Tuesday, April 17, 2007

FLEETWOOD MAC - Then Play On


Before they set sail for California and a new life as consummate pop songsmiths, Fleetwood Mac were pedigreed British blues rockers with roots in Britain's seminal John Mayall's Blues Breakers and their hearts orbiting Chicago and the Mississippi Delta. One of the few surviving albums from that ill-fated, earlier Mac, Then Play On captures them at a potent turning point: the original two-guitar quartet, with founder Peter Green's sinuous leads complemented by Jeremy Spencer's shimmering slide guitar, had been augmented by third guitarist Danny Kirwan, a Green protégé. Buttressed by Mick Fleetwood's muscular yet restrained drumming and John McVie's steady-as-a-heartbeat bass lines, this edition of the band reveled in moody, compelling guitar showpieces that savor texture and line over sheer speed or volume. Accordingly, the lyrics don't benefit from close study, but the guitars surely do--and when the quintet launches into the best-remembered track here, the classic "Oh, Well" (which reunites the separate electric and acoustic sections originally released as two sides of a single), it's understandable that Green, in his day, was mentioned comfortably in the same breath with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. --Sam Sutherland

Tracks
1. Coming Your Way
2. Closing My Eyes
3. Show-Biz Blues
4. My Dream
5. Underway
6. Oh Well
7. Although The Sun Is Shining
8. Rattlesnake Shake
9. Searching For Madge
10. Fighting For Madge
11. When You Say
12. LIke Crying
13. Before The Beginning

LINK:
h!!p://www.megaupload.com/?d=EX2MOMH3

Please leave a comment

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you. Great music.

Anonymous said...

I have only some Fleetwood Mac-Records from Rumours and later and now i have the chance to listen to an early one. Thanks very nuch for sharing.

. said...

Peter Green` era of F. Mac is the one I like. When he left the band the rest of the people there were creating some other music in a stile that does not match my taste so much.
rockanthology

Anonymous said...

Thanks a ton. I have so many LPs from this time period that I never get to hear any more. This is great.

Anonymous said...

This is some great music, for me Oh Well and Before the Beginning are almost a religious experience, if a slightly off centre one.

THere is really no comparison between with Peter Green and without, it is like two different bands entirely.

If you haven't heard Peter Green, this is where you start, and everyone should listen, it cannot be described (but others borrrowed the sound).

Jake said...

I love this so much! I am finding that I agree that the Peter Green era F. Mac is amazing and totally distinct from the "popular" F. Mac.
Any chance we could see some more Peter Green era albums? did he do anything outside of F. Mac?