Gotta love that Mr Welch!

[nicepace]

Hmm...do you think Future Games is the best place to start? I'd be skipping Future Games and Bare Trees and jumping right into the good stuff. Oh yeah I'll admit that Lay It All Down is perhaps one of the best Bob Welch songs of all time, but it is the one redeeming feature of the album IMO.

Personally I'd start with Heroes and work backwards but perhaps I only think that way because that is what I did.

'Future Games' and 'Bare Trees' AREN'T "good stuff"? My my, we have a difference of opinion here. LOL

I like the idea of starting with the first one and working your way up through time chronologically. It enables a new listener to hear the changes in the band in order (even if not in "real time"). I obviously like 'Future Games' better than you do, so I have no objection to its being a good starting point. And if this listener is going to learn to appreciate Danny Kirwan (an important side benefit of becoming interested in Bob's music), she will have to start with the albums that Danny is on.

But if she wants to listen to them alphabetically, or based on which cover picture she likes the best, or any other random criteria, that's fine too. The important thing is that she take any one of those records and puts it on the turntable.

Personally, I like 'Penguin' the least of the five, but when I skip the Dave Walker tracks it takes a giant leap into the top tier.

[chriskisn]

Originally Posted by nicepace

'Future Games' and 'Bare Trees' AREN'T "good stuff"? My my, we have a difference of opinion here. LOL

I like the idea of starting with the first one and working your way up through time chronologically. It enables a new listener to hear the changes in the band in order (even if not in "real time"). I obviously like 'Future Games' better than you do, so I have no objection to its being a good starting point. And if this listener is going to learn to appreciate Danny Kirwan (an important side benefit of becoming interested in Bob's music), she will have to start with the albums that Danny is on.

But if she wants to listen to them alphabetically, or based on which cover picture she likes the best, or any other random criteria, that's fine too. The important thing is that she take any one of those records and puts it on the turntable.

Personally, I like 'Penguin' the least of the five, but when I skip the Dave Walker tracks it takes a giant leap into the top tier.

Ok well I look at it this way, if you are into the Rumours era, the most accessible and similar work is the album before SN & LB is Heroes Are Hard To Find. Personally I would think that anyone starting off listening to Future Games who is a post-1975 fan would run reasonably quickly back to the safety of Stevie & Lindsey.

Oh and regarding Dave Walker:

Originally Posted by nicepace

My my, we have a difference of opinion here. LOL

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by nicepace

Good long-term advice, but don't be intimidated in the short term. Just take it one album at a time. Start with 'Future Games,' since it was the first chronologically. Just put it on and listen.

You don't have time today to listen to all five of the Welch era albums, and you don't have time today to find copies of all of Bob's solo work, but you DO have time to listen to 'Future Games.' Do it. You won't regret it. The title song was one of the defining moments of Bob's career, plus you'll get some tasty material from Christine and Danny, too.

While I agree with the "listen to them chronologically" and that Future Games would be the starting point, I don't really consider Future Games (or Bare Trees, either) to be "Welch-era" per se, despite being his first two albums with Fleetwood Mac and his writing the title track for the first album he was involved with...to me those two are "Kirwan-era" FMac albums (as was Kiln House), since Danny was the principal male songwriter for those albums...Welch just happened to be there for them and contribute a couple of songs each. Penguin is really what I consider the first "Welch-era" album (where Welch became the principal male songwriter in the band).

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by chriskisn

Ok well I look at it this way, if you are into the Rumours era, the most accessible and similar work is the album before SN & LB is Heroes Are Hard To Find. Personally I would think that anyone starting off listening to Future Games who is a post-1975 fan would run reasonably quickly back to the safety of Stevie & Lindsey.

Oh, I disagree, Chris...I think there's a LOT in Danny's work on Future Games that a fan of Lindsey Buckingham would find similar in sound & feel to what Lindsey was doing on the Buckingham Nicks album...that's PROBABLY what Mick also heard that attracted him so much to Lindsey's guitar work that fateful day. "In the back of my mind" I can hear Lindsey (with Stevie's backgrounds) pulling off a killer version of "Woman Of A Thousand Years". It almost SOUNDS like it could've been a Buckingham Nicks song as it is.

[nicepace]

Originally Posted by chiliD

Oh, I disagree, Chris...I think there's a LOT in Danny's work on Future Games that a fan of Lindsey Buckingham would find similar in sound & feel to what Lindsey was doing on the Buckingham Nicks album.

I agree. I think the 1975 live recordings of the band performing "Station Man" support this point.

As for when the "Welch era" began, I always just consider those five records as a unified group, not because Bob was the "leader" for all five of them, but just for convenience.

Of course there are major stylistic and musical changes within those five records, resulting from Danny's departure, the addition of Bob Weston, etc. Let's not forget that Christine is on those five albums. Her presence on those albums is what automatically makes them of interest to fans of the "Rumours line-up" and is probably the main motivator for most Fleetwood Mac fans to listen to those records.

[AncientQueen]

Originally Posted by nicepace

Let's not forget that Christine is on those five albums. Her presence on those albums is what automatically makes them of interest to fans of the "Rumours line-up" and is probably the main motivator for most Fleetwood Mac fans to listen to those records.

For me, that is certainly true. She did some of her best work during that time, but what I like most is how she is integrated into the band then, her laid back style is present AND important for the style of the band. After the "white album", her playing is greatly overshadowed by Lindseys guitar hero ambitions and his hektic (over)production basically ignored her timing and style, well, if you hear her at all under all the sugarcoat.

I would love to hear a Bob Welch FM line-up coming up with "Everywhere" in a breezy, lighthearted way.