I can understand how veering off-course from the original topic, can be annoying to many people... but I've always loved how we tend to do that around here.
Goofy, I know, but it feels like a conversation with your friends or family... you start out talking about one thing, which leads into another and another, and eventually you come back to the original topic at hand.
Anyway, I greatly enjoy the band's output from '71 - '74.
Like most people, I became a fan of the band while Lindsey and Stevie were members (the first time!), so I worked my way backwards to the band's blues beginnings.
I had a little bit of trouble getting into the very first three albums (I took a shine to 'Then Play On' right away though), but I eventually developed a huge appreciation for that era of the band's sound.
I had no such trouble with the Welch & McVie era, as it's more along the lines of the music I was already listening to at the time.
That was a great period in the band's history... a little unstable, yes, but they still produced some amazing material.
Johnny Stew