rate ”Mystery to Me”
 

I do love this album as many of us Mac fans do. I always get pumped when one of these tracks come up randomly on my iPod.

Emerald Eyes 10
Believe Me 9
Just Crazy Love 8
Hypnotized 10
Forever 8
Keep on Going 7
The City 7
Miles Away 8
Somebody 7
The Way I Feel 9
For Your Love 7
Why 10

I’ll play:

Emerald Eyes 8
Believe Me 7
Just Crazy Love 7
Hypnotized 10
Forever 4
Keep On Going 10

The City 6
Miles Away 10
Somebody 5
The Way I Feel 8
For Your Love 5
Why 10

I really like the album and think the songs are mostly strong. Some of them however would have benefitted from more professional recording techniques. The music is pretty damn close to the speakers: the effect is strange. The only duds (for me) ate Forever, Somebody (which still has a great chorus), and the cover version of For Your Love.

Emerald Eyes 8
Believe Me 8
Just Crazy Love 9
Hypnotized 10
Forever 7
Keep on Going 9
The City 8
Miles Away 8
Somebody 7
The Way I Feel 8
For Your Love 8
Why 10

Great album. Neck and neck with Bare Trees. My two favorite pre B/N FM albums.

So Good.
 

This album is SO GOOD... one of the band's best. I feel so very sorry for Bob Welch. I wish the band had put their bitterness over the lawsuit aside and insisted he be inducted into the RRHOF (ala Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead)... he was so important during that middle era. And he died feeling ignored and unvalued. Sigh. RIP.

ANYWAY back to the topic at hand... these are ranked purely on my personal enjoyment level and nothing else:

Emerald Eyes - 7
Believe Me - 7
Just Crazy Love - 7
Hypnotized - 11! This one goes to 11.
Forever - 8
Keep on Going - 9
The City - 10
Miles Away - 9
Somebody - 9
The Way I Feel - 7
For Your Love - 8
Why - 8

I love the early 70s vibe of this album so much. The grooves are so good, the rockin' is so solid. And Welch's voice is so smooth and easy on the ears... I still feel so sorry for that man. C'est la vie...

Keep in mind I'm very biased as this is literally one of my favourite FM albums, up there with Tusk and The Dance;

Emerald Eyes - 10 - one of my favourite opening tracks on a FM release
Believe Me - 10
Just Crazy Love - 10
Hypnotized - 10 - one of the band's best songs
Forever - 10 - a feel good song. Slightly reggae, love the staccato guitar and atypical drum and bass work. Not one song like it in the catalog.
Keep On Going - 9.5 - Written by Bob, given to Christine as I think he said he thought she sounded better on the track
The City - 9.5
Miles Away - 9
Somebody - 10 - much like Forever and a lot of the Bob-led cuts on Heroes Are Hard to Find, there's not really any other track quite like this on any other LP by the band
The Way I Feel - 8
For Your Love - 7 - serviceable cover, quite enjoyable but doesn't hold a candle to the Yardbirds' original
Why - 9.5 to 10 - one of Christine's best pieces surely. Should have been brought back for the latest tour.

Since my original post a few days ago, I've been re-visiting this album a lot and I've updated some of my scores. Marked the ones upgraded with an * above.

MAN... I think The City is INCREDIBLE. I had it as a 10 but this one goes to 11. SO GOOD. Bob should be added to the RARHOF with the rest of 'em posthumously.

For the past month, I’ve been cranking up “Miles Away” at the gym. It’s such a great song! I’ve known this for decades but as with all great tunes, I find myself returning to it periodically and experiencing it with renewed excitement.

Surprise: “The City” is growing on me, especially the great Traffic-sounding piano toward the end.

And of course “Why”—which I often play two or three times in a row as I do pull-ups or some equally unappealing movement to attempt to stay trim. Ingenious production is one thing. Transcendent songwriting another. How awesome to have both in the same friggin song.

I guess what I’m saying is, thanks iTunes for finally releasing Mystery. It would be even better digitally remastered, but I’ll take what we have.

