Another compilation album, this being the UK equivalent to English Rose, it was released in August 1969 and there are five tracks that the two albums share in common. Pious Bird consists of their first four UK singles (for some reason not included on either of their studio albums), three B-sides, two tracks from Mr. Wonderful, one from their debut album and two which were by blues artist Eddie Boyd with backing music by Fleetwood Mac.
I have the original album version, not the awfully repackaged and sawn apart CD re-release from 2002. I'm not sure why I would need five different recordings of Need your love so bad, however great the song is. Like English Rose the main members of the band are Green, Spencer, Kirwan, McVie and Fleetwood, although Eddie Boyd takes the lead for two of the tracks.
For the life of me I can't understand why they omitted the beautiful Something inside of me and the brilliant One sunny day and Without you, in favour of the three album tracks that we already had. At least the latter two were later included on Then play on I suppose.
Anyhow, the album begins with the brilliant Need your love so bad, a song that was foolishly left off English Rose, which was written by Mertis John Jr. in 1955. It was first recorded by his younger brother, Little Willie John (thanks to Wikipedia for that piece of information). Fleetwood Mac released their cover as a single in 1968, and heaven only knows why it wasn't included on Mr. Wonderful as it's beautiful. Easily one of their best tracks from the Peter Green blues era, and his vocals sound absolutely stunning on this.
Unfortunately the rest of side one doesn't live up to that opening. Coming home is repeated once again and actually sounds better than it did on English Rose, Rambling pony was the B-side to their first single and is pretty average, Eddie Boyd's The big boat sounds good, but with only his vocals it would have sounded out of place on one of their studio albums. I believe my time ain't long was the first single from 1967 and is actually the same song as Dust my broom from Mr. Wonderful, although Spencer's vocals sound a lot more polished on this version. The sun is shining, written by Elmore James, rounds off side one carrying on the same blues sound that has run throughout.
Side two starts off with the thoroughly welcome Albatross, of which I haven't got anything to add that I haven't already said (see my review of English Rose), but needless to say it sounds glorious here and came just at the right time. Black magic woman follows, and again you can read my last review but it is another classic.
Just the blues is the second Eddie Boyd track here and it sounds like something that would be playing in a piano bar. It's not a bad thing though, the guitars from the band combine well with Boyd's nimble piano playing, although at 5:41 it's by far the longest track on the album. After that, the short instrumental Jigsaw puzzle blues is quite nice, at least it sounds better than it did on English Rose. I can see why it was the B-side to Albatross.
The odd inclusion of Looking for somebody from their debut (it's not one of the obvious choices on that album) actually sounds great here, and then the album closes as the previous two began, with Stop messin' round. Not much I can really add about that one really.
And so, what we have here is a slightly odd combination. I can see why the singles and B-sides would be here, but not the old album tracks - although if they were then I would have included Shake your moneymaker or I loved another woman from the first album, and Need your love tonight or Trying so hard to forget from the second.
The only thing that makes this album worth buying is Need your love so bad, otherwise I would say just get English Rose. If you combine the two albums and just keep the 'new' tracks then the tracklisting would be something like:
Need your love so bad
Jigsaw puzzle blues
The big boat
Something inside of me
I believe my time ain't long
Rambling pony
Black magic woman
The sun is shining
One sunny day
Without you
Just the blues
Albatross
And that would have been the ultimate third album in the Fleetwood Mac discography.
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