Favorite Welch-era record?
 

I'm new to the board, so please do forgive me if this is a tired topic. The Bob Welch era of the band seems to be the forgotten or lost era, I know that I'd heard the B&N and the Peter Green records before I ever knew about Bob Welch. So when I started recently getting interested in Fleetwood Mac again I decided to check out and immerse in those albums. I am loving a lot of things about that era, it's by turns funky and sublime. Right now I have Bare Trees on, for example, and Christine's "Homeward Bound" has become one of my all-time favorite songs by her. I also think "Why" is a more gorgeous ballad than "Songbird" (!) and Danny Kirwan's guitar makes me swoon. Bob's title track on Future Games is genius.

The only record that hasn't wowed me yet is Penguin. I'm having trouble deciding which is my favorite of the rest though. What do you think? What's the best Mac album of the first half of the 70's? I never know to include Kiln House with this era or the previous, so, your choice :)

Mystery To Me. Hands down!

Tie between "Mystery To Me" and "Future Games", but for very different reasons.

Mystery to Me is my favorite record from the Bob Welch era. The Welch lineup made some beautiful records together.....simply sublime.

I also love "Come A Little Bit Closer from Heroes are Hard To Find.

Well, for one thing, welcome here :angel:.

Thank you very much, glad to be here :)

I'm semi- new here myself. I joined this forum at the first of the year. Anyways my first Welch era album is Penguin. It is soooo underrated.

Hello :) What about Penguin do you love? Which songs? It doesn't stand out to me but I do love the cover ;)

Might I ask the reasons? I love both, and Bare Trees as well.

I don't think there's a bad song on "Future Games". There's a beautiful folky, jazzy quality that never forgets that it's supposed to rock first and foremost. It's the album the band had been working up to since at least "Then Play On". The songs are more extended, and the beauty of Kirwan's playing really shines through on this like on no other record. As a whole, it's completely unlike anything the Mac has ever done before or since. It may actually be my favorite Fleetwood Mac album ever.

"Mystery To Me" is great because by this record, Welch figured out his role in the band, and was contributing some monster songs. Christine also contributed some monster songs. Bob Weston's leads were a perfect compliment to those songs. It's not a perfect record, but the high points are amongst the highest in Fleetwood Mac's catalogue. "Believe Me", "Hypnotized", "Miles Away", and "Why" are every bit as good, if not better, than any of the "Rumours" singles, IMO. Weston's lead are stunning in a '70s kind of way.

FG is more "roll with it", whereas MTM is more carefully thought out.

Yes it is the most underrated of the FM albums (well that and "Time").

There are five albums in a row that are great FM albums and Penguin was the first. It was when FM really hit the peak of their abilities between 73 and 77.

I don't really have any specific reasons. Penguin is just a great rock n toll album.

Mystery To Me and Heroes seem more like designed aims at the charts (which I don't say as a bad thing, just observing). Also probably an effect of losing melancholy intense Danny Kirwan meant Bob Welch's sensibilities dominated more. Christine always seemed to me like a person who could adapt to the flavor of the moment.

Mystery to Me followed by Penguin.

Why? Because not only do they have Bob Welch, but they have Bob Weston.

While neither has the PG/DK/JS guitar mystique, they were both excellent players. I liked Welch's jazzy feel in composition and rhythm and Weston plays a lot of fiery leads which sometimes gets buried in the mix.

Plus, once one stops expecting FM v1, and listens to what is, effectively, a completely different band on its own merits, you find Welch doing some great songwriting and Weston playing some outstanding guitar in support.

I love Future Games. The overall sound of the record is so relaxed and spacious. My only complaints about the album are Christine's vocal on Morning Rain, which is uncharacteristically bad, and the short total running time. Easily one or two more songs could've fit on it. I don't see why, for instance, any number of Christine songs tried out on the Kiln House tour couldn't have gone on it. Still, this is all a quibble. In terms of a consistent album sound, Future Games has it.

All of the Welch-era albums have some great material on them but it's hard to pick a favorite or to praise one as a fully-realized record. They all seem fertile, full, occasionally bursting with ideas, but somehow transitional. Mystery seems the most forcefully realized of these records--but I'm not crazy about the mobile unit, and would have preferred the band recorded in a studio, as they did on FG and Heroes. Some of the Mystery songs, in particular, seem too close to the speakers or something. In terms of the engineering and mixing, Miles Away sounds the best.

