#31
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I think FM recorded and released most everything they had that they thought was decent, apart from a few anomalies like Like It This Way. I hope you're right though. I have read Green did some recordings for a more commercial solo album before scrapping the idea in favor of End of the Game. If true, I'd love to hear those. |
#32
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Finally got my copy of the remastered Then Play On today! I'm really pleased with the sound quality- I was a bit worried about some of the comments re this but maybe my ears aren't the best!
Just a couple or three random thoughts: I wish they had left a longer run-off from Before the Beginning to the start of the bonus tracks, just to leave a bit longer to let the original album sink in (solvable, I know, just not on my ancient player). Danny , we love you and worry about you, but nothing can really be done to make When you say any better, can it? I suppose it's the only real flaw in the diamond... I found myself actually enjoying the Madge jams for the first time! I've always wondered what that bit of classical music is that interlopes into Searching for Madge. Can anyone enlighten me? |
#33
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My copy finally arrived today too. Wonderful to have the album back in its intended form, with the correct song sequence. It's like listening to an entirely different album than the earlier CD version. And nice to have the single version of "World In Harmony" - though I found all the echo on that track a bit disconcerting.
"When You Say" does stand out as easily the weakest track on the album, though I can't help but thinking how much it might have been improved by leaving out all the "la-la" vocals and just letting Danny's guitar do the talking. That's the main reason I prefer the Christine Perfect version, even though I'm not crazy about the strings on it. Overall I thought the sound quality was certainly improved but perhaps not as much as I'd hoped. It would be interesting to hear how everything was remastered - what the source material was and who was involved in the process, for example. The essay in the booklet was very nice, and I learned a thing or two in there. But even though we've all seen plenty of photos of the band from that period, it would have been nice to have included some in the booklet. Surely there must be other photos that have either not been published before or have not been widely circulated. Reading through the booklet made me realize again how odd it is that for a band with as long and interesting a history as Fleetwood Mac, there really has not been a good in-depth book written about them. Peter Green deserves a better biography than the Celmins one, too. Anyway, great to finally be able to listen to this, and I'm sure it will take a few more listens for it all to sink in. |
#34
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Another random thought-
From what I had read before (Mick's occasionally reliable autobiography?), I had assumed that Peter played all the guitars, drums and bass on Oh Well or have I imagined that? The essay with the CD suggested otherwise. I would have also liked to have had some closure on who played the piano on Coming your way, too. Jeremy said on the forum he had no idea who played it. Was it Chris? We'll never know, I suspect. Everyone seems to have forgotten by know. |
#35
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The sound is great!!!
I've never heard the last 15 secs of "Under Way". Nice to have the studio version of "World In Harmony" - though the Boston Tea Party does have a far better guitar solo, and will always be the definitive version for me. Btw that is one weird (dis-)harmony at the end ... full of echo... Good to have some info on the cover paiting. Maybe I'm weird, but I've always loved that rider going from autumns to spring. But then I am a fan of art nouveau. Maxwell Armfield is indeed great! I also learned that Mick owns the painting. I would like to have had it on my living room wall! I still wonder about the classical part in "Searching for Madge" - with a (Peter's, I guess) guitar plucking in the background. Was it composed spesifically for the album? By who? Or is it a fragment of some other classical work? Btw those two Madge jams do indeed have corny titles. "Under Way" is far better titlewise. It's ok to include "One Sunny Day" and "Without You", since they appeared on the original UK release. But I dunno... they seem to have more of a Blue Horizon feel... don't quite fit together with the rest. I prefer them on "English Rose" instead... Nice to have the bonus tracks! Hope they do the same job with Kiln House etc... |
#36
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Yes, overall it is really good and a huge improvement over the old CD. I have to admit that my first listen to the remastered CD was on headphones, and not the greatest headphones at that. I'll see what the sound is like through my speakers next time - might sound much better still!
I can understand that point of view, although for me they sound right being on Then Play On. Part of that is because that's actually where I first heard them, on a UK version of Then Play On (the one with the black cover that's mentioned in the booklet of the new CD) that I had before I'd gotten English Rose. Last edited by sharksfan2000; 08-30-2013 at 09:05 AM.. |
#37
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It sounds very much Vaughan Williams to me, a british composer whom Peter seems to have been very fond of in the late sixties. Very nice harmonies with a slight disharmony feeling to it.
