Fleetwood Mac: From Green's to Will

3 Jul

**PETER GREEN’S FLEETWOOD MAC**

**24 February 1968**

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 without any involvement of keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie.

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]

From Wikipedia

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

Now, I'm not much of a blues fan. I want to like it. I know it is cool to do so and it is, after all, the root of all modern rock and roll, but I do find it a bit predictable and formulaic. It's certainly easy to parody although I guess it's not so easy to play it. This is a straightforward blues album really. Lots of waking up in the morning and feeling less than great cos a woman has left. Mostly (if not all) covers I guess. Having said that, I really liked it. If their mission was to bring the blues to the mainstream white man then I could imagine this did the trick. Annoyingly Spotify has a version of the album with lots of different takes of the songs on it, with some studio chit chat at the beginning. All very interesting for the devotee I guess, but a bit tedious for the rest of us. It runs the gamut of blues cliches from the fast and furious 'Shake Your Moneymaker' to the slow and deliberate 'Looking for Someone'. There's plenty of harmonica and "Womaaaan"'s along the way. It's also sung incredibly well. I'm assuming it's Green and he sounds the ticket. The slightly echo-ey sound of the guitar on 'I Loved Another Woman' foreshadows the sound of 'Albatross'. Some of the tracks, such as 'Got To Move' fade to start, as if you are walking into the room where the band are already jamming. So this was a good start, pretty much the only blues album most people would need.

Mr. Wonderful is the second studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 23 August 1968. This all-blues album was broadly similar to their debut album, albeit with some changes to personnel and recording method. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board.^[3] A horn section was introduced and Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie) of Chicken Shack was featured on keyboards. In the US, the album was not issued under the name Mr. Wonderful, though around half of the tracks appeared on English Rose.

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

From Wikipedia

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

OK. Getting bored with the blues already. Fortunately for me, Spotify is a bit, well, spotty, when it comes to Fleetwood Mac's early albums. Wikipedia lists about 9 between 1968 and 1974, but I can only find 3. The third being The Pious Bird of Good Omen, which appears to have some overlap with an American issue, English Rose. So here's what I'm going to do. I'll listen to Pious Bird, which features Albatross and then move on to Rumours, which is the next available. This is more of the same, I listened to it during my run this morning and it's not conducive to setting a good time. It's still incredibly competent and there are still plenty of alternative takes of the songs to listen to if you're that way inclined and want to hear musicians swearing at each other. The cover is alarming. Mick Fleetwood I think, sans beard and bare-chested. A bit of internet research tells me that more of the Fleetwood physique was originally available for our viewing pleasure, possibly on a gatefold sleeve.

Future Games is the fifth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 3 September 1971. It was recorded in the summer of 1971 at Advision Studios in London^[4] and was the first album to feature Christine McVie as a full member. This album was also the first of five albums to feature American guitarist Bob Welch. "He was totally different background – R&B, sort of jazzy. He brought his personality," Mick Fleetwood said of Welch in a 1995 BBC interview. "He was a member of Fleetwood Mac before we'd even played a note."^[5]

The album peaked at number 91 on the US Billboard 200 chart dated 18 December 1971.^[6] The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2000.^[7]

After founder and original bandleader Peter Green departed Fleetwood Mac in May 1970, the remaining members recorded the album Kiln House, with bassist John McVie's wife Christine Perfect being a major collaborator during the sessions. She was soon promoted to full-time membership as the band's keyboardist, and began writing and singing her own material with them. While the band was touring the Kiln House album, guitarist and vocalist Jeremy Spencer abruptly quit the band in February 1971 to join the Children of God, a Christian new religious movement founded by David Berg. Fleetwood Mac held auditions for a replacement during the summer and eventually selected Bob Welch after hearing his demo tape.^[8]

From Wikipedia

Woman of 1000 Years

Morning Rain

What a Shame

Future Games

Sands of Time

Sometimes

Lay It All Down

Show Me a Smile

This is one of my 'lost' Fleetwood Mac albums, in that it was not available when I did the original post. I actually jumped from The Pious Bird of Good Omen straight to 1975's Fleetwood Mac. That makes it difficult to think about this in the context of the progression of the band. It does seem to be a step on the road from English blues bores to rock-pop titans. It's like Buckingham has joined before he actually did. Christine McVie is now a full member (whatever that means in the crazy world of Fleetwood Mac) so that is probably the key difference. Her two songs on here are 'Morning Rain' and 'Show Me A Smile' are probably the most characteristic of future Fleetwood Mac

