[We continue with David Bowling's increasingly infamous review of FM albums, for Blogcritics.org, November 3, 2010]

http://blogcritics.org/music/article...ac-mystery-to/


Music Review: Fleetwood Mac - Mystery To Me

Fleetwood Mac may have been a troubled band in 1973, but they managed to produce Penguin and a second album in that year, entitled Mystery To Me. Bob Weston contributed to the album but was not a full-time member, so some of his contributions may have been recorded before his departure. His career in the band came to an abrupt end when he had an affair with Mick Fleetwood’s wife.

Bob Welch and Christine McVie dominate the album. Welch wrote six of the tracks himself and co-wrote a seventh. McVie stepped forward and wrote four tracks. The album would not be a consistent classic but contained two songs as good as anything Fleetwood Mac would ever produce.

Mystery To Me is really a Bob Welch affair, and it was his determination that kept the group alive during this period of its career. His “Hypnotized” is one of the two terrific tracks and was an album-only radio staple for decades. The guitars combined with McVie’s keyboards to create a mystical, druggy type song. It may not have been representative of the Fleetwood Mac sound but was a perfect early seventies song.

There were several other Bob Welch songs of note. “Emerald Eyes” was a track that built as it progressed and proved he could really write sophisticated music. The lyrics dealt with the issue of infatuation and the song remained in the group’s concert act after his departure.

“The City,” “Miles Away,” and “Somebody” introduce the rocking Bob Welch and were presented back-to-back on the original vinyl release. He even manages a competent vocal on the old Yardbirds hit, “For Your Love.”

Christine McVie was responsible for the other memorable track. “Why” is an emotional ballad which closed the album. She created just the right vehicle for her soulful and bluesy voice, and the song would also remain a part of the group’s concert act for decades. Her vocal on “Just Crazy Love” is almost as good, as it is McVie at her wistful best.

Mystery To Me finds Fleetwood Mac in a holding pattern between their blues era and their classic pop era. Most of Welch’s contributions fit into neither style, but McVie’s would look ahead to the Fleetwood Mac of the mid-to-late seventies. It remains a unique and in some ways interesting release in the group's catalogue.

Read more: http://blogcritics.org/music/article...#ixzz14HCJP66h

WTF?!? "not a full-time member"?? That's it...this guy obviously knows ABSOLUTELY ZERO about Fleetwood Mac. His articles are total bull****.

F***!!!! "Hypnotized" was a PRIME EXAMPLE of the "Fleetwood Mac sound". This author is a prime example of the need for legal euthanasia.

"Decades"?? REALLY? So, from 1973-1977 constitutes "decades"?? Was this author in-bred or what?

Somebody associated with the legal department of Fleetwood Mac should issue a "cease & desist" order to this guy making him stop this nonsense. The guy is a public nusance.

Something Else Reviews OCTOBER 17, 2015 BY NICK DERISO

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2015...me-hypnotized/

Fleetwood Mac made a bold move toward future success with Mystery to Me

Released on October 15, 1973 as part of Mystery to Me, “Hypnotized” became an album-rock radio staple even as it helped make the final argument for Fleetwood Mac’s move into pop music.

Bob Welch’s dreamscape journey across an majestic, unknowable landscape — delivered vocally with a whispery detachment — unfurls amid an insistent conversation on the hi-hat from Fleetwood and this thrilling series of jazz-inflected guitar fourths. Sound familiar?

Much has been made, and justifiably so, of the arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks — but “Hypnotized” illustrates how far Fleetwood Mac had come toward their polyester-era California singer-songwriter style in the era before that duo joined.

True, “Hypnotized,” with its dreamy AM-era sexuality and garrulous, riffy guitar soloing, is only just getting the hang of the success that would follow — but it’s the most complete portion of the bridge between Fleetwood Mac’s first and second hit-making periods.

Fleetwood Mac continued to evolve. Mystery to Me would be the final album to feature Bob Weston as guitarist and songwriter; Welch’s departure in 1974 then opened the door for Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Weston later worked with Murray Head and Steve Marriott’s All-Stars Band, while Welch had his own subsequent solo hit with “Sentimental Lady” – which was originally featured on Fleetwood Mac’s Bare Trees in 1972.

Still, as Bob Weston’s Wes Montgomery-isms are surrounded by a swirling, sometimes wordless breeze of voices from Bob Welch and Christine McVie on “Hypnotized,” it’s easy to see — just over the next horizon, after a few more personnel switches — Fleetwood Mac’s charttopping promised land.

{sigh} :distress: It was WELCH who played the "Wes Montgomery-isms", Weston's style is more typical British Blues sounding (the lead guitar during "For Your Love" & solo in "Miles Away" are the typical Weston guitar styles)...that's how you can differentiate between Welch & Weston on both Penguin & Mystery To Me. :nod:

Sadly, it seems rare these days for any new article on the early years of Fleetwood Mac to be without glaring errors such as this. And too often these articles are posted on this site without comment (I know, it's a pet peeve of mine) so it's up to the rest of us to make sure that misinformation like this is corrected. Thanks for taking the time to do that in this case, chiliD! :thumbsup:

"Wordless breeze of voices"---huh?

I'm not posting the articles for their truth or implying that they are truthful or factually accurate. It's not here for educational purposes. I'm posting them because it's interesting to know what the media is saying about FM, so that fans of the band can agree, disagree or nitpick.

There's no reason the poster should post the article with comment when anyone reading it can do so, if they like.

Michele

Mystery to Me review - Rolling Stone
 

I came across this and thought it was funny. Mystery to Me is a great album and in the better half of Mac albums. IMHO its when the Mac got its groove and was fairly successful in the USA. Rolling Stone always has had odd reviews for the Mac or Mac members (excluding Lindsey). Any hoooo....here it is ;)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/al...to-me-19740103

That article was, uh, interesting. Thanks for sharing this. :)

Sorry :(
I did not realize reviews of this album were in the other Mystery to me thread. Maybe Michele will delete this or move it there.