Working my way through FM

[chriskisn]

Well today I have a bit more respect for Bare Trees, so maybe I've discovered something from what is now a six-day Mac-fest.

I have worked my way through Kiln House, Future Games and Bare Trees. Kiln House I have always enjoyed and have played semi-regularly in the past. Future Games and Bare Trees have often been consigned to the back of the drawer never to see the light of day.

I haven't quite finished Bare Trees yet, the dreaded Mrs Scarrott is still to come - oh how I hate that track! However the tracks I have listened to I have actually reasonably enjoyed. Danny's Chant however annoys me - it is almost like he wrote some music and never bothered putting words to it, as if it should never have seen release.

I've still got Dust to listen to as well as Mrs Scarrott, but that certainly isn't anything to look forward to. I have never understood why people like Dust - to me it is one of Danny's worst songs, but I might yet be proven wrong tomorrow morning.

I'll do the Madison Blues set tomorrow, forgot to take it with me today or I'd have listened to it before FG and BT. Oh well

Oh and one final though for today, I know a lot of you love Christine (though she is one of my least favourite of the 16) but I really think the version of Sentimental Lady on French Kiss is much better than the one on BT. Today for the first time in about 15 years I have worked out why - there is far too much Christine on backing vocals on the BT version.

I am looking forward to Saturday when I get to Mystery to Me, Penguin and Heroes, my three favourite albums of the whole damn lot!

[dino]

Originally Posted by chriskisn

Well today I have a bit more respect for Bare Trees, so maybe I've discovered something from what is now a six-day Mac-fest.

I have worked my way through Kiln House, Future Games and Bare Trees. Kiln House I have always enjoyed and have played semi-regularly in the past. Future Games and Bare Trees have often been consigned to the back of the drawer never to see the light of day.

I haven't quite finished Bare Trees yet, the dreaded Mrs Scarrott is still to come - oh how I hate that track! However the tracks I have listened to I have actually reasonably enjoyed. Danny's Chant however annoys me - it is almost like he wrote some music and never bothered putting words to it, as if it should never have seen release.

I've still got Dust to listen to as well as Mrs Scarrott, but that certainly isn't anything to look forward to. I have never understood why people like Dust - to me it is one of Danny's worst songs, but I might yet be proven wrong tomorrow morning.

I'll do the Madison Blues set tomorrow, forgot to take it with me today or I'd have listened to it before FG and BT. Oh well

Oh and one final though for today, I know a lot of you love Christine (though she is one of my least favourite of the 16) but I really think the version of Sentimental Lady on French Kiss is much better than the one on BT. Today for the first time in about 15 years I have worked out why - there is far too much Christine on backing vocals on the BT version.

I am looking forward to Saturday when I get to Mystery to Me, Penguin and Heroes, my three favourite albums of the whole damn lot!

Love "Dust"...one of Danny's top 5 songs, very beautiful.

So which members do you like? Not really Peter Green, not so much Danny Kirwan, not Christine McVie...is Stevie Nicks the answer? Just curious.

[chriskisn]

Originally Posted by dino

Love "Dust"...one of Danny's top 5 songs, very beautiful.

So which members do you like? Not really Peter Green, not so much Danny Kirwan, not Christine McVie...is Stevie Nicks the answer? Just curious.

Dave Walker, Rick Vito, Billy Burnette, Bob Welch oh and yes Stevie (hence the "sn" on the end of my username).

It really does sound like I don't like Peter Green and Danny doesn't it. Really I do...I love almost all of Danny's songs, just not Dust or Danny's Chant (not even a song if you ask me). I even like his solo stuff...

Actually when I've gone through all this I'm going to maybe listen to all the Peter Green solo albums. I like most of those except End of the Game, Kolors and Katmandu - A Case For the Blues, and the only one out of those I can't tolerate is End of the Game.

[slipkid]

Originally Posted by chriskisn

I am...don't get me wrong, I just can't listen to his Fleetwood Mac stuff for five days...

