The first few Albums

DavidMn · #1 10-05-2005, 01:55 PM

Ok, I'm going to sound a bit ignorant here, but it seems to me that first few Albums Fleetwood Mac put out in the late 60's were more a collection of singles slapped together than a cohseive album project. I enjoy those recordings, dont get me wrong, but I was just curious, am I totally off base, or if I'm somewhere near right, why did they do things that way at that time?

Jyqm · #2 10-05-2005, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

Ok, I'm going to sound a bit ignorant here, but it seems to me that first few Albums Fleetwood Mac put out in the late 60's were more a collection of singles slapped together than a cohseive album project. I enjoy those recordings, dont get me wrong, but I was just curious, am I totally off base, or if I'm somewhere near right, why did they do things that way at that time?

Which albums specifically are you talking about? In the case of Pious Bird, at least, it was merely a collection of singles.

DavidMn · #3 10-05-2005, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jyqm

Which albums specifically are you talking about? In the case of Pious Bird, at least, it was merely a collection of singles.

Well, I was thinking of Mr.Wonderful, the first one Fleetwood mac and English Rose

SteveMacD · #4 10-05-2005, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

Ok, I'm going to sound a bit ignorant here, but it seems to me that first few Albums Fleetwood Mac put out in the late 60's were more a collection of singles slapped together than a cohseive album project. I enjoy those recordings, dont get me wrong, but I was just curious, am I totally off base, or if I'm somewhere near right, why did they do things that way at that time?

"Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac" and "Mr. Wonderful" were cohesive album projects. "English Rose" was 1/2 "Mr. Wonderful," some new songs by the new guitarist (Danny Kirwan), and a couple of singles. It was their second American album, and back then, it was common for albums to be released differently in the US and UK (different tracks, different titles, etc). "Pious Bird" was a collection of songs released as singles and some album tracks. The next studio album was "Then Play On," which went through some variations in track listings (which seemed to continue until it was issued on CD). The final album from the Peter Green days (released during his tenure) was "Blues Jam Session At Chess," which was released under several different names and track orders. In fact, a recent CD version I've seen lists it under "Various Artists." An album released after Jeremy's departure, "The Original Fleetwood Mac," was a collection of various unreleased songs by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.

The rest of their studio projects were the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

chiliD · #5 10-05-2005, 03:35 PM

Those pre-Then Play On albums get kind of confusing...well, come to think of it, TPO has a chequered past, as well.

Mr. Wonderful was a UK only release. Since Danny Kirwan joined AFTER that was released, they rush-released Pious Bird Of Good Omen to include some recently recorded tunes & singles featuring Danny.

Since their US label, Epic, was a bit behind in releasing Fleetwood Mac albums (they'd barely released FMac's first album by the time Mr Wonderful was released in the UK), they packaged an album made up of combining Mr. Wonderful & Pious Bird... tunes, and two songs originally released the first pressing of the UK Then Play On, "One Sunny Day" & "Without You" (both were taken off and replaced with "Oh Well" on the second pressing), AND a Danny Kirwan song never released on a UK album, "Something Inside Of Me"...and called it English Rose.

The initial pressing of the US version of Then Play On included Danny's two tunes, "When You Say" & "My Dream"...which were both replaced by "Oh Well" on subsequent pressings.

EDIT: Apparently, Steve was a little quicker on the keyboard than me.

SteveMacD · #6 10-05-2005, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiliD

EDIT: Apparently, Steve was a little quicker on the keyboard than me.

Yeah, but it's so confusing (especially with the early TPO) that having a couple of explanations helps.

DavidMn · #7 10-05-2005, 03:41 PM

Thanks both to Steve and Chili. I love posting here because I really like learning more about this part of Fleetwood Mac.

Alan Olson · #8 10-05-2005, 04:08 PM

I would really like to see a re-release of Then Play On with additional material that may have been canned, maybe 2 or 3 CD's worth...having those extended versions of Underway & the Madge Session jams from the Vaudeville Years CD's are just fantastic. I just wish there was more of that material for all of us to enjoy....