Bare Trees is the sixth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in March 1972. It was their last album to feature Danny Kirwan, who was fired during the album's supporting tour. In the wake of the band's success in the mid-1970s, Bare Trees peaked at number 70 on US Billboard 200 chart.^[2] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1988.^[3]

Mick Fleetwood was particularly impressed with Kirwan's contributions to the album. "Danny had the chops with layering techniques, and the ability to know what's right and wrong in the studio," he said.^[4]

From Wikipedia

Child of Mine

The Ghost

Homeward Bound

Sunny Side of Heaven

Bare Trees

Sentimental Lady

Danny's Chant

Spare Me a Little of Your Love

Dust

Thoughts on a Grey Day

One of the originally missing FM albums in this post, due to it not being available on Spotify at the time. This finds them in transition from blues band to soft rock outfit, but still in search of Buckingham and Nicks.

Contemporary Rolling Stone review by Bud Scoppa reckons the transitory Danny Kirwan had a big and positive influence and suggests Christine McVie can take a place somewhere between Sandy Denny and Dusty Springfield.

Last track. 'Thoughts On A Grey Day' is a little perplexing. It's supposed to be a poem, written and recited by a 'Mrs Scarrot' but is probably Mick Fleetwood doing his best Beryl Reid impression.

HEROES ARE HARD TO FIND

13 September 1974

Fleetwood Mac is the tenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 11 July 1975 by Reprise Records. It was the band's second eponymous album, the first being their 1968 debut album; it is sometimes referred to among fans as the White Album.^[14] This was the first Fleetwood Mac album with Lindsey Buckingham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as vocalist, after Bob Welch departed the band in late 1974. It was also the band's last album to be released on the Reprise label until 1997's The Dance (the band's subsequent albums until then were released through Warner Bros. Records, Reprise's parent company).

The album peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart dated 4 September 1976, 58 weeks after entering the chart,^[15] and spawned three top-twenty singles: "Over My Head", "Rhiannon", and "Say You Love Me", the last two falling just short of the top ten, both at number 11. It has been certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over seven million copies.^[16] Peaking at number 23 on the UK Albums Chart,^[17] it was a prelude to a run of hugely successful albums for the band in Britain, including four number ones: Rumours (1977), Tusk (1979), Tango in the Night (1987), and Behind the Mask (1990).^[18]

From Wikipedia

Monday Morning

Warm Ways

Blue Letter

Rhiannon

Over My Head

Crystal

Say You Love Me

Landslide

World Turning

Sugar Daddy

I'm So Afraid

I was wrong. This is available! I probably saw it and dismissed it as a compilation. Easy mistake to make. When last we met them Fleetwood Mac were a mainly British blues band, churning out blues standards in a competent fashion. Now they are an everyman rock band, using Christine Perfect/McVie and Stevie Nicks for vocal duties as much as quavery voiced, possible megalomaniac Lindsey Buckingham. They are contrasting vocal styles too, McVie's voice is rich and melodious, Buckingham is a bit high-pitched and strained and Nicks is the familiar nasal whine. It's all fairly standard 70's MOR really, in the vein of the Eagles, but whereas I loathe the Eagles (don't ask me why, but Hotel California REALLY winds me up), FM are superbly listenable. Stand out track is 'Rhiannon'. You can't accuse Nicks of mumbling it (didn't Adrian Juste of Radio 1 many years ago take the mick out of her fairly regularly on this?), but there is something indistinct about her singing style and this typifies it.

