Archive for the ‘Jeremy Spencer’ Category

Fleetwood Mac

Monday, September 12th, 2011

Listen: The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown) / Fleetwood Mac
The

To my recollection, this 1970 non-LP A side was Peter Green’s final, officially planned single with Fleetwood Mac. Almost feels like they were veering toward the sound de jour: those beginnings of heavy guitar arena rock, as Deep Purple and The Jeff Beck Group seemed to happily forge.

In fact, around the same time ‘The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)’ was released, so too was Deep Purple’s ‘Black Night’. And given Peter Green’s imminent departure, that musical default could very well have been Fleetwood Mac’s path of least resistance.

Luckily, guitarist Jeremy Spencer’s love of late 50′s/early 60′s doo wop/ RnR influenced the direction for their next album, KILN HOUSE, and disaster was averted.

Technically, KILN HOUSE was an extension of ‘Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight’, the B side of a previous single, ‘Man Of The World’, their only ’69 release on Immediate Records, issued a year or less, between their periods on Blue Horizon Records and Warner Brothers/Reprise. The band even adopted the comical moniker Earl Vince & The Valiants for that side of the single’s label copy.

If ever you were lucky enough to see the Peter Green lineup pictured above on that beauty of a rarer than rare 7″ sleeve, you know how powerful these five were on a stage. Simply unforgettable.

Peter Green’s closing guitar solo twists and turns once again provided musical fear as only he could.

Fleetwood Mac

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Station Man / Fleetwood Mac

Listen: Station Man / Fleetwood Mac FleetwoodStationMan.mp3

Much critical praise is deservedly lavished on the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac: the Peter Green years. Many a great single came from that span (’67 – ’70). Then there’s the Buckingham/Nicks lineup from ’76 onwards and their astronomical success. Yet it seems little to no attention is ever paid to the middle bit. It’s here where some of my favorite albums by them reside.

Ok, I loved THEN PLAY ON, after which Peter bailed – certainly leaving on a high. The Peter-less followup (literally the same lineup minus one), KILN HOUSE was pretty great too. First of all, the album cover was a beauty, and the abrupt shift away from blues toward the Jeremy Spencer preferred 50′s RnR was a nice change. ‘Station Man’, the B side to ‘Jewel Eyed Judy’, had such a swaggering groove, it really feels like a one take jam – in a good way.

Hypnotized / Fleetwood Mac

Listen: Hypnotized / Fleetwood Mac FleetwoodHypnotized.mp3

By ’73, Bob Welch was established as a member and important songwriter – his haunting vocals and lyrics matched each other, and this band, pretty perfectly. By ’73, he and Christine McVie were the consistent strong song components on MYSTERY TO ME. Very ying and yang but it worked. Like Bob Welch’s ‘Bermuda Traingle’, ‘Hypnotized’ was nicely eerie and luckily for the 7″ junkie, made it to a B side. I love having it on a single.

Heroes Are Hard To Find (Single Version) / Fleetwood Mac

Listen: Heroes Are Hard To Find (Single Version) / Fleetwood Mac FleetwoodHeroes.mp3

The lead track from ’74′s HEROES ARE HARD TO FIND is hard to top. I still listen to it pretty faithfully some 30 years later. I’ve posted the hard to find, mono single version up top.