DavidMn · #9 10-05-2005, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Olson

I would really like to see a re-release of Then Play On with additional material that may have been canned, maybe 2 or 3 CD's worth...having those extended versions of Underway & the Madge Session jams from the Vaudeville Years CD's are just fantastic. I just wish there was more of that material for all of us to enjoy....

Hey Alan, nice to see you on again. PM me sometime.

chiliD · #10 10-05-2005, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Olson

I would really like to see a re-release of Then Play On with additional material that may have been canned, maybe 2 or 3 CD's worth...having those extended versions of Underway & the Madge Session jams from the Vaudeville Years CD's are just fantastic. I just wish there was more of that material for all of us to enjoy....

I'd just be happy if they'd add a 2nd disc of the Jeremy Spencer album that was originally supposed to be released simultaneously with TPO.

Link to Penguin Discography:

Jeremy Spencer's first "solo" album (actually, it's Fleetwood Mac)

Neb-Maat-Re · #11 10-05-2005, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

it seems to me that first few Albums Fleetwood Mac put out in the late 60's were more a collection of singles slapped together than a cohseive album project.

This isn't entirely unusual for the first few albums for most groups in the 60s - although it does tend to be truer of early 60s releases than later ones.

Even some "concept" albums (Tommy, Pet Sounds) had blatant singles bunged into them to make them more marketable.

Neb-Maat-Re · #12 10-05-2005, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiliD

I'd just be happy if they'd add a 2nd disc of the Jeremy Spencer album that was originally supposed to be released simultaneously with TPO.

Sorry to add to the confusion - and certainly not questioning chiliD's knowledge of these matters - but was the Jeremy Spencer album actually the disc that was originally slated to come with TPO or was it really a stand alone?

Aren't there other Jeremy parody track on the Vaudeville Years set that are supposed to be the unreleased EP to go with TPO?

Or are the VY tracks outtakes from the JS album?

In any case, it would be great to see the JS album released in some manner - perhaps if they re-titled it FM featuring JS to assist marketing?

chiliD · #13 10-06-2005, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neb-Maat-Re

Sorry to add to the confusion - and certainly not questioning chiliD's knowledge of these matters - but was the Jeremy Spencer album actually the disc that was originally slated to come with TPO or was it really a stand alone?

Yes, it was supposed to be released simultaneously with TPO as a separate album, though. Reprise pushed that album back a few months, so it ended up being a stand alone by default, not by design. Being that it was 1970 and double albums were all the rage, I'm surprised they just didn't release TPO as a double album...with the album we know as "Record One" and Jeremy's album as "Record Two"

Would've made more sense. Maybe when they get around to doing the TPO remaster, that's what they'll do.

sharksfan2000 · #14 10-06-2005, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiliD

Maybe when they get around to doing the TPO remaster, that's what they'll do.

Wonder whether I'll see a remastered TPO in my lifetime

bretonbanquet · #15 10-06-2005, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Olson

I would really like to see a re-release of Then Play On with additional material that may have been canned, maybe 2 or 3 CD's worth...having those extended versions of Underway & the Madge Session jams from the Vaudeville Years CD's are just fantastic. I just wish there was more of that material for all of us to enjoy....

I agree that if ever TPO gets remastered, the best bet would be to release it with Jeremy's first album as a double set. I'm not sure how much Green-era Mac studio material there is left unreleased. With the Vaudeville Years / Show-Biz Blues sets and the Complete Blue Horizon box, how much more can there be? The only things I can think of are possible studio versions of 'Only You', 'Sandy Mary', 'Loving Kind', 'One Sided Love' etc - if there ever were any.

The only other stuff I can think of that's still unreleased from this era is the rest of the Radio sessions, the tracks that didn't make it on to 'Live at the BBC'. There must be at least one disc worth of nuggets still locked away somewhere. There's another version of 'Talk With You' there somewhere, and songs like 'Just Want To Tell You' and 'All Over Again' haven't seen the light of day yet. Also there must be several covers of blues tunes from radio sessions, and the session they did for the BBC with Duster Bennett and Alexis Korner in March '69.

I know we're getting into flying pigs territory here, but the outtakes / demos I really want to hear are the post-Green era ones, with Danny and Bob Welch. Yeah, right...