Fleetwood Mac Music:

Future Games Track Listing:
1. Woman of 1,000 Years
2. Morning Rain
3. What a Shame
4. Future Games
5. Sands of Time
6. Sometimes
7. Lay It All Down
8. Show Me a Smile

Future Games Reviews:
Highly Underrated Fleetwood Mac Album From A Neglected Era
2009-12-14 - Let me start off by saying I am a fan of all incarnations of Fleetwood Mac, but my favorite incarnation was the line-up which recorded the "Then Play On" album. That being said, "Future Games" was one of the last albums I added to my collection & it has quickly become a favorite. Along with "Bare Trees" this album is the most overlooked & neglected album in their vast catalog. It can be said Fleetwood Mac entered their "pop" period with this release. Although unlike the Buckingham-Nicks polished pop albums of the late 70's & early 80's, the roots of the Buckingham-Nicks period can be found here. Excellent musicianship, great songwriting & great harmony vocals. This material is much more raw & unpolished than the Buckingham-Nicks output & there still exists roots to the blues-rock made by the Peter Green-led incarnations in the songs of Danny Kirwan. Kirwan's songs are the best here, especially the excellent "Sands Of Time" which displays exactly why Mick Fleetwood & John McVie are considered to comprise one of the best rhythm sections ever, and "Woman Of 1,000 Years" which features beautiful acoustic & electric guitars intermingling together throughout the song. Bob Welch introduces his talents here with the title song which is far & away the best song he ever contributed to the band. The guitar work on this song is some of the best in their catalog & draws the listener in & doesn't let them go. The sad thing about this album is most Fleetwood Mac fans who are only aware of the Buckingham-Nicks material are totally ignorant of this & every release which preceded the initial Buckingham-Nicks release in 1975. The Peter Green era material is finally getting it's due, but the material released between Peter Green's departure after "Then Play On" in 1970 & the arrival of Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks in 1975 after Bob Welch's exit after the release of the excellent "Heroes Are Hard To Find" in 1974 is totally ignored & neglected by all but the most ardent Fleetwood Mac fans & this is a shame. There is much good material to be found here & also on "Bare Trees", "Penguin", "Mystery To Me", "Heroes Are Hard To Find", & "Kiln House". All Fleetwood Mac fans who haven't heard these albums should. Don't expect to hear them on classic-rock radio (a curse to rock & roll) or even at a Fleetwood Mac concert. I blame Mick Fleetwood & John McVie along with their record label, & the radio industry for the public apathy to these releases & those of the Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac over the years. To all Fleetwood Mac fans, put down that copy of "Rumours" for a while & go back & discover or re-discover the great albums which preceded it. You won't be sorry you did. "Future Games" is a good place to start.


Turned off All The Lights, and Oh the Future Came.......
2009-10-29 - Between Fleetwood Macs' early Blues years, and their later top-40 "hits only" years......for a few albums, there was a Fleetwood Mac that many of us regard as THE Fleetwood Mac. This incarnation of the band with Fleetwood/McVie of course and Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch and Christine Perfect-McVie wrote haunting music brimming with deeper meaning and more complex structure than anything the later Mac ever came out with. Perhaps this is the reason these albums were not in the top 40 in the 1970s when they came out. On this album (along with Mac's Bare Trees), this combination of musicians created classics that persist even today if given a fair listening.

On this album, the title tune 'Future Games' searches for meaning in a world overshadowed by the possibility of global war at anytime....sound familiar? "Wondering if Children we bring to the light....Inherit the World, or Inherit the Night?" - from 'Future Games'
'Woman of 1000 Years' and 'Sands of Time' are extended mood pieces, 'What a Shame' and 'Lay it All Down' are solid rockers, 'Show Me a Smile' shows Christine McVie in her embryonic song writing stage, helped by these great musicians. The guitar work of Danny Kirwan and Bob Welch complement each other perfectly...even if they had friction between them in real life. While not as even a total work as 'Bare Trees'.....Future Games shines.

My biggest complaint (and reason only 4 stars) is that for some reason these works are not remastered for CD and the sound quality suffers accordingly......these 'lost' Fleetwood Mac works would be GREAT Re-Mastered.....and I would buy them again if they were. Remastering this incarnation of Fleetwood Mac would also be a tribute to the great guitar work of Danny Kirwan, considering his life after Fleetwood mac.



CD Review
2009-06-07 -
An excellent CD. Fleetwood Mac in transition to the band that later attained commercial success.

Their greatest achievement
2009-05-02 - Fleetwood Mac means many things to many people. I like every phase - the Peter Green years (Green Manalishi is one of the all-time songs by anyone),
the Mystery to Me/Heroes are Hard to Find period with Bob Welch, and the most recent Buckingham/Nicks albums. I have all of them but "Future Games" is the one I always go back to for inspiration. "Woman of 1,000 Years" is one of the greatest opening songs for an album. No drums, just percussion,
great Danny Kirwan vocals, beautiful guitar work by both Kirwan and Welch.
Put this song on while watching the waves at a secluded beach. In fact, the entire album is the perfect soundtrack for the ocean. Almost like it was recorded on the sand. Next song is "Morning Rain" and John McVie is amazing on this cut. Christine sings it sweet and I really think the band sounds better with her as one of the lead musicians and singers. Then the little interlude before the title cut - "What a Shame". This song basically is there to clean the palate before the opening guitars of "Future Games". Bob Welch's finest song and certainly one of the 2 or 3 greatest by the band ever. The guitars of Welch and Kirwan swirling around, Bob's lead vocal totally buried in the mix, like he's singing from the sand dune above the beach. Beautiful recording.....at the end of the song is this epic moment when the entire sound of the song takes off and gets noticeably LOUDER. What a great effect! They could have ended the album with those 4 songs and it would still be a classic. But then we wouldn't have heard Danny Kirwan's finest song "Sands of Time". This one has awesome lyrics and vocals by Danny and some stout drumming by Mick Fleetwood. He also sings "Sometimes" and then Bob checks in again with the funky "Lay it all Down". Christine ends this beautiful album with "Show me a Smile", which features some amazing dual guitar work again by Kirwan and Welch. This is one of those desert island discs that you would HAVE to own. Each listen is better than the last. This recording is in my top 25 albums of all time, right there with "Forever Changes" and "Abbey Road". Buy it and wear it out.........

One of The Best Surf Albums Of All Time
2009-03-17 - This has to be probably the greatest surf album nobody's ever thought to catagorize that way. Every song sounds like it should be playing on a beach boombox while my buddies and I wax up our boards and catch some waves. It doesn't sound anything like any of the band's other releases. It seems like a strange buried enigma in their catalog. Between the blues of their early period and the pop of their later period, this is like some of kind of mellow psychedelic intermission.