Just like Donny and Marie, the whole album is a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. 'Over My Head' sung by McVie and 'Crystal' (Buckingham) are very much the former. 'Crystal' also has a very nice little proggy keyboard outro. Other than 'Rhiannon' the best known track is probably 'Say You Love Me', sung by McVie and familiar even if you don't recognize the title. 'Landslide' is a simple acoustic guitar-accompanied ballad sung with restraint by Nicks. I'm gonna need some kind of notation to identify the singer(s) from now on, so lets go with (M-McVie, B-Buckingham and N-Nicks). World Turning (B) reminded me a bit of 'Life In Fast Lane' buy the aforementioned Eagles. The cover features Fleetwood and John McVie with the latter doing the old faux-dwarf-kneeling-on-his-shoes trick and the former sipping from a champagne flute while dressed as some kind of country fop with a long cane. Please look elsewhere on the interweb for full analysis.

Rumours is the eleventh studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. Largely recorded in California in 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. The recording sessions took place in the aftermath of several relationship breakups among its members in addition to heavy drug use, both of which shaped the album's direction and lyrics.

Recorded with the intention of making "a pop album" that would expand on the commercial success of their self-titled 1975 album, the music of Rumours is characterized by a mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation, accented rhythms, guitars, and keyboards, while its lyrics concern personal and often troubled relationships. Its release was postponed by delays in the mixing process. Following the album's release, Fleetwood Mac undertook worldwide concert tours. Rumours became the band's first number-one album on the UK Albums Chart and also topped the US Billboard 200. The songs "Go Your Own Way", "Dreams", "Don't Stop", and "You Make Loving Fun" were released as singles, all of which reached the US top 10, with "Dreams" reaching number one.

From Wikipedia

Second Hand News

Dreams

Never Going Back Again

Don't Stop

Go Your Own Way

Songbird

The Chain

You Make Loving Fun

I Don't Want to Know

Oh Daddy

Gold Dust Woman

You may very well underline the title in a red wiggly line Mr. Spellchecker, but this is spelled the English English way and rightly so. Quite surprising really considering Lindsey Buckingham's seeming dominance of the band at this time. I'll give you Pearl Harbor, it's in your country after all, but we have all these arcane rules in the language for a reason y'know (to make it difficult). Most people know most tracks off this album and it usually crops up in top 10 classic albums. The vocal duties are still shared between M, B and N, but Buckingham and Nicks are definitely in the ascendant. 'Second Hand News' gallops along nicely, with B giving so bam-ba-bam-bam vocals. Next up Nicks with 'Dreams', which was rather lazily covered by The Corrs. I've always found the lyric 'Thunder only happens when it's raining' mildly intriguing, due to the both the odd phrasing and the fact that it's patently untrue. I think 'Never Going Back Again' is my favourite on the album. I like the pizzicato guitar and Buckingham's almost half-arsed vocal performance. It's just really unusual but pleasing at the same time. 'Don't Stop' was Bill Clinton's theme for his election campaign wasn't it? A bit better than Labour's D'ream and Professor Brian Bleedin' Cox I'd say. 'Go Your Own Way' is a perfect bit of rock-pop. It was a long time before I realized that 'Songbird' wasn't an original Eva Cassidy song (probably up to the first time I listened to Rumours I guess). To me it's sung just as well by Christine McVie. Not better, different.

The Chain is, of course, best known as the theme to......officially longest listener generated thematically linked sequence of musically based items on the radio (currently going strong on Radcliffe and Maconie's show on BBC 6 music), oh, and the BBC formula 1 coverage. It does fit very nicely sonically with the latter, although possibly less so now that all those motor-racing bores are unhappy with the new engine noises?!. It's a funny old song too. The famous bit always seems to jar with the rest of it. 'You Make Loving Fun' (M) has a nice soft funk/wah wah feel about it. 'I Don't Want To Know' is about as humdrum as the album gets and even then it has some good clappy bits. 'Oh Daddy' (M) probably has plenty of Freudian themes that I can't be bothered to decipher. It all finishes with 'Gold Dust Woman'. Nicks being intense. The cover echoes it's predecessor, but with Nicks doing a Cottingly Fairy while Fleetwood goes troubadour. It deserves it's reputation. Truly a classic.

