Search - Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac :: Peter Green's Fleetwod Mac: Live at the BBC

Paul S. (spokes) from CHARLOTTE, NC
Reviewed on 4/28/2013...

If you like pre-Buckingham Nicks Fleetwood Mac you have to hear this album.

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Unique recordings of a legendary band

Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 05/13/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"During the three years or so covered on these two discs, Fleetwood Mac evolved from being a blues band to being something else entirely, and they still had another four fraught years to go before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were to join the remaining members and turn them into a license for printing money. The original line-up that signed to Blue Horizon in 1967 stayed relatively stable during these three years but apparently Jeremy Spencer's unwillingness to collaborate with Peter Green on his boss's material meant that a third guitarist was drafted into the band.



Eighteen-year old Danny Kirwan from the band Boilerhouse joined in August 1968, and made his BBC debut later that month with a live broadcast for the Radio One O'Clock Club before a studio audience. By this time, the band's name had shortened to just Fleetwood Mac, and for the final two sessions represented on this disc (from July 1970 and January 1971) Peter Green was no longer in the line-up.



Changes in direction and line-up meant that a fair amount of material was amassed that did not see the light of day on their records and there are seventeen titles on this set otherwise unrecorded, plus two that were on a solo album by Jeremy Spencer (helped out by mates from the band).



The one and three-quarter hours here barely scratches the surface of the amount of material they recorded for the BBC, though there are plenty enough Elmore James covers, psychedelic blues and time-stopping flights of guitar to feed the soul. Twenty-one sessions between 1967 and 1971 are mentioned in Ken Garner's book of BBC sessions In Session Tonight, each probably averaging 20 minutes in playing time, though many of these may well not be preserved, at least not in the quality of those here, which is largely excellent and appears in the main to have come from single-track master tapes (Need Your Love So Bad is a notable exception).



Nearly all are session recordings, though the CD kicks off with a blistering seven and a half minute version of Rattlesnake Shake that was recorded live at the Paris Theatre in 1970 for the In Concert series; and includes two live performances from the Radio One O'Clock Club show mentioned earlier.



Liner notes are sparse, giving only first broadcast dates without specifying the programme involved, and unfortunately line-ups are limited to surnames, not specifying what instruments were played or who is singing lead. In Session Tonight helps out a little here but doesn't identify the mystery pianist who crops up on ten of the tracks. The most likely candidates are Jeremy Spencer, when not playing guitar, or Christine Perfect, who is credited with playing on Stop Messing Around, and appeared on some of their records of this period. Sweet Home Chicago comes from a World Service session they shared with Eddie Boyd, who may well be the pianist on that particular track.



BBC sessions are not synonymous with John Peel and though nineteen tracks come from his Top Gear programme, the rest were all recorded for shows presented by other disc-jockeys, including David Symonds and hairy cornflake Dave Lee Travis. One session, the only one to appear in full, was recorded for a Top Gear spin-off called First Gear, presented by producer John Walters while Peel was off on holiday. The theme for this month-long series was rock and roll and Fleetwood Mac came up with an appropriate mix of originals in the style of Buddy Holly and Elvis, as well as covers of songs by the Everlies, Big Joe Turner and Bobby Vee, the last being a tribute to Buddy written by his mother to the tune of Peggy Sue Got Married. Their blues roots were not forgotten, though, and the newest session included features Jeremy Spencer's version of Son House's Preachin'. This is the song that inspired Robert Johnson's Preachin' Blues, as also featured in a brilliant solo rendition by Peter Green in 1968 for Top Gear.



These double-sided discs feature a CD one one side and DVD-A on the other. I do not have DVD-A or surround sound equipment, but the DVD sides, played in standard DVD format through a digital amplifier, sounded clear and full of detail. I would have to query the benefits of 5.1 surround sound, though, as all the tracks were recorded and mixed to monaural single-track tape; and the claim on the sticker that the CD sides comprise "complete album in stereo" is clearly incorrect."

Great example of White Boy Blues

Steven H. Hulme | Boise, ID USA | 11/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As a previous reviewer pointed out, there are (at least) two flavors of Fleetwood Mac, the most familiar being the "pop" Mac of the '80s and beyond.



But before the arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and to a lesser extent, Christine McVie and Bob Welch... they were a pure "Chicago" style blues band. Guitarists Peter Green... Jeremy Spencer... Danny Kirwan... and the namesake rythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie - they were truly devoted to the blues genre. They, and several other "white boy blues" bands (John Mayall and Mike Bloomfield come immeditely to mind) proved their legitimacy, and were embraced by the "real" bluesmen of the era.



The guitarists knew their chops. (Peter Green, in particular, has become a living legend.) And Fleetwood and McVie have ALWAYS laid down the beat, whether it was "Sweet Home Chicago" or "Go Your Own Way."



This 2-CD set is "quasi live" at the BBC (recorded at a time when The Yardbirds, The Stones, The Beatles were also making similar recordings - talk about an era in music evolution!). I believe it's recorded in mono, but it sounds pretty good. The song selection contains Mac originals - "Rattlesnake Shake," "Albatross," etc. - novelty tunes like the Buddy-Holly-esque "Buddy's Song" and "Linda" - and a lot of covers of the standard blues repertoire.



Highly recommended for fans of (early) Fleetwood Mac or electric blues. (My own copy of this CD set has sentimental value, as I purchased it in London as a souvenir of a visit there.)"