Emerald Eyes - 9
Believe Me - 9
Just Crazy Love - 8
Hypnotized - 10
Forever - 8
Keep on Going - 9
The City - 10
Miles Away - 9
Somebody - 9
The Way I Feel - 9
For Your Love - 9
Why - 10

Just crazy love is your lowest rated song :eek:
How dare you! I'm telling Chris.
As Nancy Kerrigan cried and Christine sang: Whhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!



Its too difficult to assign numbers to songs on this album and Rumours. The album is fantastic and believe it or not it still grows stronger on me over the years. Its just as good as Rumours IMHO.

I should give it an 8.9. Solid B+. I love the song, but it's not my go to...

I really like the frenetic guitar fills during the verses. An effective musical touch by Weston that mimics (in a controlled, melodic form) a certain kind of love-craziness.

The song is really catchy and fun but it would benefit from a more creative arrangement to take it that step higher.

I found a beautiful video to go with Why. Why is incredible for many reasons but she is convincing herself to be strong and how her heart will overcome this heart break. But in the end of the song, she breaks down with Why don't you love me.

Its really one of the most emotional songs she has ever written. The music is a masterpiece. To think this song and Hypnotized are on the same album is really something.
I wish I could go back to 1973 for a few months......watch the Brady Bunch in prime time on Friday night and All in the Family is the #1 show. Go down to the local music store and buy this album. Too bad this tour was cut short because of the drama. But this would have been the best tour ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b3jLorlms4

MTM is certainly a Masterpiece album. I'm glad LB and SN aren't on it. It proves FMac is incredible with them AND WITHOUT them.

I love your take on it. And I used to get so irritated with those people that thought only FM with B/N was the only FMac. It's so ignorant and dismissive to think such a thing.

Yes I have always felt the same way. It’s what I have always loved about FLEETWOOD MAC, many great albums prior to Buckingham/Nicks...and after...(Buck\McVie)

Mystery to Me is a fantastic album, one of FM's best. There isn't a dud song on it.

Bob Weston makes MTM the excellent album it is. Hero's Are Hard To Find is a fantastic album too but misses some of the MTM magic. Both of these albums are the Mac's greatest work IMHO. Bob was probably the most influential member when you think about it. I am not talking about sound. Bob Weston's departure fast tracked Bob Welch's departure a few years later. If Weston was not forced out, the band could have went on with a guitarist even if Welch left which would not have made Mick search for a new guitarist. IMHO Stevie and Lindsey owe Weston more gratitude than Welch in some weird way.
Hero's is superb and especially Chris's songs but lacks that icing on the cake that MTM has.

This is a song about a Welch Witch

Interesting point about Weston. "Thanks for having that affair with Jenny, Bob! It's been a great ride with the Mac and we owe it all to you. XO, S&L"

I have been revisiting these albums and they are so good. Especially on vinyl the way they were made to be enjoyed. So good!

That was when the dream took her prisoner

OMG I can't resist...
Bob Weston's leaving allowed many things to be stared at besides the stairs...

In all seriousness, MTM is fantastic and every bit as good as Rumours and Tusk. In the right set of circumstances it would've/could've/should've been a smash hit.

Bob Weston was a very fine guitar player (musically AND in terms of appearance!). I think the band could have really gone places with him.

Moreover, Bob Welch is criminally underrated as a guitarist. While the HEROES studio album lacks the finesse and vitality of MTM, the live soundboards show Welch to be more than capable of handling the lead and solo duties with a flair that doesn't ever really emerge on the studio albums. His work on the Sausalito soundboard versions of "Believe Me" and "Why" are fantastic--and very different than Weston's.

Lately, as I've been re-listening to MTM, I realize how far ahead of his time Welch really was. With and without Weston he made music that prefigures mid-seventies studio chic. "Miles Away" anticipates the first two albums of Steely Dan; the engaging talk-sing of "Hypnotized" combines jazz chording and timing with what would eventually be hip-hop. I challenge any hip hop artist to do a version of "Hypnotized." "Ebony Eyes" sounds like the kind of guitar-driven pop that became a staple of Rick Springfield's five years later....