Tusk is the twelfth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released as a double album on 12 October 1979 by Warner Bros. Records.^[5] It is considered more experimental than their previous albums, partly as a consequence of Lindsey Buckingham's sparser songwriting arrangements and the influence of post-punk.^[6] The production costs were initially estimated to be about $1 million but many years later were revealed to be about $1.4 million (equivalent to $5.23 million in 2021), making it the most expensive rock album recorded to that date.^[7]^[8]

The band embarked on a nine-month tour to promote Tusk. They travelled extensively across the world, including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. In Germany, they shared the bill with Bob Marley. On this world tour, the band recorded music for the Fleetwood Mac Live album, released in 1980.^[9]

From Wikipedia

Over & Over

The Ledge

Think About Me

Save Me a Place

Sara

What Makes You Think You're the One

Storms

That's All for Everyone

Not That Funny

Sisters of the Moon

Angel

That's Enough for Me

Brown Eyes

Never Make Me Cry

I Know I'm Not Wrong

Honey Hi

Beautiful Child

Walk a Thin Line

Tusk

"Never Forget

It's a bit of a mixed bag isn't it? One might almost say a "pot-pourri". A double album and I would suggest that they could have trimmed it to a single without loss of quality. If they'd done that they would also have had a terrific amount of just about publishable material to fleece the fans in later years. These rock bands are just not forward-looking enough. There's a lot of fairly standard, recognizable-as-Fleetwood-Mac tracks interspersed with some ker-ay-zee stuff, mainly at the hands of Buckingham. Examples of the latter are 'What Makes You Think I'm The One' in which he goes a bit wobbly voiced and sounds a lot like one of my faves Loudon Wainwright III. However Loudon has built a career on a slightly wacky approach whereas Lindsey is trying just a smidge too hard. It's not awful, the pounding piano steals stylistically from Billy Joel, but it's definitely a bit of a departure. In a similar vein there is also 'Not That Funny'. I guess that there was some attempt to tap into the buzz around new wave artists such as Talking Heads. Lindsey definitely goes a bit David Byrne on this one. Again, not terrible just, why?

'The Ledge' and 'I Know I'm Not Wrong' both feature guitar in the style of T-Rex's 'Jeepster'. 'Sara' is a standard Nicks contribution. Is this the same Sara they later welcomed to the room on Tango In The Night? Maybe there is some overriding narrative to all their work? Anything's possible. Women walking into rooms is definitely a lyrical trope for them. Nicks mentions it in 'Sisters of the Moon'. She did a solo single called 'Rooms On Fire' too. 'That's All For Everyone' is more moderately experimental stuff from Buckingham, sort of trancey and repetitious. 'Brown Eyes' resorts to quite a lot of "sha-la-la's". That's one I'd have definitely edited out. Christine McVie is scandalously underused as a vocalist and seems a bit half-hearted on the ones she does sing, such as 'Never Make Me Cry'. I'm guessing Nicks and Bucks were at the height of their stranglehold on the band at the time. The title track is all rather primitive beats. The vocal is murmured (by Bucks, natch). The beats build and there's some tribalish sounds too before they rather waspishly demand that you "just say that you want me". They then chuck in some plucked guitar and brass as it continues to build, with the odd exclamation of "Tusk!". Animal sounds (?) come in before it fades. Needless to say its actually quite wonderful. It all ends with 'Never Forget', no not the Take That song that came later and is better. This one is, ironically, quite forgettable. To go back and quote the aforementioned Loudon Wainwright when musing on Bob Dylan's 'Self Portrait' - '"Well, it's an interesting effort"

Mirage is the thirteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 18 June 1982 by Warner Bros. Records. This studio effort's soft rock sound stood in stark contrast to its more experimental predecessor, 1979's Tusk. Mirage yielded several singles: "Hold Me" (which peaked at number four on the US Billboard Pop Chart, remaining there for seven weeks), "Gypsy" (number 12 US Pop Chart), "Love in Store" (number 22 US Pop Chart), "Oh Diane" (number nine in the UK), and "Can't Go Back" (number 83 in the UK).

Following a hiatus of over a year after the completion of the worldwide Tusk tour, the band temporarily relocated to Château d'Hérouville in France to record a new album. By this time Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, and Lindsey Buckingham had each commenced a solo career, the former to multi-platinum number-one success with 1981's Bella Donna, the latter faring not as well with his first outing Law and Order (number 32 on the US Billboard 200).

