Fleetwood Mac (Official Thread)

[Magic]

Fleetwood Mac Official Website
Everything Fleetwood Mac


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Formed in 1967, released their first studio album in 1968. There is a Poll on the forum about which band member line-up is better, so visit this thread if you can.

I myself personally like the band with Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac is awesome no matter which line-up you prefer.

Fleetwood Mac has had two very successful periods in the bands career, the British blues era (the late 60's) and their pop oriented era (1975-1987).

As far as vocalists go, I love Stevie Nicks. I love her gravelly, gruff voice. Her voice is what makes this band so unique, IMO. The release of 1975, after the band made their transition in personnel and moved to a more pop sound, is my absolute favorite release. Strangely, this release was the self titled release "Fleetwood Mac", which would steer you to believe it was their FIRST album.

This album was the first album to feature Lindsey Buckinham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as vocalist. This album launched the bands career!

Landslide

Monday Morning

Rhianon

Over My Head

Discography:

1968 Fleetwood Mac
1968 Mr. Wonderful
1969 Then Play On
1969 Fleetwood Mac in Chicago /Blues Jam in Chicago, Vols. 1&2
1970 Kiln House
1971 Future Games
1972 Bare Trees
1973 Penguin
1973 Mystery to Me
1974 Heroes Are Hard to Find
1975 Fleetwood Mac
1977 Rumours
1979 Tusk
1982 Mirage
1987 Tango in the Night
1990 Behind the Mask
1995 Time
2003 Say You Will


Tell me what you like or dislike about Fleetwood Mac!!!

 

[LG]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

That is the best album the latter version of FM ever released, I like it way more than Rumours. It is one of the best engineered vinyl albums ever released, and should be in any course for upcoming sound engineers/producers as an example of how to do it right.

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

One of my favorites! I was introduced to them from two sources! The first was the awesome Smashing Pumpkins cover of

Landslide


and Hole sang

Gold Dust Woman



I'm not judging which are better because they both are sung very differently. The point is that Fleetwood Mac was introduced to a different generation because they made music that had mass appeal over time. At this point my ears perked when they started their comeback tour for The Dance concert and I bought it!

The Dance

I heard a lot of their hits for the first time and I liked the whole c.d. through and through. I thought they had a real energy for a band just reuniting over a period of time. It felt like something fresh even listening to it as a younger kid.

My favorite Fleetwood Mac songs not listed are:

The Chain



Rhiannon
(I really like Stevie with this one)



One thing that sticks out to me about this band is that every member has a part and their songs have more variety for this reason.

 

[Flower]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

I like this Fleetwood Mac ~

Formation and early years (1967–1970)

Fleetwood Mac were formed in 1967 in London when Peter Green left the British blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Green had replaced guitarist Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers, and received critical acclaim for his work on their album A Hard Road. After he had been in the Bluesbreakers for some time, Green asked if drummer Mick Fleetwood could replace Aynsley Dunbar. Green had been in two bands with Fleetwood — "Peter B's Looners" and the subsequent "Shotgun Express" (which featured a young vocalist named Rod Stewart). John Mayall agreed and Fleetwood became a member of the band.

The Bluesbreakers now consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie and Mayall. Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, in which Fleetwood, McVie and Green recorded five songs. The fifth song was an instrumental which Green named after the rhythm section, "Fleetwood Mac".

Green contacted Fleetwood to form a new band. The pair desperately wanted McVie on bass and even named the band 'Fleetwood Mac' as a way to entice McVie. However McVie opted for the steady paycheque of the Mayall gig rather than the unknown of a new band. In the meantime Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood teamed up with talented slide player Jeremy Spencer and bassist Bob Brunning, who was in the band on the understanding that he would leave if and when McVie agreed to join. The Green, Fleetwood, Spencer, Brunning version of the band made its debut on 13 August 1967 at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. Within weeks of this show, John McVie agreed to become the bassist for the band.

Fleetwood Mac's first album, Fleetwood Mac, was a no-frills blues album and was released on the Blue Horizon label in February 1968. In fact there were no other players on the album (except for the song "Long Grey Mare", which was recorded when Bob Brunning was in the band). The album was hugely successful in the UK, hitting no.4, though it did not have any singles on it. The band soon released two singles "Black Magic Woman" (later a big hit for Santana) and "Need Your Love So Bad".

The band's second album, Mr. Wonderful, was released in August 1968. Like the first it was an all-blues album, but this time they made a few changes. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board. This method provided the ideal environment for producing this style of music, and gave it an authentically vintage sound. They also added horns and featured a friend of the band on keyboards, Christine Perfect of Chicken Shack.

