Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Fleetwood Mac Story

by RetroKimmer: http://www.retrokimmer.com/2013/06/the-fleetwood-mac-story.html

There are  three  Fleetwood Mac lineups. One of them is the blues-oriented band of the late sixties, which arrayed three guitarists (Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan) around the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie


Green inspired B. B. King to say, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats".

Green was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent time in psychiatric hospitals undergoing electroconvulsive therapy during the mid-1970s. Many sources attest to his lethargic, trancelike state during this period.

Early in 1971, a born-again Jeremy Spencer abruptly left the band during a U.S. tour to join the Children of God.


The second key configuration found Fleetwood, McVie and Kirwan joined by keyboardist Christine McVie (born Christine Perfect, she’d married bassist McVie) and guitarist Bob Welch, a Southern Californian who became the group’s first American member and a harbinger of new directions.

This configuration produced a pair of ethereal pop masterpieces, Future Games (1971) and Bare Trees (1972). Kirwan, who was having personal problems, was asked to leave in August 1972.

The remaining foursome, joined by new recruits Dave Walker (vocals) and Bob Weston, recorded Penguin (1973); sans Walker, they cut Mystery to Me (1973).

Drummer Fleetwood heard a tape of theirs at a studio he was auditioning, and the pair were drafted into the group without so much as a formal audition. This lineup proved far and away to be Fleetwood Mac’s most durable and successful.


Finally, the platinum edition of Fleetwood Mac came together in 1975 with the recruitment of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The San Francisco duo had previously cut an album together as Buckingham-Nicks.

In addition to the most solid rhythm section in rock, this classic lineup contained strong vocalists and songwriters in Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie. Male and female points of view were offered with unusual candor on the watershed albums Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Rumours (1977).

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