With only six hit singles to their name by November 1971 when this compilation was released, and none of them appearing on any of their five studio albums to date (unless you count Oh well, which had been included on a re-released version of Then play on. Albatross, Black magic woman and Need your love so bad had all been featured on The Pious bird of good omen, and the former two also on English rose), it is safe to argue that Fleetwood Mac were more of an albums act in the beginning - and probably always have been really.
This album is definitely worthy of a mention as it includes all of those six hits, plus another stand-alone single called Dragonfly which wasn't a hit, making three songs that hadn't featured on any Fleetwood Mac album at that point. The rest of the playlist is made up of two tracks from Mr. Wonderful, and one each from Fleetwood Mac and Then play on. Oh well is listed in two parts, making it a twelve track album. Nothing is featured from Kiln house or their latest album at that time, Future games.
Track one on side one is the brilliant The Green Manalishi (with the two prong crown) which was written by Peter Green during his final months with the band. Released as a single in May 1970 it got as high as #10 in the charts in the U.K. and was unlike anything the band had done before, or since. It is psychedelic rock at it's very best and was apparantly written after Green experienced a drug-induced dream featuring a green dog that he understood to represent money. A whole album of this style would have been interesting, had he stayed with the band.
Oh well is best listened to as one long track in all of its nine minute glory. This Peter Green composition was a single in November 1969, which reached #2 in the U.K. and due to it's success was included on a re-issued version of Then play on in the U.S.. On the single, part one was the A-side and part two the B-side, but if you listen to them together you get a hard rock bluesy style Peter Green vocal for the first three minutes or so, followed by six minutes of pure instrumental rock genius that Led Zeppelin would be in awe of. I first heard this song as a house-dance version in 1989 by a group who were also called Oh Well, but it doesn't hold a candle to the original. A stomping hard rock classic.
Not an easy one to follow, but Shake your moneymaker sits well after Oh well. The only inclusion from the Fleetwood Mac 1968 album, it's the best of all the Elmore James songs they covered and an obvious choice here. Need your love so bad is next, which I spoke about on the Pious Bird album and never tire of hearing, then we get Rattlesnake shake as the only track from Then play on. My first thought was that there were better songs they could have included from that particular album (One sunny day, Coming your way, Before the beginning), but I have to say that I'm feeling this song more now and it rounds off side one nicely. I've only just realised it's about masturbation too.
Side two opens with a Danny Kirwan single that was never a hit (despite Peter Green describing it as the best thing he ever wrote), called Dragonfly. Danny wrote the music but took the lyrics from a poem by W.H. Davies, and it came out after Kiln House in 1971. The song is haunting, melodic and wonderful and it hooks you after a few listens. It's also the only track on here that was recorded after Peter had left the band.
The classic hit singles Black magic woman and Albatross follow and sound just as fabulous on here, and then you get a song which was inexplicably left off the Pious Bird album, despite it being a massive #2 U.K.hit earlier that year. The song in question is the magnificent Peter Green ballad, Man of the world, a sombre, emotional song telling how he has everything money could buy, but has yet to find true love. It starts off as a blues ballad, then builds up into a blast of heavy rock, before calming down again, and is a real rollercoaster ride of a song. Possibly my favourite ever Peter Green composed song.
The album ends with two rather random tracks from Mr. Wonderful. Stop messin' round has already appeared on three Mac albums, although it stands up rather well on here, and then Love that burns, which ends the album on a good strong emotional ballad - I'll forgive them for not including two of the better songs from that album (or an extra one from the first instead) as everything sounds great on here and nothing out of place.
Overall then, that was a first-class three quarters of an hour's listening that filled me with nothing but pleasure. If you're not familiar with any of the Peter Green stuff and are interested in dipping your toe in the water to find out what it's all about then I would highly recommend this album as a starting point. It may be hard to get hold of on CD now (I think I used to have a copy on tape) but it would be no bother to get the mp3s and make yourself a playlist. A great retrospective into the great works of the early Fleetwood Mac.
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