July 24

Happy Fleetwood Mac Friday!

As all good things must come to an end so must the discovery phase of my investigation into the  post- Peter Green, pre-Buckingham/Nicks era of the band.

The album is 1971s Future Games:

This was the first record to feature Bob Welch and Christine McVie (as a full on member of the band). Collaborative credits are nonexistent with each writer taking solo credit for their songs. The exception was the oddball What A Shame, a toss off middle finger to the record company who contractually obligated the band to produce eight tracks for the record.

In that respect, this record kind of reminds me of the Beatles – White Album… it’s pretty easy to say “oh, here’s a Kirwan tune, there’s a McVie song, oop, here’s Welch!”

Future Games sounds more trippy and ethereal pop than Kiln House, a definite departure from the blues/rock era (Welch’s Lay It All Down exception) and there would be no turning back. The band’s sextant was pointed toward pop superstardom and they didn’t even know it.

So there you have it. Final impressions? These albums are worthy rock records of the era. I’m not sure if any of them would make my top 100 (Kiln House was a definite favorite), but I hope a new familiarity with these albums will give me an even greater appreciation of the Fleetwood Mac we all know and love.

Here are the links to the other FM albums of this era that I reviewed:

Penguin

Kiln House

Mystery To Me

Heroes Are Hard To Find

Bare Trees

Ps…one final thought on these albums. If you ever wanted to know what a properly recorded drum kit sounds like, reviewing these records could be considered a master class. (IMHO)