Birthday wishes to Jeremy Spencer

[BklynBlue]

The Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac as a whole is ill-served by their recorded output, and Jeremy Spencer's reputation suffers even more when judged solely by what has been released commercially.
Listening to the bootlegs of their live shows, it quickly becomes apparent that Spencer was beginning to move beyond Elmore James and as early as the first American tour, beginning to incorporate the elements of Western Swing and country music into his playing and singing.
You can hear the changes over the months as he works them out on "You Got To Move" and "My Baby's Sweet".
All of the various influences are brought to bear on his stand-out reading of Homesick James' version of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues"
Compare the version from the Carousel Ballroom with that from The Space, in NYC a few weeks later. The Carousel version stays pretty close to James' arrangement while the one recorded in NY has a slower, country (as in Hank Williams)feel.
Here, Spencer captures the essence of the Johnson original, the cries of a man who is both haunted and hunted. It is a fantastic performance and a revelation to those who think of the "Mr. Wonderful" LP and "Teenage Darling" as the sum total of his work.
Always insecure, the addition of Danny Kirwan seemed to seal off any possibility of pushing himself further for fear of failure.
Happy birthday Spencer, here's hoping that your appearance at the Notodden Blues Festival in August goes well and that you are ready to display the full range of your abilities to the wider public.