It's sad: once his solo career went down the tubes (EYE CONTACT was awful) he never fully recovered and couldn't seem to find a footing. He came out with Avenue M and then did a late boutique album about Bop but by then he was chasing trends, not carving new niches.

Come Softly to Me came on today on my mix from Bobs Three Hearts cd that features Christine. What a fantastic remake of a classic. The Welch/McVie blend was amazing.

I agree with all that about Welch. But I will take it one step further. Some of the albums had a mystical vibe that Welch was even better at live. You may laugh at this but the live version of Bermuda Triangle used to spook me. I get it when Stevie said before joining the Mac she went out and listened to all the albums and liked the mystical feel. IMHO it was mostly from Welch.

Absolutely! I never saw the Mac with Bob Welch, but I saw him solo once, and live "Bermuda Triangle" was mystical, and even a little frightening. A great big mystery that cannot be explained.

Album Cover...
 

I will have to say for one of the best Fleetwood Mac albums of all time(IMO) it’s the worst album cover.

This is from Bob Welch about the album cover in 1999
"The cover of MTM was done by an artist who I think was a friend of Mick's sisters husband. I think we all sort of threw ideas at the artist, and that's what he came up with and we liked it. The meaning I think was sort of supposed to be, "no matter how much knowledge you get, everything is still a mystery, and you're still a monkey!";-)

I am glad I am not the only one that got spooked. Bob stated that Chris and Mick HATED his talking and banter in that song and other songs. They would give him the evil eye according to him.
:eek:

Hahahaha!! Into the Bermuda Triangle. and the dream said, I want you

Absolutely. I’ve said for years that the live and soundboard performances of the HEROES songs are far more invigorating than their studio counterparts. Live, FM has always chosen to reframe and extend their material. Bob’s energy, in particular, lifts Bermuda Triangle and Angel, for example, in exciting ways.

Christine's solo and vamping are a delight in BT. uhhh I love that live version.

I know. Everything works in that version. Everything.

You can tell how amazing the British are. M/M/F.. just wow... they can jam!!

Aside from Hypnotized and a few others, I'm gonna go with Heroes Are Hard to Find instead of Mystery to Me for cool space-jazz.

Emerald Eyes 7
Believe Me 15
Just Crazy Love 11
Hypnotized 10
Forever 5
Keeping on Going 4
The City 6
Miles Away 9
Somebody 4
The Way I Feel 12
For Your Love 8
Why 247

Response 3.0 to this thread :laugh:

I've been listening to this album TONSSSSS since Christmas.

Here is my (third) set of (revamped) scores (based on nothing buy my personal enjoyment levels, which keep rising despite already giving it high marks):

Emerald Eyes - 8
Believe Me - 8
Just Crazy Love - 8
Hypnotized - 11
Forever - 7
Keep on Going - 9
The City - 11
Miles Away - 9
Somebody - 9
The Way I Feel - 7
For Your Love - 8
Why - 9

The only one to fall is Forever.... I used to enjoy it a lot more when I sporadically listened to this album. Thought it was super charming and boppy and fun (which it is!) but the enjoyment wains after a few consecutive listens compared to the other tracks (it's a bit one-note, but I do still enjoy it).

Hereos is such a gem. I can get lost with it. It's such a fantastic Fleetwood Mac album.

Emerald Eyes: 10
Believe Me: 8
Just Crazy Love: 8
Hypnotized: 8 -Not of my favourites, but a good song as well-
Forever: 10 -and more more more!!-
Keep on Going: 9
The City: 9
Miles Away: 9
Somebody: 8
The Way I Feel: 8
For Your Love: 10
Why: 4 -Sorry Chris, but I really dislike this one-

:confused::confused::confused::confused:

Blimey...that's one from the left field.