Fleetwood Mac

Time for the entire Fleetwood MAc collection to be posted..
Starting with the first album.. Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac:

The next earliest one I have is Pious Bird Of Good Omen.. I used to have a couple of very rare American Epic cassettes of English Rose (the second US album), and Black Magic Woman (a combination of the these first two) , but I have been looking for thiose two for the last 20 years, and haven't found any more..The second UK album was Mr. Wonderful, which I haven't got either..

This is the third UK one, however..

The next album was a double LP, recorded at Chess studios in Chicago.. called, either 'Blues jam at Chess" , or later "Fleetwood Mac in Chicago"

Next is a bit of a mixed bag, as due to an oversight at Blue Horizon, Fleetwood Mac were freed from their contract, and went looking for another one.. ending up at first , Immediate, and then Warner/Reprise .. over the next few years several repackagings of their blues era material came out, as well as this next one, the only one consisting of their newer reprise material. It came out less than 2 years after they joined  that label, and is notable for being the only LP source of "Purple Dancer". which is also the only Fleetwood Mac song to NEVER be released on CD, in any form. I believe the studio version of "World in HArmony" also shares this distinction...

I looked for YEARS for this cassette, as it is even rarer than the vinyl, which is already scarce...

Here's a different tape of this same cassette:

Another  Best of , or "Greatest Hits" package, was the excellent CBS compilation that came out the same year (1971) that the above tape was released.. It , however had no reprise material, but was comprised entirely of the pre-1969 Blue Horizon material...

This is a very early (possibly first edition) cassette issue...

After this , the flood gates were opened for repackagings of their blues stuff.. however, the earliest ones (especially CBS) werte quite good.. they included:

"Vintage Years" a nice 1975 collection, (and a hard tape to find, as well).. the Vinyl usually appeared as a 2 record set, the single LP version , of which the cassette also belongs, is quite rare...

Another that came out was "Albatross", a combination of Christine Perfect's solo album (right before she joined Fleetwood Mac) and tracks from Fleetwood Mac's first three albums:

Christine Perfect's solo album actually came out in 1969, after which she got married (to John McVie.. the 'Mac' in Fleetwood Mac).. and promptly *gave up the music biz*.. Really. To be a dedicated housewife .. She did , however, sit in with the band in 1970, and reportedly played on 'Kiln House" uncredited, as well as drawing it's timeless album cover.. Her retirement was quite short, however.

Here's the solo album on cassette ..

Here's another recent compilation of their early blues stuff, on the ubiquitous (at least in the UK and Canada ) "Castle' label:

Another casette collection that came out more recently was this double one on "Elite":

Also, another one on "Castle" called "Blues Years", is this one composed of all live recordings from Boston (about which see next post below).. It came with both tapes fitted into a large 'double cassette' housing that didn't fit anywhere !

Around 1969 and 1970, FM were gigging endlessly, including one extended gig at the "Boston Tea Party".. this has come out on several releases over the years, some of the earliest being these next tapes:

CERULEAN was one of the better ones, a two LP / tape release that was so scarce people seem to think it's a bootleg, but actually it was a legitimately licensed release..

another one that appeared for a short time was on the very small 'Varrick" label, an offshoot of 'Rounder" records..

Also, there were a lot of budget labels tat got access to these Boston recordings.. among them.. Madison Blues... ( a highly overused title for an album, as there were several releases with that name, however this is the first):

Before we leave this era of FM, into the 70s, there's one more cassette compilation I know little about.. partly because the added notes are all in German, but also because it only ever was released in Germany.. it has the same fare as all the other FM compilations , however, in that it's all early blues tracks:

Next..  after switching to Reprise, they came out with "Then Play On"

First here's the US version..

The first UK cassette version (AFAIK) has a different cover, and a different tracklisting:

After that, Peter Green left the band.. and their sound changed..

Unofficially, also, Christine McVie played on the album (supposedly) and drew the album cover..

This is the US cassette issue..

The UK cassette , below, looks a little bit different:

By the next album, 'Future Games', Christine was a full time member of the band, and Bob Welch had also joined (Hi Bob!) .. It also happens to be my favorite of all their albums:

The First (rare yellow cover) Canadian cassette issue:

The later US issue cassette:

And the early Columbia Record club of same:

Here's a nice alternat cover:

Sadly, I gave yet to find any UK copies of either this, or the next four albums either, up until, and including, Heros are hard to find.. anyone knowing the whereabouts of one of any of these cassettes in UK release form, please leave a comment!

