Future Games

The fifth studio album released by the band in Spetember 1971 was Future Games, a far cry from the rock and roll sound of Kiln House and the blues rock of earlier albums, this falls somewhere between the progressive rock sound of Yes and Pink Floyd to the soft California rock sound of the Buckingham Nicks era that they would become more famous for.

It's the first album since Jeremy Spencer's departure, who left to join the Children of God religious group, and he is replaced by American singer-guitarist Bob Welch and Christine McVie (she is now a full-time member). Danny Kirwan, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood make up the rest of the band, now a five-piece again. There are only eight tracks on offer here, although two of them are over seven minutes long (with one being over eight minutes).

Danny Kirwan shows he is on top form with the album opener, Woman of 1000 years, an impressive rock ballad that immediately makes you want to listen on. Morning rain is the first of Christine McVie's two offerings, and the female vocals add a new dimension to the previously male orientated band. The song is great and not a million miles away from her Rumours classic You make loving fun, although the guitar section rocks like a Who classic.

There is an instrumental track next called What a shame, which is credited to all five band members. At 2:20 minutes long it is a short blast of rock brilliance. The first Bob Welch vocal for the band is an eight minute long extravaganza of progressive rock which places him firmly in the ranks. It is the title track, Future games, which was also written by him, and he also re-recorded it later for his solo 1979 album, The other one, although that version was much shorter. I still need to check that one out, but anyway this track starts off mellow and builds up into a Yes-style chorus that is just magical.

Sands of time is another long one at nearly seven and a half minutes. Don't let that put you off though because it is simply one of the best songs Danny ever did (if not the best) and is just brilliant. There are hints of Justin Hayward from the Moody Blues in his vocal, and if I had to compare the song with anything it would be his Forever Autumn from the War of the worlds soundtrack. An edited version was released as a single in the U.S. but failed to chart, it so should have been a massive hit though.

Danny's top form continues with his third and final track on the album, Sometimes. The guitars and pianos in the introduction to this song could sit on Rumours or any of those later albums, then when the vocal starts you can easily imagine Christine or Lindsey singing this. It then leads into another fantastic chorus, making it a hat-trick for Danny here.

One of the best songs on this album is Bob Welch's second and final offering, Lay it all down. He delivers another powerful performance on a track which has more of a hard rock feel than most of the album, with a brilliant head-banging guitar section in the middle. Then the album closes with a first class Christine McVie ballad called Show me a smile, which is up there with some of her best.

Future games is an album that grows on you a little more with each listen until you are well and truly hooked in its grasp. Every track is great and there are a couple of near-masterpieces thrown in, so it's almost unbelievable that the album bombed. With Christine McVie and Bob Welch on board it's easy to forget about the loss of Jeremy Spencer and Peter Green, especially with Danny Kirwan producing some of his best work to date. This is a real lost classic and my favourite album so far in this marathon.