Happy 50th Heroes…

[dougl]

Heroes Are Hard to Find was released on this day in 1974. So good.

[Macfan4life]

Thanks for remembering and thanks for posting. This album is one of my favorites. This album has everything. A psychedelic song, a spooky song, love ballads, Chris blues with horns, and some straight forward rock. We even get a rare Chris angry song. This album takes you on a trip literally.

Lets celebrate its release with a very rare 1974 live concert where Bad Loser is played.
OMG to have been there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfAufZJcTtk&t=1105s

[On Ice]

Good description of the diverse and highly interesting track list from this forgotten 1974 gem MacFan. The remaster from a couple years back with the 1974 show is a true treasure with an awesome remastering. My favs are of course all of Christine's amazing tracks- she offered up 4 of her best ever songs for this project. Welch, while not quite as strong as Mystery, gave us the sweet pop foreshadow of She's Changing Me, Silver Heels, Bermuda Triangle and the terrific Safe Harbour before (perhaps prematurely) calling it a day. Hard to believe it's 50 years old, but wait till next year when the White album turns 50, wholly we're old lol

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by On Ice

Good description of the diverse and highly interesting track list from this forgotten 1974 gem MacFan. The remaster from a couple years back with the 1974 show is a true treasure with an awesome remastering. My favs are of course all of Christine's amazing tracks- she offered up 4 of her best ever songs for this project. Welch, while not quite as strong as Mystery, gave us the sweet pop foreshadow of She's Changing Me, Silver Heels, Bermuda Triangle and the terrific Safe Harbour before (perhaps prematurely) calling it a day. Hard to believe it's 50 years old, but wait till next year when the White album turns 50, wholly we're old lol

Speak for yourself. I was not even in kindergarten yet when the album was released
Chris was really on fire on this album. While Why lures me to Mystery as the shiny object that wont let me go, but Chris's stellar contributions to this album are just as powerful as her contributions to the White Album or Tango. She brought her A game. But does she not always bring her A game? This album showed her growth in writing than any other album. Even without Stevie and Lindsey its possible Say You Love Me could have been their first hit. She was really PERFECTing her craft.

[WalkAThinLine.]

McVie was at the top of her game on this album. All four of her contributions are terrific, including the horn-infused title track that unfortunately flopped as a single. I personally think that "Come a Little Bit Closer" would have been a better choice as a single, and it's also one of my favorite McVie compositions.

I find the songwriting imbalance between McVie and Welch to be peculiar. They could have replaced one of Welch's offerings (ideally "Born Enchanter") with another McVie song to even out the songwriting credits.

Even though Heroes are Hard to Find reached number 34 on the US Billboard 200, which at the time was their highest charting album in that country, the band was reportedly disappointed with both its commercial performance and the ensuing tour, which had lackluster attendance according to McVie (certain venues were apparently only half full). After all of the band's legal troubles and their decision to relocate operations to America, the band was likely looking for a commercial breakthrough, which the band nearly attained with this album but ultimately failed to achieve.

[Villavic]

Bob Welch wrote most of it. "We struggled with material," he recalls, "because nobody at that point could really articulate a clear direction. We wanted to do modern, no-cliche music, and had many long philosophical discussions about what we should do."

...

. In November, Rolling Stone did a positive story on us, called "The Real Fleetwood Mac Stands Up. " Under a picture of the four of us happily boozing, Bob Welch was quoted: "I guess it's just not our nature to have an 'image.' At some point you have to realize that you may never be Elton John. But then again, the point isn't to sell a record to every man, woman, and child on earth. The point is to have a career, do what you're doing and do it well. Fleetwood Mac has done just that. "

But down deep, we knew Bob wasn't happy. He had burnt himself out writing the last two albums, and he was actually feeling quite fried. Marital problems aggravated being on the road for him. The album did all right, but wasn't the big success we'd been chasing, and the single, "Heroes," wasn't a hit. It was at this point, I think, that Bob Welch looked back on all the years and work and began to see a dead end. He'd had enough. We kept playing, but things were strained after a while. It wasn't too serious and nothing was said, but I sensed something was about to happen.

You already know where I read it.

[BLY]

I love this album and always did. I think when I listen to the early releases (pre Buckingham/Nicks) each album got better. Christine always had great songs and I always liked Bob Welch and have his solo work. Heroes the song to me is a masterpiece and I do remember it playing quite a bit on the radio.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by BLY

I love this album and always did. I think when I listen to the early releases (pre Buckingham/Nicks) each album got better. Christine always had great songs and I always liked Bob Welch and have his solo work. Heroes the song to me is a masterpiece and I do remember it playing quite a bit on the radio.

I agree. As I stated earlier, its a little bit of this and that on the album. Its incohesiveness is its lure. Chris showing such growth and versatility. Love ballads, bluesy horns, and an angry song. When Chris first joined she was the spice that you really look forward to her songs even though there were not many. By the time Heroes came around Chris was almost dominating the album.
1974 was a wild year. While the tour was short and probably not that successful its incredible to listen to these concerts and even that radio concert that were at the end of the year. On new years eve of that year the new line up was born. I often wish I could find a genie in a bottle because can you imagine if you could go back in time and go to a 1973 or 1974 Fleetwood Mac concert.
Another wish I would have would be to interview Lindsey. One question I would ask is that urban legend that Bob Welch and Lindsey ran into each other in a club shortly after Lindsey joined while they were still making the White album. Supposedly Lindsey asked Bob "How the hell did you stand to work with these people?"