Next is Bare Trees..

again.. first a Canadian Issue:

Next the US issue:

After 'Bare Trees', Danny Kirwan left the band, (less said about that the better) and Savoy Brown's belter Dave Walker joined as a "lead singer'.. (Less said about THAT the better , also ;-) In fact, on "Penguin", he only sang one song..,and then HE left the band, i suspect it was a mutually agreed upon departure...

This is one of those Record Club Of America tapes, just like the one after it...

Here's a nice alternate of Penguin:

This next one is 'Mystery to Me.. definitely a high point for the band, and featuring some of Bob Welch's very best contributions ever...

The last with Bob was this one, "Heros are hard to find"... I still have a scan, but no longer have the cassette ;-(....

After this album, Bob Welch left the band..after having several projects, the most notable of which were the two albums by his band 'Paris", he came out with a killer solo album.. 

After another break, I'll cover the 'Phase three" line up of the Mac, the one that made them ridiculously famous and wired.. and led to the implosion of the band...

Well I'm back, with the Fleetwood Mac "White Album"..

Bob Welch had been both their lead singer, and only guitarist, by this time.. although they'd had Bob Weston, and Bobby Hunt in the band for a short time, they'd both left prior to Bob's departure.

The band being without singer and huitarist, they stumbled across the pair of Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who'd just recorded a soft pop album, but were essentially out of work.

They were quickly corraled after Bob left, and came out with another Fleetwood mac album, which was simply called "Fleetwood Mac'.. I remember hearing it right when it came out and immediately disliked Lindsay's singing.. I thought his songs were rough and jarring and never took a shine to them.. however, the rest of the album seemed very much still in line with the sound that the AMAc had done before:

This is the UK first issue of that cassette.. the only issue that is even remotely scarce, as cassettes were becoming very popular by the mid 70's and soon after, FM hit it big, and started to sell in the millions...

AFAIK, all subsequent UK issues had text printed directly on the housing, and appeared soon after the album broke big...

Here's a US copy with both this and the follow-up  album on a double cassette:

Heres the UK cassette of Rumours":

The next studio album was "Tusk".. a double album.. which was called a "Flop" because it sold a "measly" million copies upon release.. sheesh!

Here's the Canadian issue:

And here's the UK issue:

They also came out with a live album around this time, which is where my collection ends.. i have no interest in anything they did after that...

That's all.. folks!

Well y'want some more? Lemme hear y'all say you want some a more... 

well.. OK then...

Black Magic Woman was issued as a double album in both the US and the UK, in the early 70's, however, the tracks differed noticeably.. the UK one was drawn from the first 2 UK albums, that is, the first self titled one, and the second LP, Mr Wonderful. This second LP never was released in the states, however,  but instead of Mr Wonderful, a collection of some tracks from it, and some tracks from 

"Then Play On" were released on their US label, Epic, as "English Rose"..However, Epic's contract was a distribution one with their UK label "Blue Horizon" who, almost immediately after the release of "English Rose", lost the band to Warner Brothers / Reprise. The album was unceremoniously.. er..dumped. It *was* also released on cassette, but it is one of the rarest of ALL Fleetwood mac tapes to find..

 However, upon the first signs of american success though, in 1971, Epic decided to repackage the first 2 albums, "Fleetwood Mac (aka "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac") and "English Rose" as "Black Magic Woman".. using a photo from the same session as was used for both "English Rose" and "Mr Wonderful" which was, of course, Mick Fleetwood in FULL DRAG!

This also was released on cassette, by Epic, and in fact i used to own a copy.

The UK one below is not nearly as rare, but it's still interesting...

In the early 80's, Reprise repackaged many of their solid , if not spectacular sellers, intp the 2Fer format.. many bands got this  treatment, including Jimi Hendrix,. and Fleetwood Mac..

The one below is especially rare , as it was a very poor seller.. Shame, as it's a very good combination

 Around 1976 Sire Got rights to some Blue Horizon material, and they re-issued "Fleetwood Mac In Chicago", as It had been practically unavailable in North America..
I was stunned to see this cassette version.. i have NEver seen a first issue of it on cassette.. it is EXCEEDINGLY rare!

A Deutsche Fleetwood Maccannen albummen .. Ya!

The Germans, unlike the rest of the world, just NEVER gave up on bands like FM when times were tough, and the albums stayed in print.. Finding somewhere that would order them in, however, ewas a tough thing to find.. (No innernut.. folks!)

FM always had an "Identity " problem.. like the "old" FM, The "Original" FM The "Real" FM.. Etc etc ;-)

This came out in 1971 when the band no longer were a blues band.. The tape is all blues though, dating back top 1968 and thereabouts...

Finally,. an earlier original "Embassy" cassette of the first album...

Ciao!!