The original Fleetwood Mac

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 21 Nov 2006 3:42 pm

Fleetwood Mac
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xP_Iv2od04M

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My initial response was to sue her for defamation of character, but then I realized that I have no character. -- Charles Barkley

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 22 Nov 2006 8:01 am

Great clip, Darryl! Too bad there isn't any YouTube vids of Fleetwood Mac's original version of "Black Magic Woman". I always liked the way they broke the song into an uptempo blues shuffle on the end.

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 22 Nov 2006 9:17 am

Who are the original members??
How long were they together and what records did they make.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 22 Nov 2006 9:53 am

This is a pretty decent history of the band:
http://tinyurl.com/y8xjhr

I love those albums "Then Play On" and "Future Games."

By then, there were some new members. Fleetwood Mac had one of those histories in the first decade of their existence like some blugrass bands do, with frequent personnel changes.

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Mark

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 22 Nov 2006 10:03 am

Bill the original members were Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan (all three on lead/rhthym guitar), John McVie, bass, and Mick Fleetwood on drums.

Peter and Danny specialized in standard fretting and Jeremy specialized in bottleneck slide.

The original line-up recorded for Epic Records frrom 1967 until 1970. The first album was self titled. Other albums released during that time are/were "Mr. Wonderful", "English Rose", "Pious Bird of Good Omen", and lastly "Then Play On".

Starting in 1970, one by one the original guitarists left the band, starting with Peter Green. In 1971 the band relocated from England to Los Angeles. Christine Perfect (later McVie) joined after Peter Green quit, and Bob Welch (an American guitarist) replaced Jeremy Spencer. The band made several albums which averaged modest sales. Finally, Danny Kirwan quit and the band languished for a year or so. Back in England, the original band manager threw together a bunch of hacks with the intent of putting them on tour as "Fleetwood Mac". In order to prevent this from becoming an image problem, not to mention a loss of potential revenue, the real Fleetwood Mac band quickly audtioned two American musicians who had been playing together in the Los Angeles area. They were to replace Danny Kirwan, and their names were Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The rest is, as they say, pop history.

As a die-hard afficienado of American post-war urban blues, the first line-up of Fleetwood Mac was, IMHO, by far the best even though it attained only a mere fraction of the fame and fortune of the "Anglo/Yank" agregration.

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 22 Nov 2006 10:40 am

Do you mean Fleetwood Mac is a rock band?

I have heard the name; but thought it was McDonald's __ "Cadillac of Hamburgers".

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 22 Nov 2006 12:58 pm

"Got me hypnotized........"

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 22 Nov 2006 10:49 pm

Best white Blues band ever, now of course the early Paul Butterfield Blues Band was interracial, aside from the first two Butterfield albums, no-one could touch them.

Anyone got John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers 'Hard Road' album from '67?
Peter Green and John McVie are the core band, they also cut an EP with Paul Butterfield.
Mick Fleetwood did join them briefly, cut one single and left, with plans to form a band called Fleetwood Mac not long after.

Will Houston · Post by **Will Houston** » 23 Nov 2006 12:50 am

Nobody mentioned Kiln House,(one of my favs). All the originals except Peter Green, with Christine Perfect doing some keyboard, and she did the cover art work for the album.

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 23 Nov 2006 9:03 am

Kiln House was a good example of how the band continued to be good for a while, though not as good as the original line-up. Without Green, the band petered out.

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"The less I was of who I was, the better I felt." -- Leonard Cohen

Lefty · Post by **Lefty** » 23 Nov 2006 7:56 pm

I was lucky enough to get to see the original band in concert twice. Once before the "Then Play on" album. They opened for Grand Funk Railroad here in Atlanta Oglethorpe University. Great show. I saw them again right after "Oh Well" became a hit at the old Sports arena in downtown Atlanta.
Great show, extremely loud with a massive PA system. Great Music. I have the "English Rose" album cover framed and in my home office. Mick Fleetwood in drag, Egads!
Lefty

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 26 Nov 2006 7:06 am

in drag... surely the Mr. Wonderful LP cover would be the main concern.

Chris Bauer · Post by **Chris Bauer** » 28 Nov 2006 8:24 pm

Though it's a pretty uneven collection, the series of albums they did with a string of their Chicago blues idols has some HUGE moments that are well worth wading though the rest for.

None of the three original guitarists ever seemed to get the recogniton they deserved either individually or collectively. Even if they weren't as great as they were, though, it seems to me they'd deserve medals anyhow just for being the only band besides Moby Grape to make three lead guitars sound totally bitchin.[This message was edited by Chris Bauer on 28 November 2006 at 08:26 PM.]

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 29 Nov 2006 4:56 am

Chris, part of the reason they made three lead guitars sound "totally bitchin'" is they maintained the type of arranging that is indicative of both traditional blues and traditional country ensembles: All three guitars rarely, if ever, played leads simultaneously. Playing multiple lead instruments simultaneously is strickly a rock, bluegrass or dixieland thing. It usually doesn't happen in blues and country except in the case of twin lead harmony passages.