Shortly after the release of their second album Fleetwood Mac added guitarist Danny Kirwan to their line-up at the tender age of 18. Green had been frustrated that Jeremy Spencer had little desire to contribute to Green's songs. Kirwan brought a harmony-rich sound that was indicative of his range of influence. A mature and accomplished self-taught guitarist, Kirwan's signature vibrato and unique style added a new dimension to an already complete band. With Kirwan the band released their first number one single in Europe, "Albatross". Around this time they released their second American album, English Rose, which contained half of Mr. Wonderful, new songs from Kirwan, and their third European album called The Pious Bird of Good Omen, which was a collection of singles, B-sides, and a selection of some work the band did with Eddie Boyd.

When the band went to the United States in January 1969 they recorded many songs at the soon-to-close Chess Records Studio, with some blues legends of Chicago including Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and Otis Spann. These would prove, however, to be Fleetwood Mac's last all-blues recordings. Along with their change of style the band was also going through some label changes. Up until this point they had been on Blue Horizon. With Kirwan in the band, however, the musical possibilities were too great for them to stay on a blues-only label. The band signed with the Immediate Records label and released "Man of the World", another British and European hit single. For the B-side Spencer fronted Fleetwood Mac as "Earl Vince and the Valiants" and recorded "Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite", typifying the more raucous rock 'n' roll side of the band. Immediate was in bad shape and the band shopped around for a new deal. Even though The Beatles wanted the band on Apple Records (Mick Fleetwood and George Harrison were brothers-in-law), the band's manager Clifford Davis decided to go with Warner Bros. Records, the label they have stayed with ever since. Their first album for Warner, released in September 1969, was the well-regarded Then Play On. The American release of this album contains the song "Oh Well", featured consistently in live performances from the time of its release through 1997 and then again starting in 2009. Then Play On, which was the band's first rock album, featured only the songs of Kirwan and Green. Jeremy Spencer, meanwhile, recorded a solo album (he was backed by the rest of the band) which consisted of many 1950s-style rock and roll songs.

In July 1969 Fleetwood Mac were the headliners of the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park, along with The Byrds, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin, B. B. King, The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa and Patti LaBelle. They re-appeared at the festival in 1970.

Fleetwood Mac were arguably the most popular band in Europe at the time. However, Peter Green, the frontman of the band, was not in good health. He had unwittingly taken LSD in Munich, which contributed to the onset of his schizophrenia.[1]

German author and filmmaker Rainer Langhans mentions in his autobiography that he and Uschi Obermaier met Peter Green in Munich, where they invited him to their "High-Fish-Commune". They were not really interested in Peter Green. They just wanted to get in contact with Mick Taylor: Langhans and Obermaier wished to organise a "Bavarian Woodstock". They wanted Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones to be the leading acts of their Bavarian open air festival. They needed the 'Green God' just to get in contact with The Rolling Stones via Mick Taylor.

Green's last hit with Fleetwood Mac was "The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Prong Crown)" (first recorded at the Boston Tea Party in February 1970 and later recorded by Judas Priest). Green's mental stability deteriorated, and he wanted to give all of the band's money to charity. Some other members of the band did not agree, and subsequently Green decided to leave the band. His last show with Fleetwood Mac was on 20 May 1970. During that show, the band went past their allotted time, and the power was shut off. Mick Fleetwood kept drumming.

*From Wikipedia

 

[Foxhound]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

Sooty:

Check out these tracks from Fleetwood Mac's pre-pop days as well:

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

Sooty:

Check out these tracks from Fleetwood Mac's pre-pop days as well:

Thanks for these extra tracks to add an extra perspective. While I still like the poppier stuff I really liked the Green Manalishi song. Even better when I clicked on the video it talked about how crazy the writer was which made sense. It's a trippy song but that's why I liked it!

 

[LG]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

I love that song, but I prefer Judas Priest's version...lol. I never realized that it was an early FM song.(The Green Manalishi with the Two Pronged Crown)

 

[Flower]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

Jumpin' At Shadows

 

[Foxhound]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

A lot of music fans are unaware of the fact that "Black Magic Woman" was a Fleetwood Mac original which Santana subsequently covered. Fleetwood Mac's highest charting single from the Peter Green days was this one which reached number one in the U.K.:

 

[LG]

Re: Fleetwood Mac

I knew that song was a cover by Carlos, but I didn't realize Manalishi was a FM original.