1968 – Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac

So you say you’ve heard of Fleetwood Mac? That five piece mega hit factory of the 70’s and 80’s? Well I say, this ain’t that. This is the blues baby, so sit back and let me tell you how this story goes.

Fleetwood Mac was born out of the “British Blues” or the British interpretation of the real deep south American blues. You see once upon a time in 1963, there was a blues band called John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. That band had a baby and they called it Fleetwood Mac.

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Okay so to be clear, John Mayall was a blues band baby making machine who launched the careers of many young music legends and forged the foundation of British blues music, which in turn influenced a ton of classic rock radio, but for the purpose of this article, we are talking about the elder sibling - Fleetwood Mac.

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Peter Green was the cat who replaced Eric Clapton in “The Bluesbreakers“. He was an extraordinary guitar player who subsequently left that band and recruited the boys to create a band named after the rhythm section called “Fleetwood Mac”.

Personel

• Peter Green – Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
• Jeremy Spencer – Vocals, Slide Guitar, Piano
• John McVie – Bass Guitar
• Mick Fleetwood – Drums

This is really great stuff and if you have never heard Peter Green, you just won’t believe this is Fleetwood Mac. It’s exciting to turn you on to something like this because it is by far one of my favorite blues albums and it can easily become one of yours.

This record is very high up on my “Blues Meditation” list and will be referred to in a later post when I explain what the heck that is.

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Side One opens with “My Heart Beat Like A Hammer“. This track starts out like a typical late 60’s / early 70’s studio session – a bit unorganized. Then it just rips out the raw blues riff with ultimate distortion to let you know right away where this album is going. I like that in a record.

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“I woke up one morning

Waking with the rising sun

Woke up one morning

Awakin’ with the rising sun, aaaaaaahh

Thought about my baby

Did I just do what she done”

– Peter Green

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Peter gives a full blown lesson in the art of the mouth harp with “Long Grey Mare“, a funky little R&B number to pep up your step. The spin continues with a couple early blues standards by Robert Johnson and Elmore James. The latter is by far the best cover I have ever heard of “Shake Your Money Maker” being that the original is very close to my heart. And the piano in “Hellhound On My Trail” is like buttah.

Side One wraps up with the gritty “Looking For Somebody” which sounds a bit like a background track for a sleazy blues band that is creeping down the avenue behind you.

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Side Two kicks off in classic Peter Green fashion and if timed correctly, should be playing just about the time the whiskey is kicking in.

How many more years

Have you got to wreck my life

Peter Green – No Place To Go

Seriously, what else do you need in a blues song? There’s a classic blues beat, pain and anguish in the vocal and sweet, sweet harmonica to take you down the railroad tracks. Admittedly, there could be a rip roaring guitar solo and honestly, there could be five more minutes, but it’s just not that kind of song and topping out at 3:20 this song plays as a unique Peter Green classic that leaves you wanting more. I’d especially like to know what happens to the guy after he jumps the next train.

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With flavors of “Black Magic Woman”, track three on Side Two, “I loved Another Woman” rolls off the disk like a spicy mix of slow blues and salsa. Got chips?

Oh yeah, I feel a side note coming on.

Note: If you believe “Black Magic Woman” is a great classic rock song written by Carlos Santana, yeah , no. It’s totally a great song, but it was written by Peter Green. That classic track has the same chord progression and guitar breaks as “I Loved Another Woman” and probably evolved out of the structure of this song. Although Peter’s version did not become as popular as the Santana cover, the song was often played live by Fleetwood Mac even long after Peter’s departure from the group and was often the basis for their extended concert jam sessions.

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Not bad for a bunch of white boys.

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The album finishes off with the rich blues number “Got To Move” featuring the amazing Jeremy Spencer on slide guitar. This is not the Rolling Stones or the great Mississippi Fred McDowell, but a fresh tall glass of blues flavored with Fleetwood Mac. One of my favorite versions of a traditional spiritual blues song rearranged with an upbeat tempo that will have you humming it long after you heard it.

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The perfect blues album, every track is great IMO and the overall sound is truly innovative and far ahead of it’s time. “Fleetwood Mac” is a grand old dip into the past that will leave you feeling bluesy all over.

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RIP – Peter Green

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9 out of 12 bars

This vinyl is drenched in the blues and is an essential introduction to the British blues sound of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.