From Wikipedia

Love in Store

Can't Go Back

That's Alright

Book of Love

Gypsy

Only Over You

Empire State

Straight Back

Hold Me

Oh Diane

Eyes of the World

Wish You Were Here

Tusk famously flopped. A bit unfairly in my opinion. It is too long but it still has good songs. As a result Mirage is back on the beaten track. From the start it seems more collaborative in the vocal department with a fair amount of harmonizing going on. 'Can't Go Back' has a nice plinky-plonky sound and as ever the C&W influence is prominent on the next track, 'That's Alright', helped by Nicks' southern drawl. She also does 'Gypsy' which is probably the most Nicksish Nicks track of them all. She clearly fancies herself as being a bit of a free spirit. 'It's Only Over You' is a bit Bond-ish and would have made a better theme, and a good enough title to replace it's contemporary 'For Your Eyes Only'. Buckingham still has a few experimental flights and we wouldn't love him the way we do if he was any different. He gasps out the vocal for 'Empire State', but it's interesting enough for him to get away with it. There's some funny instrumentation going on at the end though. 'Oh Diane' is a creditable Buddy Holly pastiche by Buckingham. He fooled me sufficiently to check that he actually wrote it. He gets a bit strained on 'Eyes Of The World'. He doesn't really have the depth for a proper rawk voice.

This isn't up there with Rumours or even Tango In the Night, but there's nothing wrong with it either. The cover - Fleetwood and the male McVie are nowhere to be seen. Only the beautiful people allowed in the early eighties. Lindsey Buckingham has obviously identified himself as one of these.

**TANGO IN THE NIGHT**

**13th April 1987**

Tango in the Night is the fourteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 13 April 1987. It is the fifth and final studio album from the band's most successful lineup of Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks following Buckingham's departure later that year,^[2] though the band's 2003 album, Say You Will, was recorded by all members except Christine McVie, who instead guested.

Produced by Buckingham with Richard Dashut, Tango in the Night began as one of Buckingham's solo projects, but by 1985, the production had morphed into Fleetwood Mac's next record. It contains several hit singles, including four US top 20 hits: "Big Love" (No. 5), "Seven Wonders" (No. 19), "Little Lies" (No. 4), and "Everywhere" (No. 14). Two additional songs, "Family Man" (No. 90) and "Isn't It Midnight", were released as singles to lower chart success. Tango in the Night has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.^[12]^[13] In March 2017, remastered deluxe editions of Tango in the Night were released, the first a double-CD set and the second a 3CD/1DVD/1-LP boxset.^[14]

From Wikipedia

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 II

Starts with a bang, almost literally as Buckingham and Nicks grunt and groan their way through 'Big Love'. It's a terrific song, if a little overblown in the sexual obviousness stakes. Tango In the Night is the Mac album I know best, it's musically great but often lyrically awful. 'Big Love' being a case in point. However it's absurdness is also it's greatest strength. There's nothing else to say but that the song builds to a climax. Next we have 'Seven Wonders'. Nicks wailing and singing slightly off the melody. She sort of does a French accent for the line "Certain time, certain place". The Christine-sung 'Everywhere' is next. She says something at the beginning, which now I come to think about it, I haven't a clue what it is. The backing vocal is great on this too, almost an instrument in itself and John McVie's choppy bass is superb.

Now, 'Caroline'. This album was played a lot in the student house I lived in in Sunderland and this song was a source of great mirth due to the absolute banality of the lyrics. It's sung by Buckingham and here's a sample: "She's so crazy, she's so lazy, keeps on coming, keeps on running". See? Also: "Time recedes with a fatal drop, dusty fury on a mountaintop, cut the cord if you can". He also rhymes 'cagey' with 'stagey' and 'attractive' with 'reactive'. The chorus is just "Caroli-hi-hi-hi -ine". I think it might actually be true genius. Funny echoey bit at the end too. It has it all.

Title track is good too. Some nice changes of pace and a real attempt to inject a tango beat into it. Why haven't they used it on Strictly? Maybe they could get Mick on the next series. It's got a bit of a false end before going into the kind of screaming guitar solo that no late era prog rock band could do without. Christine McVie slows it all down nicely with 'Mystified' and then follows up with 'Little Lies' which has a really interesting layered vocal and decent backing from the new kids. 'Family Man' is another with unchallenging lyrics. "I am what I am, a family man". Sung by Buckingham of course. "a family man" is echoed in a rather odd deep voice. He also lists out a few family positions, just so we get the point "Father, Mother, Brother, Third Cousin once removed" (I added one of those for comic effect, did you spot it?).

