps the best pure pop song that the band has ever delivered. The verse is driven’ by a Soul-inspired clarinet, which backs McVie’s calm crooning. During the chorus, Christine is joined by some complex harmonies by Buckingham and Nicks during a beautiful arrangement which puts the song over the top.

Christine McVie’s other two contributions are calm piano tunes. “Songbird” was performed and recorded in a concert hall to capture the ambiance perfectly. With introspective, almost prayer-like lyrics, the song has been covered several times, primarily by folk singers. “Oh Daddy” is a more complex theme which directly references Mick Fleetwood, who the band nicknamed “The Big Daddy”. A founding member, Fleetwood had much influence in the band’s direction and seemed to always turn out to be right, especially during this time of great success.

Fleetwood called Rumours “the most important album we ever made” (and he was there for there for each and every album). With its success, the group would continue recording for years to come through many changes in the pop and rock world. By the album’s tenth anniversary in 1987, it had sold nearly 20 million copies worldwide.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1977 albums.