June 12

Happy Fleetwood Mac Friday!

Today’s discovery was the Penguin Album, the band’s 7^th:

I say “discovery” because I’ve started to delve into the post- Peter Green, pre-Buckingham/Nicks era of the band… with which I am only a tad bit familiar. I own a couple of these, and am searching for the others. My interest in the pre-B/N band was, in part, sparked by the fact that my first ever concert experience included a set by Bob Welch who was touring in support of his record French Kiss (more on that later with a blog to follow).

This VG+ copy of Penguin came from the local record store Groove Merchants. It’s the only FM album to feature vocalist Dave Walker, who sang the Holland/Dozier standard Roadrunner and penned and sung the opening track on side two, The Derelict.

It also introduces us to guitarist Bob Weston, who contributed the final instrumental to side two, Caught in the Rain.

But, this is a Christine McVie and Bob Welch album, with six of the nine tracks credited to one or both of them (although Weston’s harmony vocals are key on reggae tinged Welch/McVie tune Did You Ever Love Me). The Fleetwood Mac blues rock is a thing of the past.

This album had no charted singles, but was a top 50 album… their best to date. I have no idea what the penguin is all about, but the temperature here was ~25 degrees above average yesterday and today it’s back near seasonal norms, so I’ll give Penguin credit.

It’s been just over three years since Bob Welch took his own life, June 7, 2012. R.I.P. Bob. Thanks for a great first concert.

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