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#38
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#39
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John |
#40
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I think its Danny on Madge
The vibrato on the guitar of the solo phrase before the orchestral interlude , to me sounds like Danny's trademark wrenching tone. Peter's playing is impromptu and fierce but Danny almost seems to calculate what he will play note by note
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#41
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Then there's some guitar plucking in the background during the orchestral part, that I think is Peter. |
#42
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Mine must be on the slow train west. Really looking forward to hearing/reading this now...
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#43
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September 6, 2013 Lexington Herald, Kentucky
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/09/06/2...-mac-then.html Walter Tunis — Contributing Music Writer The newest edition of Then Play On, the definitive studio recording by the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, ends with a subtle guitar instrumental titled World in Harmony. The music blooms from sparse, autumnal ambience into a summery, almost country-esque serenade. It's a quiet study in harmony and conflict, opposites that always seem to surface when Fleetwood Mac is at its best. Named after the oft-quoted opening to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night ("If music be the food of love, play on"), the album is a masterwork that faded from view as the band shot to pop stardom in the mid-'70s with the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. But Then Play On, Fleetwood Mac's third studio work, takes us back to 1969 and remains a portrait of lost rock 'n' roll innocence. It was the first record to feature co-guitarist Danny Kirwan and the last to include band founder Green. The band's third guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, is curiously absent from the recording. This new version differs from most archival reissues. While there are four bonus tracks, three of them (the slo-mo guitar romp The Green Manalishi and the two-part boogiefest-turned-folk meditation Oh Well) were Green-penned singles that stand as the early Mac's signature tunes. Only World in Harmony (Manalishi's b-side) is evenly remotely obscure. What this new edition accomplishes, though, is to gather all the material issued on various truncated British and American versions of Then Play On. The basic running order matches the original British release with the singles tacked as a postscript. Still, it's the nuts-and-bolts design of the music that makes the album so extraordinary — specifically, the giving way of the blues roots foundation that brought Fleetwood Mac to life in favor of looser, more introspective portraits from Green and Kirwan. It rocks quite handsomely at times (on Green's Rattleshake Snake and on the first part of Oh Well) but often eases into leaner, less defined lyricism that propels the instrumental Under Way and the neo-poppish My Dream which suggest the calmer melodic waters to come in the post-Green years. Even more overt blues pieces such as Like Crying present Green and Kirwan in casual sympatico without a full rhythm section. Such songs sound, blissfully, like rehearsals. Kirwan plays the role of disciple to Green throughout Then Play On. His Although the Sun is Shining is a beautifully weathered shadow of vintage Brit-pop — a bit of folky romanticism laced with a touch of low-fi psychedelia. But the farewell Green leaves us with is a stunner, Before the Beginning. Its lyrics are as restless, wispy and forlorn as its superbly crafted guitar melodies, all of which are underscored by a disquieting drum rattle from Mick Fleetwood. It is a spellbinding coda to Fleetwood Mac's most underappreciated triumph. Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/09/06/2...#storylink=cpy Last edited by michelej1; 09-06-2013 at 10:41 PM.. |
#44
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Finally got my copy
The sound is great, better than on 1996 CD edition. This CD is simply a masterpiece !! Some interesting things in the liner notes: Mick Fleetwood mentions about Green's influence on Jimi Page and J. Hetfield, K. Hammmet from Metallica. There is also a comfirmation, that on Oh Well Part Two Sandra Eldson plays recorder.
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Krzysztof |
#45
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And, of course, there's the well-known confession of both Lennon & Harrison admitting they pretty much stole "Albatross" for Abbey Road's "Sun King". I always wondered why Clapton never mentioned Peter Green much in interviews through the years, but lately, he's name-dropped Peter in a few recent interviews. Maybe Eric's finally giving credit where it's due? Maybe he's finally wanting to SHARE the "White English Blues God" label that he's pretty much worn alone for so long. * = "Sandy Mary"?? Ok, ok, ok...you've all convinced me that I need (not just "want", but "need") to get this new reissue. I was just happy as a clam with my copy of TPO on my iPod, adding the two English Rose tracks & "Green Manalishi" & even stealing a version of "World In Harmony" from either Vaudeville Years or Show Biz Blues (don't remember which); and unceremoniously omitting "When You Say" altogether. {sigh!} Ok, I order mine tomorrow.
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Among God's creations, two, the dog and the guitar, have taken all the sizes and all the shapes in order not to be separated from the man.---Andres Segovia Last edited by chiliD; 09-10-2013 at 12:04 AM.. |
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