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.

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.

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.