[SteveMacD]

It's my favorite incarnation, truth be told. Probably because they took a lot more musical risks than other incarnations. The two above mentioned live shows were pretty killer, though I like the Seattle show best. They had been together long enough to where they were playing very well as a band.

Now, why does this era get overlooked? That incarnation was only together for 18 or so months, which doesn't help in terms of building a legacy. In fact, from its inception until Jan. 1975, Fleetwood Mac never had the same incarnation for more than 18 months. Then there's the fact that the whole Bob Welch era is bookended by two very successful bands. Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac was a supergroup of sorts when it debuted and the "Rumours" band was one of the most legendary bands in rock history. So with two well known and deeply admired incarnations, it's only natural that the stuff that doesn't fall into either category would be received with luke-warm reception by some.

Which is a shame, because FG/BT are perhaps the two most important albums in the history of Fleetwood Mac. While "Then Play On" was really the first album that wasn't a traditional blues album, there were enough blues elements that kept the faithful happy. FG is the first album the band did that had completely nothing to do with the blues or '50s rock/country. It was a '70s rock album, complete with extended jamming. There was no "shtick." The songwriting on BT was more focused, was much friendlier to pop radio, and was really the biggest step the band took to becoming what it eventually became. You could really take away the next three albums, and the transition from BT to the white FM album would have made complete sense (although those albums, too, had classics I wouldn't want to be without).