Welch provides the album’s highlight, the brooding grooving “Hypnotised”, but elsewhere he’d rather be, er, elsewhere:Īnd the mystery that there used to be is gone “Just crazy love” doesn’t soar with deranged passion but rather sinks under a suffocating ennui. Here there’s a distance, as sense of going through the motions. Similarly, although Christine McVie only has one topic (love: either getting or losing it), the best of her songs make a universal heart connection. The problem is that few reach out and grab you by the lapels.
Released later the same year, Mystery To Me shows Bob Welch dominating, contributing six of the albums 12 songs. The limpid instrumental “Caught in the rain” is Bob Weston’s only compositional contribution but it is a lovely album closer.įavourite song: “Night Watch” (Bob Welch) The country twang of “The Derelict” (Dave Walker’s sole song-writing credit) doesn’t do it for me, nor does the cover of “(I’m a) Road Runner”. Things get a bit uneven after that, though I love the insistent menace of Welch’s “Revelation”, a precursor to “Hypnotised” on the next album. The album opens strongly with two excellent songs by McVie, C (I particularly like “Dissatisfied”) and one by Bob Welch (“Bright Fire”). Penguin was released in March 1973 and personnel changes had become epidemic. The little swimming bird-chappies provide the title of the 7 th album. Kirwan), though Christine McVie’s “Spare me a little of your love” is one of her strongest and comes a close second.Īpparently John McVie had a thing about penguins (see Future Games cover). And isn’t it a wonderful winter cover?įavourite song: “Bare Trees” (D. They contribute two songs each and all are solid and enjoyable. The other half of the album’s song-writing credits are shared between McVie and Welch. Quite a shame, as his five songs are again a highlight. It is Danny Kirwan’s last appearance he was sacked during the subsequent tour. It holds up very well indeed and would, I’m confident, be enjoyed by fans of the ’75 self-titled Buckingham-Nicks Fleetwood Mac debut.īare Trees was the sixth studio album. This was the first Fleetwood Mac album to achieve ‘Gold’ status in the US, yet is rarely mentioned these days.
Both are infused with a melancholy beauty that transcends time just as their titles suggest.Ī potted history of the band and its members. His “Woman of a Thousand Years” opens side one while “Sands of Time” serves the same role on side two.
Their contributions are enjoyable, particularly Welch’s drifting, shimmering title track, but it’s Kirwan’s songs that I never tire of. Released in September 1971, it was the first to feature songs by Christine McVie and new member Bob Welch. Next came my favourite of this period and without doubt one of my Top 3 Mac albums: Future Games. But Danny Kirwan’s contributions are thoughtful and engaging he was warming up nicely, his understated playing and almost diffident singing a refreshing contrast to the uninspired throw-back material.įavourite song: “Station Man” (Kirwan, Spencer, McVie, J) Other guitarist Jeremy Spencer dominates proceedings with his rock ‘n’ roll pastiche – not an especially edifying nor enjoyable experience. It was guitarist Danny Kirwan’s second album and almost Christine Perfect’s first: she sang backing vocals and drew the cover but only became a card-carrying member after the album was completed. This was widely considered a damn shame, as the mercurial guitarist was the central instrumental figure of the band.ġ970 saw the release of the patchy and transitional Kiln House. Also because this period is often over-looked: sneered at by the British Blues League who thought Peter Green was a major six-string deity and shunned by the West Coast Stadium Society lovers of Rumours.īy the beginning of the 70s, Green had left Fleetwood Mac. Why? Because they figured in last week’s Vinyl Connection article, Graham: A Record Store Tale. Let’s take a trawl through the pre-mega-stardom early 70s catalogue of Fleetwood Mac.
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