I actually prefer Peter's solo stuff and some of his more "gentle" songs such as Man of the World.

I do like Peter's guitar playing but it does all start to sound the same - only the lyrics vary. It is kind of like my opinion of Jeremy's Elmore James inspired songs.

I think I do have a renewed appreciation for Danny Kirwan though...

With no disrespect to Jeremy Spencer's Elmore James-esque blues songs, I think Peter's guitar playing changes while he was in FM. Obviously adding Danny Kirwan gave Peter Green a greater range to play with a backup guitarist playing rhythm. I don't think the songs heard live in the early months of 1970 can compare to the pre-Kirwan FM era. By this time there are more blues songs that are slower in pace, yet much more intense with the brilliant use of dynamics. For instance, the Roundhouse Chalkfarm show 4/70's version of "Black Magic Woman" is a much different animal compared to the Boston shows just two and a half months prior. In April/'70 Peter is playing as if Danny isn't there, Peter is playing as if he's possessed, and it's brilliant. The Boston shows were more laid back, and allowed Danny to contribute to the BMW jam.

It's the live music of Peter Green's time in FM that need to heard compared to the studio albums. They reveal so much more to what made this band respected by fellow musicians. They had their popularity in England, and most of Europe, Peter Green didn't stay in the band long enough to achieve success in the U.S..



As for Danny Kirwan, while I love the song "Hypnotized", I'm not compelled to own "Mystery to Me" compared to "Bare Trees". When Kirwan was fired, the original British version of Fleetwood Mac died.

[dino]

Originally Posted by chriskisn

Dave Walker, Rick Vito, Billy Burnette, Bob Welch oh and yes Stevie (hence the "sn" on the end of my username).

It really does sound like I don't like Peter Green and Danny doesn't it. Really I do...I love almost all of Danny's songs, just not Dust or Danny's Chant (not even a song if you ask me). I even like his solo stuff...

Actually when I've gone through all this I'm going to maybe listen to all the Peter Green solo albums. I like most of those except End of the Game, Kolors and Katmandu - A Case For the Blues, and the only one out of those I can't tolerate is End of the Game.

Okay, I should have seen the "sn" . That's an interesting collection of favorite members. Well, Danny's Chant would have been great with a nice set of lyrics. Kolors and Katmandu are indeed the least interesting Green albums, but he didn't have much input in either and was very ill.

[chriskisn]

Originally Posted by dino

Okay, I should have seen the "sn" . That's an interesting collection of favorite members. Well, Danny's Chant would have been great with a nice set of lyrics. Kolors and Katmandu are indeed the least interesting Green albums, but he didn't have much input in either and was very ill.

Actually I agree, the music for Danny's Chant is great just not the chanting. It's kind of like Teen Beat from years later...

Oh and on the PG solo stuff, I'm not sure he had much input into the Splinter Group stuff either but it is greatly enjoyable.

Perhaps my problem is that I don't have the musical education or the wide musical taste that a lot of you do on here (I bought my first album at 19 - such a late starter).

I don't have the ability to analyse and dissect an artist's playing I just listen to music and enjoy it.

[slipkid]

Originally Posted by chriskisn

Actually I agree, the music for Danny's Chant is great just not the chanting. It's kind of like Teen Beat from years later...

Oh and on the PG solo stuff, I'm not sure he had much input into the Splinter Group stuff either but it is greatly enjoyable.

Perhaps my problem is that I don't have the musical education or the wide musical taste that a lot of you do on here (I bought my first album at 19 - such a late starter).

I don't have the ability to analyse and dissect an artist's playing I just listen to music and enjoy it.

"Child of Mine", from "Bare Trees", is a great song. Yet growing up as a pre-teen in the 70's, that song reminds me of the (US TV) "Brady Bunch" song called "Keep On". Just like the "Friends" theme was ripped from "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by the Monkees. As good as "Child of Mine" is, I can't erase that "hook" that I first heard through a silly American sitcom. This isn't Danny Kirwan's fault, it's those people behind the scenes that write songs for television.




