Jeremy Spencer Then Play On

[ViscountViktor]

Excuse my lack of knowledge, I only recently discovered the original Fleetwood Mac and I love it!

Anyway, my question is: why was Jeremy not involved apart from some piano on Then Play On?

How come he was present on Mr Wonderful but on TPL. What happened in between? Was it because of Danny?

[wetcamelfood]

They were going to include an EP (containing just Jeremy stuff) with the album which ended up not happening (those recordings have since come out on The Vaudeville Years).

John

[SteveMacD]

He also did a "solo" record (he was backed by Mick, John, Danny, and Peter).

[wetcamelfood]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

He also did a "solo" record (he was backed by Mick, John, Danny, and Peter).

This is what they did when the EP didn't get released w/TPO (for the OP's info ).

John

[THD]

The time FM were performing TPO numbers on stage coincides with the period when Jeremy often , dressed in a lame jacket , would do a whole live section of his R &R parodies as part of the FM show. I only saw this once ,I think, he certainly didn't do it at every show.
Unfortunately the Jeremy Spencer solo LP, as far as I remember, didn't attempt capture the flavour of these sequences at all and didn't feature any of the stage show songs (nor were any of the songs on the album performed as part of FM set, even in the non parody section (to the best of my Knowledge) . I'm explaining it a rather badly, but Jeremy would do such numbers as Madison Blues and Stranger in your Town etc alternating with a couple of Peter's numbers and a couple of Danny's as “Jeremy Spencer “not as his Rock and Roll alter ego - this would be in a separate longer section(if he chose to do it )If only someone had filmed him doing it !

It's easy to say this in retrospect, but instead of doing a solo studio album, a live album of these stage performances would have probably been a better bet( or even a live recording on one side of the album with the best of the studio stuff on the other side possibly best of all .) Then together with TPO, these two albums would have really captured where they were at at the time .
I don’t know enough about it to know whether Jeremy’s alter ego was captured on the Boston tapes or on a bootleg, but if it was never captured ,then, it’s real shame!
I thought his live parodies were hilarious and a highlight of the FM live show (though let me be honest, for me every thing they did was a highlight !!!)

Finally, seeing as I’m on this subject, the time I saw him do this was at the Lyceum ballroom concert. Dinky Dawson , or others seems to have recorded concerts from this period ,which have turned up on Wolfgang’s Vault , so what a shame the Lyceum one has never surfaced (if they just didn’t bother to record it, then what an error !! )

[wetcamelfood]

Though I agree with your idea that they should have done this, I wonder if they were concerned that Reprise would reject it due to the language (I mean, if they were already intervening over the album name etc.). Maybe if Dinky got down one of the more clean nights which had those sets (if such a thing existed) this would've been do-able? I'd imagine the Blue Suede Shoes from the original version of Shrine '69 would've been from one of those sets. Perhaps the likes of Tiger or Teenage Darling from the Tea Party tapes is from one of the cleaner nights (if those songs were a part of those sets)?

John

[THD]

Originally Posted by wetcamelfood

Though I agree with your idea that they should have done this, I wonder if they were concerned that Reprise would reject it due to the language (I mean, if they were already intervening over the album name etc.).
John

I don't recall any bad language at all in Jeremy's alter ego Lyceum set However this may have been because Peter's dad (and therefore probably his mum) was in the audience apparently !
(I did read once on the internet an Australian guy remembering this concert who recalled Peter looking up at the balcony and saying humorously : "Stoned again then dad ?!!"(I don't recall this myself )
In all the times I saw them ,I never saw them do any of the outrageous antics with Harold or any of that stuff ,nor do I remember Jeremy doing obscene lyrics etc (Just very unlucky I guess !!)

[lazy poker]

Originally Posted by THD

. . . nor were any of the songs on the album performed as part of FM set, even in the non parody section (to the best of my Knowledge) .

not QUITE true - at least once they played the albums opening track (and single) "linda" live . . . as can be seen on "the early fleetwood mac" video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcH1ks_AcFc

[THD]

Originally Posted by lazy poker

not QUITE true - at least once they played the albums opening track (and single) "linda" live . . . as can be seen on "the early fleetwood mac" video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcH1ks_AcFc

Yes !It's a fair cop- I'll come quietly !Clap the Derbies on me inspector .......

[wetcamelfood]

Originally Posted by THD

I don't recall any bad language at all in Jeremy's alter ego Lyceum set However this may have been because Peter's dad (and therefore probably his mum) was in the audience apparently !
(I did read once on the internet an Australian guy remembering this concert who recalled Peter looking up at the balcony and saying humorously : "Stoned again then dad ?!!"(I don't recall this myself )
In all the times I saw them ,I never saw them do any of the outrageous antics with Harold or any of that stuff ,nor do I remember Jeremy doing obscene lyrics etc (Just very unlucky I guess !!)

I have often wondered if the whole "obscene stage act" thing has been blown out of proportion and sensationalized as if it happened every night when it probably was more rare than we have been lead to believe.

John

[lazy poker]

Originally Posted by THD

. . . nor were any of the songs on the album performed as part of FM set, even in the non parody section (to the best of my Knowledge) .

Originally Posted by lazy poker

not QUITE true - at least once they played the albums opening track (and single) "linda" live . . . as can be seen on "the early fleetwood mac" video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcH1ks_AcFc

and - oh, yes - there's another one: a live version of "teenage darling" (the non-lp b-side of "linda") can be found on the boston set's second cd.

but one intriguing idea just sprang to me mind: imagine the boys playing "string-a-long" live on stage, complete with peter plucking the banjo - that would've been something else completely, wouldn't it?!

[ViscountViktor]

Thanks so much for everyones comments.

However, I'm still a little confused over what happened that stopped Fm from carrying releasing an album with equal songs from Danny Jeremy and Peter.

What happened that made them consider using Jeremy's songs on an EP that never came about, and in effect replacing him with Danny?

[FuzzyPlum]

Was it not just a case of creative development? Didn't Peter want to move the sound of the music away from R&B? I think Peter had a ball playing live and was happy for Jeremy to take a lot of the limelight in the live shows but I'm not sure Jeremy was able offer what Peter wanted creatively. In Danny he saw somebody he could mould as both a guitarist and songwriter. A separate EP for Jeremy would have been a compromise to allow them to get away from what they'd been doing on the first two albums.

[lazy poker]

Originally Posted by ViscountViktor

Thanks so much for everyones comments.

However, I'm still a little confused over what happened that stopped Fm from carrying releasing an album with equal songs from Danny Jeremy and Peter.

What happened that made them consider using Jeremy's songs on an EP that never came about, and in effect replacing him with Danny?

in an interview for the "man of the world - the peter green story" video jeremy had confessed that he saw himself limited to 50s rock & roll and the slide guitar formula of elmore james. on one hand that obviously seemed a little out of place for the more psychedelic style of what ended up on "then play on", on the other jeremy thought there was nothing else he could offer - considering songwriting as well as his playing. he was a band member that - to my knowledge - didn't actually play on this album. so somehow this idea came up: to add this (in)famous ep (with the "milton schlitz"-show and all that stuff) to the album. the recordings were made, but the idea eventually was shelved. thank god, the recordings ever saw the light of day, just a wee bit belatedly, though!

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by lazy poker

and - oh, yes - there's another one: a live version of "teenage darling" (the non-lp b-side of "linda") can be found on the boston set's second cd.

but one intriguing idea just sprang to me mind: imagine the boys playing "string-a-long" live on stage, complete with peter plucking the banjo - that would've been something else completely, wouldn't it?!

This song was released, eventually, in 1992 with Mick's picture book for the box set.