Heroes Are Hard to Find. Great way to go out for Bob and the Mac. just adding that it comes after my least fav Welsh era record......so i'm in the minority there, so far:laugh:

Mick

I listen to Mystery to Me the most these days. I suppose it's the most pop and accessible of that era, although I agree that the production on Heroes is more polished. It's also pretty soulful, overall. I sometimes find Christine's pop songs too formulaic, but on Mystery I feel like they're coming from a real place. Bob's mystical side shines without being overindulged. The band as a whole sounds really tight. There are some of my favorite musical moments from John (Miles Away, Forever) and Mick (Hypnotized). I too love the Welch/Weston guitar blend -- and Weston's intro to Why is a great moment too. Of the Welch-era albums, it feels to me the one where the band is the most *present*.

Future Games and Bare Trees feel more ethereal, Penguin and Heroes more eclectic/scattered. They all have their moments. I'm second-most partial to Heroes, third-most to Bare Trees.

I agree about Christine's songs on MTM, I like "Morning Rain", "Homeward Bound" and "Heroes are Hard to Find" too but those are more her jams. All her songs on MTM are very sincere while pleasing the ear.

I really like Bare Trees, and actually I like Welch and Kirwan a lot, too bad they seem to have not gotten along?

Ok, it's taken 40 years of listening to both Mystery To Me & Penguin to really decipher between Weston & Welch who was playing what. I really have come to believe that had they stayed playing together, they were well on their way to becoming the "Keith Richard/Mick Taylor" of Fleetwood Mac (where Peter Green & Danny Kirwan were obviously the "Duane Allman/Dickey Betts")

Also, the more I listen to the Welch era Fleetwood Mac, the harder it is for me to pick one album over another...and NOT owning any ONE of them would leave a gap in my collection larger than the black hole in the middle of the Milky Way. (which goes pretty much for the entire catalogue of Fleetwood Mac albums...their music is just so good, missing ANY album in the collection seems like an abomination to me).

That said, I'm pretty much of the opinion that Mystery To Me was pretty much the Rumours album of the Welch era.

A few of the Welch era albums are only $7/8 on Amazon right now, fortunately for me ;) At least if I can get over my distaste for plastic CD cases.

Greatest analogy ever!!! (Appropriately, that's my favorite era of the Stones...)

At least as far as good Fleetwood Mac-related albums go.

Which is where I'm bad. I haven't really paid too much attention to new Fleetwood-related since 2006...I guess I lost my love for them at this point. (Now, I'd be more than happy to buy a Christine McVie album...But I just can't get into new Stevie or Lindsey right now.)

My two faves are Future Games and Heroes Are Hard To Find. The songs on each of those albums fit together well.

'Future Games' is such a beautiful song. I'm unsure if I've ever heard any other song that is quite like it. Of course, I've mentioned a lot that 'Prove Your Love' from HAHTF is likely my favorite of all of Christine's songs.

Bob and Bob becoming Keith and Mick of FM??? Why not the other way around: Keith and Mick becoming the Bob and Bob of the Rolling Stones?????? At least these duos acted in the same period. so who was first?

But......
Claiming Peter and Danny were the Duane and Dickey is completely out of the question. They were definitely BEFORE Duane and Dickey. You should have turned that around.
The Allman Brothers formed in 1969, wheras Danny joined FM in 1968.....
:D

I had it on just as I clicked on this thread, it's a GREAT song ("Prove Your Love"). I'm surprised there isn't more love for Heroes, I think it's comparably terrific. Then again there hasn't been a whole lot of responses so I shouldn't say anything. "Bad Loser" also has a great vibe and mood.

Bare Trees, for Sentimental Lady (it makes the difference), The Ghost, and his work with Danny, I think it was the best.
Then Penguin, I love Bright Fire, and like Night Watch.

I am curious what further collaboration between them would have led to, I find them both amazing in distinctly different ways. Kirwan's songs are my favorite on FG/BT and Welch as mentioned really gets into his groove by MTM/HAHTF.

Well, I think it's hard to explain, but they worked so good together. Their songs had a special chemistry that didn't repeat in the next albums after Danny's departure. Bob Weston was only in two works, and then Bob played the guitar alone. I know Danny had more songs in Bare Trees than Bob, but Welch made an important play.
And I like Future Games too!!
Regards!