Bare Trees

The sixth studio album release by Fleetwood Mac was Bare Trees, released in April 1972. The line-up is the same as on Future Games (Danny Kirwan, Christine McVie, Bob Welch, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood), with most of the songwriting placed firmly on Danny's shoulders. He actually wrote five out of the nine songs, with Christine and Bob responsible for two each, but sadly this was to be the last album that he would feature on as he was fired from the band shortly after. Consequently it saddens me every time I hear this brilliant album, although it just makes the album even more poignant and special, rather than ruining it.

Danny dives straight in with Child of mine, a country tinged soft rock belter where he tugs at the heart-strings with references to his father who left him as a child. This is the Eagles with hard rock guitars playing. He really is on top form here, and throughout the album. The other contributers do well also, first with Bob Welch's folk-rock The Ghost, which is immediately catchy. Christine McVie delivers on Homeward bound, which hints that she would rather be at home than on the road. It's more rock than some of her later stuff, but a mere glimmer of the brilliance that was to come from her.

Sunny side of heaven is a Kirwan instrumental, the first of two on here, but don't let that put you off as it is a haunting and wholly captivating piece of music which is all the more poignant when you think of the whirlpool of distress that Danny was sinking into. He delivers again on Bare trees, the title track, which is soft rock with a hard edge and instantly memorable.

Bob Welch delivers his masterpiece next, Sentimental lady is a truly heart-felt ballad which features Christine on backing vocals. He re-recorded it on his 1977 debut solo album, French kiss and also released it as a single, which I've yet to hear but this version stands up against 10cc's I'm not in love and Eric Clapton's Wonderful tonight as one of the best rock ballads of the seventies and definitely deserves a lot more recognition.

Danny's chant is the second instrumental here, although during it Danny and Christine deliver some nice melodic chanting. I prefer the first instrumental in terms of pulling at your heart-strings, but this is funky and catchy and fits nicely with the soft rock country folky feel of the rest of the album. There's some classic Christine McVie next on Spare me a little of your love, which is the kind of deliciously catchy tune she would be doing later in the decade and wouldn't have sounded at all out of place on albums like Rumours or Tusk.

More poignancy next as we come to the final actual song on the album, and what turns out to be Danny's farewell piece with the band is the deep and meaningful Dust. The lyrics were taken from a poem by Rupert Brooke, who himself died young, and is about the subject of dying. It really touches the heart and stands alone as a great piece of work, regardless of the subject matter. Surely one to be played at his funeral, although I hope he really has found his inner peace long before that day comes.

Thoughts on a grey day is an apt poem which is read out as the last track by an elderly lady from Hampshire called Mrs. Scarrot. I'm not quite sure how this came about but it certainly ends the album on a subdued note, although nothing much else could have followed Dust.

I've listened to this album a few times now and each time it touches me a bit more. Every one of the nine actual tracks is single material and as a body of work I would rank it amongst my favourite albums ever by any artist. Danny has really come into his own, and who knows what he might have done had he not lost his way with the world. Maybe one day he will get the recognition normally saved for people like John Lennon and Eric Clapton, but that Danny Kirwan is just as worthy of in my opinion.

I haven't forgotten Bob Welch and Christine McVie's contributions to this remarkable piece of work either, both played their part in the songwriting greatness that all adds up to an album that needs to be heard by the whole world. If you're a fan of later Mac, or even early Mac, this is one to help bridge the gap between the two.