Next is 'Welcome to the Room Sara', which I mentioned in the Tusk post. I did a bit of research after that and Ol' Reliable Wikipedia reckons that Sara was the pseudonym that Nicks used when checking into the Betty Ford clinic during the recording of this album. 'Isn't It Midnight' is a fairly straightforward rocker sung by McVie, with a slightly menacing repeat of the line "the face of a pretty girl" by Bucky. Nicks decided to sing "When I See You Again" in a 'wistful style' and it's the weakest song on the album. Not even Buckingham's vocal Midas touch can save it. It all finishes with the upbeat salsa of 'You and I, Part II'. I've moaned before about bands not following through with the promised Part II song, but this just takes the biscuit. There was no part one in the first place! (actually there was, Mr Know-It-All Wikipedia says it was the B-Side of 'Big Love'). The cover is meant to look like a Henri Rousseau painting.

Behind the Mask is the fifteenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 9 April 1990. It was the first album released by the band after the departure of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham (although he did play acoustic guitar on the album's title track). He was replaced by Billy Burnette and Rick Vito, both guitar players, singers and songwriters. Fleetwood Mac thus became a six-piece band with four singer/songwriters. The album was not as successful as its predecessor, Tango in the Night, nor did it spawn any big hit singles, although "Save Me" made both American and Canadian Top 40, while "Love Is Dangerous" and "Skies the Limit" enjoyed some airplay.^[3] Though Behind the Mask barely reached the US Top 20, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1^[4] and achieved platinum status there.^[5] Following the album's release and subsequent world tour, band members Stevie Nicks and Rick Vito left the band, though Nicks would rejoin in 1997.

The cover for the album was created by photographer Dave Gorton. He stated that the band did not wish to appear on a front picture and Mick Fleetwood himself suggested that he create an image that "spiritually symbolised" the band instead.^[6] The cover earned a Grammy nomination in 1991 for "Best Album Package".

From Wikipedia

Skies the Limit

Love Is Dangerous

In the Back of My Mind

Do You Know

Save Me

Affairs of the Heart

When the Sun Goes Down

Behind the Mask

Stand on the Rock

Hard Feelings

Freedom

When It Comes to Love

The Second Time

Buckingham's gone. It begs questions about 'the point', but let's go on and see what they can achieve without his creative genius. 'Skies The Limit' does not hold much promise. Fairly bland MOR. Bucks has been replaced by Billy Burnette and Rick Vito - he's worth two of any other guitarist/singer. 'Love is Dangerous' is a bit more interesting, a sort of throaty funk number. Then we get 'In The Back Of My Mind'. 7 minutes! The first two of which is a kind of rumbling prog piece featuring deep demonic voices To be honest it doesn't really go anywhere after that. 'Do You Know' is sort of melancholy I suppose in a very anodyne way.

In fact, the best way to describe it all would be Fleetwood Mac without the bite. It's recognizably them, but somehow not. So what I'm basically saying is that for all his flaws and his towering self-regard, Lindsey Buckingham might just be an extraordinary talent. There's some out and out country here, such as 'When The Sun Goes Down' but it's mainly just dull. It all finishes with Nicks wailing through 'The Second Time'. Horrible. He does come back doesn't he?

Time is the 16th studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 10 October 1995. This album features a unique line-up for the band, featuring the addition of country vocalist Bekka Bramlett (daughter of Delaney and Bonnie) and former Traffic guitarist Dave Mason. It was the second album released after the departure of Lindsey Buckingham in 1987 (although he makes an appearance as a backing vocalist on one track), and the only Fleetwood Mac album since 1974's Heroes Are Hard to Find to not feature any contribution from Stevie Nicks. Additionally, it is the final Fleetwood Mac studio album to feature Christine McVie as an official member.

The album received unfavorable reviews from critics and was a commercial disappointment, failing to chart in the US and peaking at number 47 in the UK.

