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Old 01-18-2019, 01:53 PM
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aleuzzi aleuzzi is offline
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Originally Posted by Macfan4life View Post
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.
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.
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