Fleetwood Mac (1968 album)

Fleetwood Mac
Studio album by Fleetwood Mac
Released 24 February 1968 (1968-02-24)
Recorded 19 April, November–December 1967
Studio CBS Studios & Decca Studios, London
Genre Blues rock
Length 35:10
Label Blue Horizon
Producer Mike Vernon
Fleetwood Mac UK chronology
Fleetwood Mac
(1968)		 Mr. Wonderful
(1968)Mr. Wonderful1968
Fleetwood Mac US chronology
Fleetwood Mac
(1968) Fleetwood Mac1968		 English Rose
(1969) English Rose1969
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone(positive) [2]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
About.com[5]

Fleetwood Mac, also known as Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, is the debut studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 24 February 1968. The album is a mixture of blues covers and originals penned by guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, who also share the vocal duties. It is the only album by the band not to feature keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie in any capacity.

The release of the album brought the band overnight success; in the UK, the album reached No. 4 and stayed on the charts 37 weeks, despite the lack of a hit single. The album barely made the charts in the US, reaching No. 198. Even though the album has sold over a million copies in the UK, it has never received a certification there. As of June 2015, the album has sold over 150,000 copies in the US.[6]

An expanded version of this album was included in the box set The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions.

Background

On 19 April 1967, John Mayall, the frontman of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, gave his bandmate Peter Green free studio time at the Decca Studios in West Hampstead, London to use as he wished. Four songs came out of the recording sessions, one of them being an instrumental called "Fleetwood Mac", named after the rhythm section, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The other three songs recorded that day were "First Train Home", "Looking for Somebody" and "No Place To Go".[7][8][9] After this recording session, Green approached Fleetwood and McVie with the idea of forming a new band.[7] While Fleetwood, who had been fired from The Bluesbreakers,[10] was willing to join immediately, McVie was initially hesitant.[7] Green was sure that McVie would join his band, so he advertised in Melody Maker for a temporary bassist.[7] Bob Brunning answered the ad and was told that they would play at the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival in a month.[7]

In addition to a guitarist, drummer and bassist, Green was also adamant about recruiting a second guitarist in Fleetwood Mac. As Green did not want to be seen as the leader of the group, he hoped that a second guitarist would help take the spotlight away from him.[7] Fleetwood Mac's producer, Mike Vernon told Green of an "amazing slide guitarist" while searching for new bands to add to the label's roster.[7] The guitarist's name was Jeremy Spencer, who had formed his own band called the Levi Set Blues Band in the mid 1960s. The band sent in an audition tape that was so bad, Vernon did not bother playing the tape to his colleagues. He did, however, show the tape to Green, so he could hear Spencer's guitar playing.[7] Green was so impressed with Spencer that he drove over to Lichfield where the Levi Set were playing and outright told him that he was joining Fleetwood Mac. [7]

By the time of the Windsor Festival, Green had already gained recognition for replacing guitarist Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and impressed audiences with his guitar playing.[11] Shortly afterwards, McVie reconsidered and decided to join Fleetwood Mac on bass after Mayall decided to go in a jazz direction, so with him now in the line-up, Brunning stood down.

Reception

The album sold well in the UK, reaching number four on the British charts.[12] Upon release, Barry Gifford (writing for Rolling Stone) praised the album, and described the album as "potent enough to make the South Side of Chicago take notice".

Legacy

Modern attitudes to the album are also largely positive, and (while some admit it was unremarkable) many critics argue the album is one of the highlights of the British blues bloom. TeamRock describes it as a "marvellous debut that established the group as the best British blues band of the day".[13] Writing for "Ultimate Classic Rock", Nick DeRiso described the album as a "stellar debut"[14] and as "maybe the best album from the British blues boom". He also ranked it as the 4th greatest Fleetwood Mac album.[15] The Telegraph has described the album as a "classic sixties London 12-bar blues rock debut", while also calling it "raw, physical, high spirited and blessed with the exceptional playing of Peter Green".[16]