The older you get, the more you "get it". In 1991 at a local Price Club (before it became Costco), I bought a four CD set of John Coltrane live in Japan, 1966. I was not aware at the time that by 1966, John Coltrane was playing free jazz. I heard a forty minute version of "My Favorite Things", I thought it was noise. It didn't sound anything like the Atlantic 1961 album. I've since sold that 4CD set, and have regretted that sale ever since.


This is why you don't understand "The End of the Game". The song, "Bottoms Up" is Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" level material.

[chriskisn]

On Friday I listened to the Madison Blues two-disc set, which with a couple of exceptions didn't particularly excite me, but then that's just me.

Having already done Kiln House, Bare Trees and Future Games, on Saturday morning I did Penguin, putting The Derelict on repeat four times. Hard to grow tired of that one!

I then attended an 87th birthday party and on the way home subjected my wife (who had got a lift there from her sister) to Mystery to Me. She did turn it off once - only once which is good for her and Fleetwood Mac.

Those two albums, with the fantastic Heroes (which I will listen to this morning) are still, in my opinion, the best that Fleetwood Mac has to offer. Christine before she went sugar-coated pop, Bob Welch in full flight, and of course for just two tracks Dave Walker.

Funnily enough though I was listening to (I'm A) Roadrunner, and although it isn't his strongest effort nor the strongest effort by the Mac, it surely isn't the terrible song that most people think it is. Even the supporters of The Derelict don't like it.

[TrueFaith77]

Originally Posted by chriskisn

I think I do have a renewed appreciation for Danny Kirwan though...

yes. sigh. it's a wonderful feeling: that renewed appreciation

[holidayroad]

Originally Posted by TrueFaith77

yes. sigh. it's a wonderful feeling: that renewed appreciation

I'm having the same kind of feeling about Danny Kirwan. I've been listening to 'Hello There Big Boy' a lot lately and it just reminds me of how varied Danny can be.

[aleuzzi]

Danny's Mac work is amazing--all of it (sans "When You Say"). Love "Dust", love "Child of Mine", love all the Future Games stuff. But it's the Kiln House material that slays me.

[chriskisn]

Yesterday I finished the pre-Rumours era, doing Heroes and the white album. Regardless of how the ledge classifies things, I do think that the white album really belongs in pre-rumours. Despite the personnel changes it is quite a natural follow-on from Heroes, especially Christine's work.

Oh and while this topic does belong to another forum, I haven't listened to the white album in a long time (nor Rumours for that matter). However I have to say I had forgotton how beautiful Stevie's voice was on that first album!

Oh well, I'm now battling through the Rumours era - just did Rumours and Tusk today. I shall perhaps get back to the Live in Boston set if time permits at the end of the week or into next week.

[zoork_1]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Danny's Mac work is amazing--all of it (sans "When You Say" ...[...]

I've said it before, I like "When You Say" :-)

Maybe I'm listening to the potential song...

/z

[ButterCookie]

Hate to hijack a thread, but I'm starting from the beggining too... ish.

I've had Christine's tracks off the pre-rumours for a while but I'm now starting from the beginning (in a funny order) on vinyl. So it could take me a while to gather everything together

So far I've got a best of Peter Green's FM CD which was my taster just in case it wasn't my kinda thing. Mystery To Me - this is currently my second favourite album. Second only to the '75 White Album, a copy of Kiln House which I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of and the reddy Best Of from '71. All I can say is how much I love them

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by chriskisn

However, I have to say that a track on an album should not be longer than 4 or 5 minutes. Really I do like Peter's playing but I don't need to hear 15 minutes of Green Manalishi.

Then stay the f**k away from a live Allman Bros album...


...and by the way...YES, YOU DO NEED TO HEAR 15 MINUTES OF "GREEN MANALISHI"....over & f**king over until you start to appreciate the intricacies of each note.

And, that goes for the 25+ minute versions of "Rattlesnake Shake" on the Live At The Boston Tea Party albums, too.