From Wikipedia

Talkin' to My Heart

Hollywood (Some Other Kind of Town)

Blow by Blow

Winds of Change

I Do

Nothing Without You

Dreamin' the Dream

Sooner or Later

I Wonder Why

Nights in Estoril

I Got It in for You

All Over Again

These Strange Times

Now Nicks has gone! Hang on, that might be a good thing. It's a bit better than Behind the Mask. It has more character at least, but it doesn't really sound like Fleetwood Mac at all. It's the kind of thing Lady Antebellum produce these days (I think they're OK by the way - no criticism intended). Nicks' replacement, Bekka Bramlett, is better than the original and I liked 'Winds Of Change' which she sings. 'Blow By Blow' is a straight Billy Joel rip-off, which is quite ironic since my run through of his albums revealed HE was willing to jump on whatever musical bandwagon was passing at the time. Rick Vito has also gone, replaced by Dave Mason who, Wikipedia tells me, used to be in Traffic (probably many a guitarist could claim the same). Christine McVie is on better form than the previous album too. 'I Do' is sung well and features an electric piano riff that reminded me of various BBC theme tunes of the late 70s and early 80s. 'Dreamin' The Dream' (Bramlett) is a nice country ballad. McVie's 'Sooner Or Later' has shades of Clannad's soundtrack to ITV Saturday teatime gem Robin of Sherwood (featuring Ray Winstone as a rather irascible Will Scarlett). There's some worrying tendencies to sound like dear old Elton in places. 'I Wonder Why' being an example.The penultimate track, sung by McVie is 'All Over Again' and is really rather good, in a sad reflective way. The last track is a 7 minuter - 'These Strange Times' and starts with jungle drums and features a rather pompous spoken vocal, backed by warbling by Bramlett. It's not as bad as it sounds.

Say You Will is the seventeenth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 15 April 2003. It followed 1995's Time and was their first album since 1970 without vocalist/keyboardist Christine McVie as a full member following her departure in 1998, though she participated in some songs as a guest musician; it would be her last time being involved with the band in a studio capacity before her death in 2022. Lindsey Buckingham performed primary keyboard duties throughout the album.

This was the band's last full album with Buckingham before his dismissal from the group in 2018, although he later participated in their 2013 extended play.

From Wikipedia

What's the World Coming To?

Murrow Turning Over in His Grave

Illume (9-11)

Thrown Down

Miranda

Red Rover

Say You Will

Peacekeeper

Come

Smile at You

Running Through the Garden

Silver Girl

Steal Your Heart Away

Bleed to Love Her

Everybody Finds Out

Destiny Rules

Say Goodbye

Goodbye Baby

Bucks is back! (Hurrah). Nicks is back! (meh). Christine McVie is gone! (boo). Mick and John plod on. Buckingham's creative juices are in full flow too. It's not in the same league as what I now recognize as being their middle purple patch (Fleetwood Mac to Tango in the Night - yes, including Tusk) but it's head and shoulders above the last two efforts. It's a long un too, probably a double but they didn't really exist any more in 2003. Nicks has been hitting the woodbines too hard if her voice is anything to go by. The second track, cryptically called 'Murrow Turning In His Grave' descends into classic screaming guitar hero riffs. There's also a song with a girl's name as a title 'Miranda', just like the classic 'Caroline'. Buckingham employs a kind of scratchy effect on his voice, and it gallops along nicely with a bit of western style backing it up. Next he tries out some very odd guitar work on 'Red Rover'. It doesn't quite work for me, sounds like he's got a wasp stuck inside. 'Say You Will' ends in an odd fashion as Nicks' voice seems to morph into a child's. I think Buckingham does a chicken impression on 'Peacekeeper'. 'Come' is a horrible cacophony. All the Nicks tracks are pretty standard for her.'Steal Your Heart Away' could almost be by World Party, has the aura of 'Message In The Box' about it.'Bleed To Love Her' steals some South African rhythms. 'Say Goodbye' is diabolically oversung by Buckingham, but what do you expect?

So that's it. Nothing after 2003. Buckingham creatively exhausted I should imagine.

RockOdyssey

Fleetwood Mac: From Green's to Will

David Bowie: From Eponymous to Blackstar

Pixies: From Pilgrim to Cindy