Jason, I would say Fleetwood Mac was most notably, ONE of the best all-white blues bands of that era. But let's not forget all of the other all-white blues bands of the 60's and 70's. Of which, many were extremely talented: Alexis Koerner http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Alexis%20Korner:1927000335 and John Mayall, who's many incarnations of "The Bluesbreakers" come to mind. Both of these two musicians had blues bands which were the "incubator" for many other British blues bands such as Ansley Dunbar's Retaliation, the early forms of T.S. McPhee and The Groundhogs and Savoy Brown w/Chris Youlden (sp). also, Chicken Shack with Stan Webb and Christine Perfect http://www.brumbeat.net/chickens.htm
and Keef Hartley's Half-Breed and many, many others.

On this side of the pond there were some really good all-white blues bands, too. The various "all-white" incarnations of Barry Goldberg's, Harvey Mandel's and Nick Gravenites' bands. I say "all-white" because all three had all-white as well as multi-racial blues bands. Also, Canned Heat, Room Full of Blues, early Pacific Gas & Electric, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Paul Ray's Cobras, SRV's Double Trouble, Anson Funderberg and the Rockets, Omar and the Howlers, Johnny Winter's band and the list goes on....

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn[This message was edited by Glenn Suchan on 29 November 2006 at 05:00 AM.][This message was edited by Glenn Suchan on 29 November 2006 at 05:01 AM.][This message was edited by Glenn Suchan on 29 November 2006 at 05:02 AM.][This message was edited by Glenn Suchan on 29 November 2006 at 05:03 AM.][This message was edited by Glenn Suchan on 29 November 2006 at 05:05 AM.][This message was edited by Glenn Suchan on 29 November 2006 at 08:40 AM.][This message was edited by Glenn Suchan on 29 November 2006 at 08:41 AM.]

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 29 Nov 2006 9:44 am

i caught Fleetwood mac a bunch of times on their 1st US tour in the late 60s
Peter Green was w: them of course
They were quite good somewhat innovative
the concert halls were filled w: them British & American blues bands
so many were good too

now Moby Grape that was crazy ass band
i caught em too a few times & loved'em

[This message was edited by CrowBear Schmitt on 29 November 2006 at 09:45 AM.]

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 1 Dec 2006 5:14 am

I didn't forget any of those bands, the first couple of versions of Fleetwood Mac did it better than all of them.

Mayall and Koerner's bands were very cool, and some great records, but a bit too jazz influenced compared to the Mac.

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 1 Dec 2006 6:18 am

I'm so old that I remember when the old Fleetwood Mac got bigtime coverage in my little sister's "16" teenage fan magazines.

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 2 Dec 2006 12:14 am

Alexis Koerner!
Moby Grape!
Aynsley Dunbar!
Savoy Brown!
Harvey Mandel!
Nick Gravenites!
Omar and the Howlers!

Thanks for finding those brain cells.

One question: Do a lot of people share my dislike for Mayall's singing?

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"The less I was of who I was, the better I felt." -- Leonard Cohen

Jerry Hayes R.I.P. · Post by **Jerry Hayes R.I.P.** » 2 Dec 2006 7:48 am

I'm probably in the minority but I prefer the lineup with Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham to to originals by a "landslide".......JH in Va.

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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 2 Dec 2006 10:47 am

Jerry,

Since you're going to get stomped to death by raging forumites, I thought I might give you a comforting farewell.

I eventually learned to like Bucky Nicks. If I think of them not as Fleetwood Mac but as a hot chick who hired a guitarist and an out-of-work but great rhythm section, then they sound pretty good. (But you have to forget that Christine Perfect was relegated to the role of hat-check girl.)

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"The less I was of who I was, the better I felt." -- Leonard Cohen

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 2 Dec 2006 1:52 pm

I saw Mac once, when they opened for Frank Zappa in Milwaukee. And they were TERRIBLE! Just unlistenable. Green was not present. I think they may have just gone through a personel change, and should not have been on stage anywhere. Just awful!

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 2 Dec 2006 2:12 pm

Green when he was on, has achieved legendary status.

As a skilled musician, I have to believe that Buckingham is the strongest in the history of the "franchise."

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Mark
[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 02 December 2006 at 02:13 PM.]

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 2 Dec 2006 10:04 pm

I saw Fleetwood Mac in the early '70s and they sounded okay, but they had a very cocky attitude on stage. It was an afternoon show, outdoors, and the crowd was not responding to them. They introduced their last song like this: "We're gonna play one more song, and if you people can't get into this... you can't get into anything!" That's a great way to win a crowd over!

The opening act was an unknown folk/rock singer/songwriter named Bruce Springsteen! Playing solo and singing about as good as he does today

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My Site - Instruction

[This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 02 December 2006 at 10:08 PM.]

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 3 Dec 2006 10:38 am

When I saw them, it was a gas. Tear gas. The cops made some kind of mistake, not entirely their fault, and tear gassed an outdoor stadium in Stockton, California. This was in the Bob Welch, pre-B & N days.

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 3 Dec 2006 6:36 pm

Went to see the Eagles and FM in 1976, and Mac opened the show. They were so great, I didn't care whether the Eagles played or not, believe it or not. The Eagles were ok, but FM stole the show.