A six-CD set of everything
Fleetwood Mac recorded
for the British Blue Horizon label. Wait, you're saying, didn't they
only do two albums for Blue Horizon before leaving the company in early
1969? True, but there were also the non-LP singles that comprised the
bulk of the U.K. compilation The Pious Bird of Good Omen, the two albums
of blues jams in Chicago that came out later in 1969, and the 1971 LP
The Original Fleetwood Mac, comprised of early outtakes. Make each of
those half-dozen LPs a CD, add some outtakes and alternate takes to
each, and you've got a pretty full box. Unintentionally, this box makes
the Mac a candidate for Most Erratic Major Rock Group of the Late 1960s,
ranging from the sheer brilliance of Peter Green's songs to rote blues
covers that are downright mundane, particularly some of the Jeremy
Spencer showcases and Chicago blues jams. If you're a committed enough
fan to consider buying this box, you already know that; you're probably
more concerned with whether the previously unreleased material merits
the cost. Those extras are marginal, to be honest, comprised largely of
false starts, incidental studio chatter, and alternate versions that are
pretty close to the official takes. Certainly the highlight of those
newly unearthed tracks is the 37 minutes of alternate takes of "Need
Your Love So Bad." It's also nice that the Danny Kirwan tracks that
appeared only on the U.S. album English Rose are here as well.
Unfortunately, this is not a complete retrospective of the Peter Green
era, whose best material was recorded for Reprise; there's also a lot of
noteworthy live stuff that appeared on different labels.
A six-CD set of everything Fleetwood Mac recorded
for the British Blue Horizon label. Wait, you're saying, didn't they
only do two albums for Blue Horizon before leaving the company in early
1969? True, but there were also the non-LP singles that comprised the
bulk of the U.K. compilation The Pious Bird of Good Omen, the two albums
of blues jams in Chicago that came out later in 1969, and the 1971 LP
The Original Fleetwood Mac, comprised of early outtakes. Make each of
those half-dozen LPs a CD, add some outtakes and alternate takes to
each, and you've got a pretty full box. Unintentionally, this box makes
the Mac a candidate for Most Erratic Major Rock Group of the Late 1960s,
ranging from the sheer brilliance of Peter Green's songs to rote blues
covers that are downright mundane, particularly some of the Jeremy
Spencer showcases and Chicago blues jams. If you're a committed enough
fan to consider buying this box, you already know that; you're probably
more concerned with whether the previously unreleased material merits
the cost. Those extras are marginal, to be honest, comprised largely of
false starts, incidental studio chatter, and alternate versions that are
pretty close to the official takes. Certainly the highlight of those
newly unearthed tracks is the 37 minutes of alternate takes of "Need
Your Love So Bad." It's also nice that the Danny Kirwan tracks that
appeared only on the U.S. album English Rose are here as well.
Unfortunately, this is not a complete retrospective of the Peter Green
era, whose best material was recorded for Reprise; there's also a lot of
noteworthy live stuff that appeared on different labels.
