DISCUSSION: Bob Welch's songs from Heroes Are Hard to Find

[MacShadowsBall]

Ledgies, we have come upon the last Pre-Rumours era album. Wow!

And so here is the final Bob Welch discussion thread.

Songs up for discussion...

1. Coming Home
2. Angel
3. Bermuda Triangle
4. She's Changing Me
5. Silver Heels
6. Born Enchanter
7. Safe Harbour

Bob Welch sure did carry a good load of the songs during his last few albums with the Mac.

[aleuzzi]

1. Coming Home
2. Angel
3. Bermuda Triangle
4. She's Changing Me
5. Silver Heels
6. Born Enchanter
7. Safe Harbour


On paper all of these songs are really well written and interesting.

Live, Bermuda Triangle is a masterpiece and perhaps my favorite FM performance live between 1971-74. Angel is also really strong live.

But there's a weird lack of energy in these studio performances. On record, he--and the band--sound exhausted. I don't get it, since, as I've said, the live shows, or at least the performances on the two soundboards I have from this period, are energetic and muscular.

Born Enchanter and Safe Harbour should be covered. Hell, all of these songs are begging to be covered.

[holidayroad]

I love 'Angel' and 'Silver Heels'. 'Bermuda Triangle' is good. I could take or leave the rest.

[bretonbanquet]

"Coming Home" and "Angel" are awesome. Two of his best songs. I like the others, though I like "Bermuda Triangle" the least... I know a lot of people like it but I've never really got on with it

[moon]

I must terribly say, that I listened to Heroes Are Hard To Find just a few days ago...
But it really was worth! Even when I love Bob's songs in Bare Trees, his work here really impressed me.
My favourites:
- Coming Home. Amazing. His voice "in the distance", the start with the bass and the drums, the guitar, the piano, the solos. Everything.
- Angel. Rock! "ANgel!...I want to see you. ANgel! I really want to see you". Great.
- Born Enchanter. Once again, his voice. Keyboards sound very good. Short, but a great song!
- Safe Harbour. Wow. Bass. And only two phrases...

Let me say, I think Bob chose to give more prominence to the instrumental parts than the lyrics. These songs, Coming Home, Safe Harbour, had very short lyrics, or, like in Angel, a little bit repetitive. But, every song in HAHTF is interesting. Long solos, a very pronounced bass, the keyboards, Mick's work...
And, I know, I can be sure, that I heard Coming Home and Safe Harbour before on the radio. I'm sure.
Regards!

[becca]

I think this is the album Bob had most input on. It had a very heavy sound, not surprising given that is the direction he wanted to go toward and resulted in the short lived Paris group. The rest were a bit preoccupied with moving half way across the planet from which to fight for the band name against Davis. There may even have been a rush to get something out there under the name Fleetwood Mac to strengthen their legal claim what with the bogus group having played around the U.S.

I have loved Angel for quite awhile, I find it very evocative, crossing some kind of southern swampy feel with outer space stuff.

Safe Harbor and Coming Home are as good but more spacey (I too thought I'd heard them long before I found this album). Three top drawer tracks in my opinion, with Silver Heels and Bermuda Triangle as decent album tracks but Born Enchanter seems more a throwaway filler.

I think I'd like to have a brighter mix of this album possibly, I got it as an import from Germany at least a decade ago so maybe that's why the production and mixing seems on the poor side (or maybe a lack of funding).

[forever]

She's Changing Me is another lesser-known Bob Welch gem. Really gorgeous song.

[becca]

Yeah, that was a very cool track too, though I remember thinking it felt a bit too personal to be listening to!

[Wendy Welch]

My favorite songs were Bermuda Triangle and Silver Heels from this album. It is unfortunate that Warners or Rhino has not re-released this album remixed. It should be. They put out a boxed set just recently from the UK with the other FM albums from this era and left this album off, intead adding a Peter Green album with the set. But I must say that Bob's re-records by Fuel Records called Bob Welch/His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond and the one after include all of thee songs and is 5 stars and much better than with FM. You can find it on Amazon.

[chiliD]

While I think "Hypnotized" is Bob's magna opus, I have a stronger connection with "Bermuda Triangle". Both due to the lyrical content and the instrumentation.
And, that it was during that era (1974) that I finally got to see Fleetwood Mac in concert for the first time...a very significant event for me!

Back in '78 I was taking a Record Production class and I chose my course project (the equivalent of a "term paper") to record a cover of "Bermuda Triangle". Based my version on a mix of the Heroes Are Hard To Find version & the live arrangement from the Will The Real Fleetwood Mac Please Stand Up? bootleg. I loved the piano intro that Christine played, but also had Mick's congas & the ARP String Ensemble from the studio version deeply ingrained in my head. I was extremely happy with the outcome...but, my big mistake was never keeping a copy for myself. When I went back a few days after "the final" to see if I could get some studio time to do another mix, I found out that all the master tapes had been bulk erased in the meantime. So, that version is lost to the ravages of time...only recollections in my grey matter exist.

In various bands, I've done "Angel", "Bermuda Triangle", & "Safe Harbour" (the latter mainly as just a warm up jam, in hopes that the band would like it enough to keep in the repertoire, but alas, no)

Up until the invention of CDs, I'd completely worn out 3 copies of HAHTF.