Fleetwood Mac - Black Magic Woman: The Best Of Fleetwood Mac (2009)
This 2009 two CD set from Fleetwood Mac spotlights their early years as a British Blues/Rock band under the guidance of guitarist Peter Green. In 1967, Peter Green formed Fleetwood Mac with former John Mayall sidemen Mick Fleetwood (drums) and John McVie (bass). The band became the toast of the town, playing a unique blend of the Blues that was influenced by traditional American Blues but injected with new life by the expertise of guitarist Peter Green. As successful as they were, the band eventually splintered with Fleetwood and McVie carrying on the name under numerous transformations until finally achieving commercial success in America during the '70s.
Emerging originally out the mid-60s British blues boom, the band arrived amidst a blaze of glory, in the wake of the Rolling Stones and Cream. Fleetwood Mac were also contemporaries of another blues-steeped outfit, Led Zeppelin – and, like so many acts of the era, their roots lay in the tangled history of the Godfather of the British blues, John Mayall, and his long-running band the Bluesbreakers.
Guitarist Peter Green had replaced Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers, and when Green left to form Fleetwood Mac, he in turn was replaced by another young guitarist, Mick Taylor, who would soon quit to join the Rolling Stones.
From the very beginning Fleetwood Mac were blues purists, as can be heard on this compilation, which draws on the band’s first three albums. They were all blues fans, but Peter Green was particularly drawn to the fiery electric blues of 1950s Southside Chicago, while Jeremy Spencer was a fan of the legendary Elmore James. Back then, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton were widely regarded as the great “guitar heroes” – but significantly, it was Peter Green who B.B. King singled out as “the only guitarist in the world who could make me sweat!”
Peter Green quit his band at the beginning of the 1970s. But by the decade’s end, Fleetwood Mac had become the biggest band in the world – and the roots of that phenomenon can be heard on the tracks assembled here.
Tracklist:
DISC 1:
01. Black Magic Woman
02. Long Grey Mare
03. Rollin' Man
04. Lazy Poker Blues
05. Jigsaw Puzzle Blues
06. Coming Home
07. Got to Move
08. No Place To Go
09. The Sun Is Shining
10. World's In a Tangle
11. If You Be My Baby
12. My Baby's Good To Me
13. My Heart Beat Like A Hammer
14. Like Crying (Like Dying)
15. Need Your Love Tonight
DISC 2:
01. Albatross
02. Need Your Love so Bad
03. Dust my Broom
04. Cold Black Night
05. Doctor Brown
06. I Loved Another Woman
07. I Believe My Time Ain't Long
08. Shake Your Money Maker
09. The World Keeps On Turning
10. Looking For Somebody
11. Talk With You
12. I've Lost My Baby
13. Trying So Hard To Forget
14. Merry Go Round
15. Worried Dream
Personnel:
• Peter Green – vocals, guitar
• Jeremy Spencer – vocals, guitar
• John McVie – bass
• Mick Fleetwood – drums
