Mystery to me
 

It's alway refreshing to find so many post-Rumors fans finding their way back to the roots of FM and liking it. To anyone out there who bought the "best of FM", go back. Waaaaaay back. You'll like it. :angel: :angel: :angel:

Well, I've just begun doing that and I thought I liked FM during and after Rumours...but after hearing some pre-BN albums I can admit for the most part I like this period of FM more than the Rumours. Maybe I'm just tired of it. Maybe it's the thrill of finding new music (which is actually quite old) from a band you really like...I don't know, but so far it's been some fantasic music which sadly isn't acknowledged by many FM fans as much as it should.

Shamus:)


"Seems like a dream.....got me hypnotized"

I'm the same way. Mystery to Me beats out Rumours for me, I think it's one of the most over-looked Mac albums, you know. I always like discovering older music by my favourite bands, even newer bands I like, for instance No Doubt, and even some of the older bands that are still releasing new music, like Blondie.

ChliD and I (as well as many others that hang out here and the post Rumours board for that matter) LOVE to see these boards jumpin' so this is great that it seems many here are getting that push they needed to investigate the Mac further than the "usual barriers". We'll all do our best to keep those of you digging right on your non BN journeys. :)

John

M2M...
 

GREAT album!!! Why is one of the greatest songs EVER and so is Hypnotized!! :thumbsup: In fact, all of Christine's songs on M2M are PERFECTION!!

Mystery To Me is awesome. I'm hard pressed to skip a track until "The Way I Feel" (sorry, Chris:( ) but she totally makes up for it with the awesome "Why."

I've just gotten into the band, and my first album was "Bare Trees" since I liked "Sentimental Lady" from my dad's Chain boxed set so much. Needless to say it had many songs which were just as good or better.

Mystery To Me was the 2nd album by them I got and it's one of my favorites of theirs.

One thing I did notice about this period of the band. None of the songs really seem to fit together on the albums. It doesn't bother me but Welch and McVie were like polar opposites, with the Heroes album being the most glaring example. Note the fantastic contrast between track 1 and 2. It's some girly, sunny pop music about how men are worthless complete with a very happy sounding horn section, and all of a sudden they turn into a proggy, psychedelic malestrom with some guy babbling some airy-fairy nonsense amid a thick din of reverb and echo! I think it's cool but just very strange. When Buckingham an d Nicks came in suddenly things had a much more uniform quality to them, and the albums (not counting Tusk) had a more consistant, trademark sound that ran throughout the album, and didn't really sound like random tracks from three very different bandmembers.

However I still think I prefer the older stuff. It's a little rougher and the songs have a more "fun" feel to them. Just Crazy Love, Believe Me, Morning Rain, and Dissatisfied are some of my favorite Chris tracks. Tusk and Mirage are the only Rumours era albums I have, but I have all the Welch Stuff, with Penguin, Mystery, and Heroes my faves.

To be honest, after aquiring all the Welch albums, plus a couple BN era ones and The Dance DVD, I feel like my Mac collection is complete! There's so much good music in that era and it's a shame it's so overlooked.

One other thing I noticed. That whole dark era of the band from 71-74 basically gets shafted as far as compilations go, even Chris.

Really? I really like this song. Then again, I can't really skip any tracks on this album:laugh: I do have a question...For Your Love is a cover from another group right?

Shamus:)

Yeah, Graham Gouldman (later of 10CC) wrote "For your love" which was recorded and made famous by The Yardbirds. From what I hear, this is the song that Eric Clapton left The Yardbirds over (as he was deep in to blues at the time and he thought that FYL was "too pop") so he left after recording it and joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and we all know what then happened. :)

I agree Eric, it's a REAL shame the Welch era in particular gets shafted on comps. Maybe they won't be now that Mick has kissed and made up with Welch? :)

John

Off Topic
 

Hey, Wetcamelfood! I didn't realize you were from Peabody. I just got back from there, my brother had a soccer game. Good to see another Bay Stater (and pre-BN fan) on the board.

Shamus:)

Hey, great to meet you Shamus. :)

Yeah, I'm from MA originally and then I moved away for a few years and now I'm back, so I'm trying to find everything again. :)

Is Leicester far from Peabody? Maybe we could PM/E mail each other and meet up or something. Let me know and in the meantime this is really great to have a few new "non BN era" fans to chat with here and you're being a local one to me is an extra plus. :)

John

Leicester (pronounced Lester) is located right next to Worcester, just west of it. We're pretty small, only about 10,000 people. I'll try to find out the miles and add it on later.

Shamus:)

Ok, I did a rough calculation. It's about 40 miles-(In Massachusetts, considered far away...in the rest of the world, considered a short trip:laugh: )

Back on topic though, I don't mind "The way I feel" either, it's really nice and vulnerable.

I think the prog stuff of which you speak of Eric is great too, I LOVE "Coming home", I sometimes think of that as the most psychedelic track that FM ever recorded (i.e. being furthest from the commercial sound for which they later became known etc.) but that can change from time to time of course. :)

Anyways, it's interesting to listen to Welch's stuff circa HAHTF in that we now know from what Welch has said that he wanted to get more hard rockin' (a la Led Zepplin) at the time but the rest of FM weren't into doing that so I guess he was held back a little from doing that but knowing this now makes listening to what he WAS "allowed" to do within the band that he was happy enough with to release with his "name" on it. "Angel" (from HAHTF) is pretty rocking, "Silver heels" etc. Have you heard the first Paris album? You might like some of that (FM sure didn't after they heard it!). :)

John

Thanks Shamus, I'll do some sniffing around later to see specifically where in the Worcester area Leicester is (yeah, I figured it was pronounced "Lester" as that's how the one in England was pronounced too) to see if meeting up is possible etc. and I'll PM you. :)

John

Oh yeah Eric, the "more fun" thing you speak of is probably true in that back then they probably were more open to doing more styles of music than they were later etc. (I mean, OK, they wouldn't let Welch get too rockin' but generally...) and back then they weren't so perfectionist about everything, they just recorded stuff and released it already (which of course will NEVER happen now). I know that's the way everyone is now etc. but I don't understand WHY it "has" to be that way with music these days etc.

So Eric, I meant to ask, you say your collection is complete with the BN stuff you have and the Welch stuff...I respect if you don't like it but I just gotta ask, did you like any of the Peter Green era stuff or BTM/Time stuff? Just curious to know what you thought of that stuff here (though I'm sorry if I'm going off topic again everybody). :)

John

It's nice to see the Pre-Rumours board active again. I think "Mystery to Me" is fantastic! I wouldn't think of skipping any tracks. It's pretty close to being a perfect album. Of all the Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac albums, only "Tusk" is about as good as Mystery to Me. And, I LOVE "The Way I Feel". That's my second favorite Christine song on the album.

By the way, Eric, Christine does play piano on a number of Peter Green songs. You might want to give those a listen. You may even end up liking some of the Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac albums, too.:)