Fleetwood Mac - Heroes Are Hard To FInd - Review

Fleetwood Mac - Heroes Are Hard To Find - 1974

Songs:  Heroes Are Hard To Find, Coming Home, Angel, Bermuda Triangle, Come A Little Bit Closer, She´s Changing Me, Bad Loser, Silver Heels, Prove Your Love, Born Enchanter, Safe Harbour. 

Type of Music: Mid-Seventies Pop-Rock.

The Band:

Mick Fleetwood                                     Drums and Percussion

John McVie                                             Bass

Christine McVie                                     Keyboards and Vocals

Bob Welch                                              Guitar and Vocals

Comments:

Bob Weston and Dave Walker had left the band by now and you would expect a return to true form from the remaining four key members.  Unfortunately this is not the case. Seven of the eleven songs are written by Bob Welch and none of them seem to go anywhere. Sometimes you get the feeling he tries to write prog-rock a la Yes or Pink Floyd like in Coming Home or Angel. He does not succeed though. Christine McVie wrote the remaining four songs. Of these, Heroes Are Hard To Find and Bad Loser are not too bad. But Prove Your Love and Come A Little Bit Closer are dull. With this Album Fleetwood Mac seemed to have reached a dead-end. But help was on its way!

Rating: ***** (5 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  Even True Mack Fans will find this a difficult listen.

Fleetwood Mac - Kiln House - Review

Today I would like to present to you an Album from Fleetwood Mac recorded in 1970. Not because it's such a great Album but because of its title Kiln House. No better way than to combine Classic Rock and Whisky. As you know the Kiln is used to dry the soaking wet and germinating barley. Today most distilleries use hot air to dry the barley but distilleries on a/o Islay, the Orkney Isles and in Northern Scotland still use traditional peat and coal fires to dry the malt and get the peat flavour in the whisky. Drying goes on until the barley, now called Malt,  has reached the ideal temperature for grounding.
So that's the Kiln House in a nutshell. Here's the Album:

Fleetwood Mac - Kiln House - 1970

Songs: This is the Rock, Station Man, Blood on the Floor, Hi Ho Silver, Jewel Eyed Judy, Buddy´s Song, Earl Gray, One Together, Tell Me All The Things You Do, Mission Bell.       

Type of Music: Early Seventies Eh…….. Music, I suppose.

Comments:

This was the first album without founding member Peter Green who joined a religious cult. So we have the rhythm section Fleetwood/Mc Vie and guitarists Danny Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer. And we have some backing vocals from Christine McVie who would join the band right after the release of Kiln House. But it´s basically Jeremy who leads the way on this Album. But where does the road go to one wonders? We have a Carl Perkins pastiche called This is the Rock, a hilarious Elvis imitation in the country song Blood on the Floor and a Buddy Holly tribute called Buddy´s Song. Then there is some country-rock a la The Band in Station Man and, Oops we almost forgot we were a blues band, there is the Blues Rock of Tell Me All The Things You Do. Even an instrumental called Earl Gray which is not really my cup of tea but it´s not bad either.

Two insignificant songs are called One Together and Mission Bell. And all that remains is Jewel Eyed Judy. Hey, wait a minute! Now that´s a good song! Watch for those guitars. Best song on the Album without a shadow of a doubt.

So what´s the point of all the above. None I guess, the guys were just having fun!

Rating: ***** (5 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Album: Well, nobody I suppose unless you’re a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac!

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - Review

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - 1977

Songs:  Second Hand News, Dreams, Never Going Back Again, Don´t Stop, Go Your Own Way, Songbird, The Chain, You Make Loving Fun, I Don´t Want to Know, Oh Daddy, Gold Dust Woman.

Type of Music: First Class Mid-Seventies Pop-Rock.

Comments: 

The Best Pop-Rock Album of All Times? Maybe. One of the best? For Sure!!

Amidst broken up relationships (Stevie and Lindsey), separations (Christine and John), tank loads of whisky and brandy (All) and truck loads of cocaine (Almost All if not All), the members of the Mac succeeded in writing and arranging a bunch of true pop-rock Classics.

The songs are almost evenly divided between Christine, Lindsey and Stevie. Most of these songs tell us most openly about the band´s problems at the time and have received constant airplay since 1977 but the majority of them still sound fresh today. And that tells you something about the quality of the Songs. The only song that I´ve heard enough by now is Bill Clinton´s favourite background music during his energetic meetings with Monica Lewinsky. I´m referring to Don´t Stop of course.

But I still love Go Your Own Way, You Made Loving Fun (Christine´s finest song so far) and Stevie´s Dreams. And let´s not forget the beautiful ballad Songbird that was the regular finale of all Live concerts until Christine left the band.

Really, there are no weak songs on Rumours. But two songs stand out for me and are two of my all time favourite Rock Songs. The first is Stevie´s mystical story of the Gold Dust Woman. And even better is the song that still opens each and every Mack Live Concert. And that´s The Chain, a song with at least three different hooks.

This Song rightly represents the story of the band. Despite all the problems, the Mac still exists, and, more importantly, still produces great music.

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  What???? You don´t own it yet???