Disco de Fleetwood Mac: “Live In Boston - Vol 2”

This is jamming blues based rock at its best. Well before Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks interjected their pop influence on Fleetwood Mac, it was "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac", a group of five enormously talented musicians who rivaled any of the blues-based British rock bands of the late 60's.

Starting off with the classic "Black Magic Woman," written and sung by Peter Green, the band goes bluesy with "Jumpin' At Shadows," then rocks out with a couple of Danny Kirwan songs. The three guitar line-up of Green, Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer on slide guitar adds a wall of sound that just resonates.

When the 24 minute "Rattlesnake Shake" starts out so true to its studio version, you wonder how they'll fill all the time. Don't worry. Included in the jam are "Searching/Fighting for Madge" and "Underway" off the classic "Then Play On" album. This is jamming the way you wish Cream would have done it: playing off and with each other rather than against each other.

The CD is capped with "Green Manalishi", a cult classic that Green must have visited the devil to write. Listen to the prolonged jam and see if you also don't think Freddie Mercury and Brian May lifted it to write "Another One Bites the Dust."

Fleetwood Mac had established itself as a "pure" rock blues band that could switch over to great mainstream stuff as needed. Critically and commercially coming into their own in the early 70's, Peter Green--who had been labeled a "Blues God" to offset Clapton's "God"--suddenly left the band. The rest is history. Enter the pop-rock success of latter day Fleetwood Mac.

If you want to hear brilliant musicians playing blues-based rock 'n roll at its best in the finest setting--live--buy this album.

This recording is a real eye opener for those rock'n'roll fans who associate Fleetwood Mac with mellow pop music and Stevie Nicks. This is the version of Fleetwood Mac that emphasized blues, guitars and volume.

Recorded in 1970, shortly before founder-guitarist Peter Green left the band, this disc is guaranteed to appeal to anyone who is a fan of loud blues-oriented guitar riffs ala Cream and The Allman Brothers.

The standout cut is a 25-minute version of 'Rattlesnake Shake'. A truly seminal piece of guitar work evidenced by the extraordinary interplay of guitarists Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwin.

If you are a rock'n'roll fan, you need this disc in your collection. I would have given it 5 stars but with Volumes 2 and 3 yet to be released, I wanted to save some room if either of those happen to be better. That would be quite a feat indeed.

Most fans of Fleetwood Mac are acquainted little, if at all, with the initial lineup of the late 60's -- Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie. This recording, a set from one of the band's concerts in Boston in 1970, must be heard to be believed. Anything but the soft rock of the Nicks-Buckingham era, this performance is raw power. If you like what you hear, spend a few minutes looking up the biographical sketches of the band members. They paid a heavy price in their own lives for playing with this kind of fire. Fortunately, the fruit of their labors has been preserved for a whole new generation of listeners to admire and enjoy. Do yourself a favor and grab this one right away.

Superb live album. I could do without the Jeremy Spencer slide guitar and 50's imitations, but Peter Green is top notch. The Green Manalishi solo is some of the best blues guitar soloing I've heard. If you like blues guitar, you must give it a listen.

"Rattlesnake Shake" is a steaming, burning, scolding hot, melting, lava-spewing MONSTER of a guitar jam. It's 25 minutes long, and I believe it out rocks Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It HAS to be heard to be believed. If there was ever a band that was DRASTICALLY different in their early years, it's gotta be Fleetwood Mac. What a jam. Incredible!!!

Well, now that my excitement for that wonderful track has momentarily passed, let's talk about the rest of the album. The vocal melody to "Black Magic Woman" comes really close to sounding exactly like Santana's, however afterwards the song explodes into some exceptionally good blues playing. "Jumping at Shadows" is a bit quiet, though quite soon really good guitar work enters the picture and instantly brings me to my feet. Absolutely no complaints with the three songs I've mentioned so far.

"Like it This Way" is one of those party bluesy numbers- the kind of song you'd hear at a birthday party or something. I like it though, mostly because the guitar playing is really good. "Only You" is not the oldies song or the Ringo Starr cover you're probably thinking of (though I guess this album might be considered oldies now, hehe). It's a really heavy track with a guitar riff that repeats fantastically throughout the song. I like that. Peter Green's right- "The Green Manalishi" really does sound evil. Man, it's so eerie, and I don't feel comfortable listening to this song at all.

Reading the little booklet that came with the album, I get the impression Peter Green really cared about the older version of Fleetwood Mac, and because of his Grateful Dead influence, he really wanted the fans to hear one more live album with lots of guitar jamming. He eventually had a bad acid trip while on tour and decided to leave the band. I wonder what he must be thinking right now, knowing there's young people like me who are very happy this album exists. He was apparently having some problems and had to leave the band. Hey, we all have problems. You can't blame the man for leaving. He didn't respond well to fortune and fame, and all the questions he had to face about his religion. They should have left the man alone to sort out his problems.

But I guess it was inevitable Fleetwood Mac was on the rise in terms of popularity. I wouldn't have been able to handle the pressure, and I don't blame Green at all for his decision. Reading more information from the booklet, I get the impression he seemed confident that this was going to be his final album with the band. He wanted to go out on a strong note, and he did. VERY strong. Of course, when I say this is his final album with the band, I mean the final of three live albums (Volume 2 and 3 of this live Boston set are also available for purchase).

Peter Green is a normal person like you and me. He just had a troubled past. Drugs and guilt changed the way he looked at the world. He's allowed to think that way if he wants. It's his right as a human being.

Solid blues and lengthy rock jams dominated with guitars and drums aren't popular in todays world. Nowadays you have... I don't know, electronic music (I guess that's what you call it).

Just a few weeks after this albums release in February of 1970, Peter Green announced he wanted to leave the band (though he actually didn't leave Fleetwood Mac until around April, when the overseas live concert schedule was finally over with- he made a commitment to the band that he'd stay with them until those live dates were all complete).

I'm really happy he gave us this final live performance before his departure. His presence will always be an important one for Fleetwood Mac to me personally. I'm sure more live music from the old version of Fleetwood Mac still exists, and will probably be put on disc one day for our listening pleasure. Hopefully more lengthy guitar jams, because Peter Green, along with the rest of the band, were really good at that.