Accolades

"ThoughtCo." described the album as an " inspired mix of blues covers", and placed it in the top 10 "The Best Blues-Rock Albums Of The 1960s".[5] "Guitarist" (UK magazine) placed the album in "101 Essential Guitar Albums", and John Tobler considered the album to be one of the "100 Great Albums of the 60s".[17]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."My Heart Beat Like a Hammer"Jeremy Spencer2:55
2."Merry Go Round"Peter Green4:05
3."Long Grey Mare"Green2:15
4."Hellhound on My Trail"Robert Johnson2:00
5."Shake Your Moneymaker"Elmore James2:55
6."Looking for Somebody"Green2:50
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."No Place to Go"Chester Burnett3:20
2."My Baby's Good to Me"Spencer2:50
3."I Loved Another Woman"Green2:55
4."Cold Black Night"Spencer3:15
5."The World Keep On Turning"Green2:30
6."Got to Move"James, Marshall Sehorn3:20
1999 re-release
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."My Heart Beat Like a Hammer" (Take 2 – master version with studio talk*)Spencer3:31
2."Merry Go Round" (Take 2 – master version with studio talk/remix*)Green4:19
3."Long Grey Mare"Green2:12
4."Hellhound on My Trail" (Take 1 – complete master version/remix*)Johnson2:04
5."Shake Your Moneymaker" (Master version with studio talk*)James3:11
6."Looking for Somebody"Green2:49
7."No Place to Go"Burnett3:20
8."My Baby's Good to Me"Spencer2:49
9."I Loved Another Woman"Green2:54
10."Cold Black Night"Spencer3:15
11."The World Keep On Turning"Green2:27
12."Got to Move"James, Sehorn3:18
13."My Heart Beat Like a Hammer" (Take 1*)Spencer3:18
14."Merry Go Round" (Take 1 – incomplete*)Green0:54
15."I Loved Another Woman" (Take 1 – incomplete*, take 2*, take 3 – false start* and take 4 – incomplete*)Green6:08
16."I Loved Another Woman" (Take 5 – complete master version/remix* and take 6 – incomplete*)Green5:08
17."Cold Black Night" (Takes 1–5 with false starts, take 6 – complete master version/remix*)Spencer5:28
18."You're So Evil" (*)Spencer3:05
19."I'm Coming Home to Stay" (*)Spencer2:27
* Bonus track

Personnel

Fleetwood Mac

References

  1. ↑ Fleetwood Mac at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Gifford, Barry (10 August 1968). "Records". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  3. ↑ The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  4. ↑ Colin Larkin. The Virgin Encyclopedia of The Blues. Books.google.co.uk. p. 89. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  5. 1 2 Keith, Reverend. "The Best Blues-Rock Bands Of The 1960s". Thoughtco.com. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  6. ↑ THE BEACH BOYS, BEE GEES and FLEETWOOD MAC USA album sales - Endless Juke Joints - Greasy Lake Community
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Evans, Mike (2011). Fleetwood Mac: The Definitive History. 397 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016: Sterling. pp. 24, 27–33. ISBN 978-1-4027-8630-3.
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ Lewry, Pete (1999). Fleetwood Mac The Complete Recordings 1967/1997. Blandford. p. 128. ISBN 0713727241.
  10. ↑ Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book Of Number 1 Hits (5th ed.). 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003-9595: Billboard Books. p. 466. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6.
  11. ↑ Black, Johnny. "Fleetwood Mac: "Green's the best blues guitarist the UK's produced"". Team Rock. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac: Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  13. ↑ "The Top 30 British Blues Rock Albums Of All Time". TeamRock.com. 2007-03-23. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  14. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac Albums Ranked Worst to Best". Ultimateclassicrock.com. 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  15. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac Albums Ranked Worst to Best". Ultimateclassicrock.com. 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  16. ↑ "Fleetwood Mac's albums: from worst to best". Telegraph. 2015-06-15. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  17. ↑ "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.