Disco de Fleetwood Mac: “London Live '68”

Many people forget that Fleetwood Mac started off as a blues unit in the mid 1960's, when guitarist extraordinaire Peter Green and drummer Mick Fleetwood both left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to form their own band. Bassist John McVie would eventually follow suit, and, after adding unknown slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer, the original Fleetwood Mac was born.

This set from 1968 is indicitive of an early Mac set. The blues are pure on this offering, featuring the slide guitar talents of Spencer, who could also belt out Elmore James tunes with little trouble. (in fact, Spencer's james-like slide is why he was added to the band to begin with) Green also sings a few of the tunes, all of which are blues offerings. My guess is that this is one of the last Mac shows before the instrumental "Albatross" became a smash hit, and Green's writings slowly became for introspective and religiously oriented. The results are at moments raw, but wonderful indeed.

The Mac would shortly add on guitar prodigy Danny Kirwin to the lineup, and the slow downfall of the original band would begin. Green et al would record one great studio lp, the amazing "Then Play On," before Green left the band. (reasons are still not 100% clear..whether it was religion, drugs, or both is not exactly known) Spencer would later abandon the band and join a religious cult, while Kirwin, way too young (he was 17 when he joined the band in late '68), would become yet another drug casuality by 1973... not long thereafter, Fleetwood and the MacVies would find Buckingham and Nicks, and..well, you know the rest..

This aural document of the early Mac shows is wonderful listening and well worth searching out, if to hear Green's guitar majesty if no other reason. A great cd.

I'm the kinda guy who listens to either lots of bootlegs, or compilations of old blues 78's from the 20's and 30's. Thus being the case the sound quality here doesn't really bother me so bad, but it is fairly atrocious. Sounds like it was recorded in the back of the room with a handheld mic and an elcheapo tape recorder, which probably isn't far from the truth. I really dig the fact that these historic recordings are making their way to commercially available CD's, providing a glimpse into a moment of rock and roll history.

Now for the music. The set starts off with several Jeremy Spencer-led tunes with him doing his Elmore James inspired vocals and slide guitar work. His work seems to be an acquired taste as some folks find him hard to take after a couple tunes. I like it, but I wouldn't want to hear a whole album of it. Peter Green, on the other hand, is ON FIRE! His vocals are passionate, and his guitar work, although it's obviously B.B.King influenced, is just amazing here. This has been the album that I play for my guitar students when I want to give them an example of using space while soloing, instead of a million notes all over the place. Peter Green is a master at this kind of phrasing.

I've seen Peter recently, and while his playing doesn't have nowhere near the fire of the old days, he's doing well and it's great to see him back out and trying.

This is among the best of Peter's live playing, in my opinion. All five of them rock, plus Peter's vocals are louder and harsher than usual. The sound quality isn't the best but on "Don't know which way to go" he's on fire.