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List Price: $12.98 | | Label: Original Masters UK
Salesrank: 108025
Released: June 20, 2000 |
| Our Price: $6.99 |
| Used Price: $4.99 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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The Original Fleetwood Mac Track Listing:
1. Drifting
2. Leaving Town Blues
3. Watch Out
4. A Fool No More
5. Mean Old Fireman
6. Can't Affort to Do It
7. Fleetwood Mac
8. Worried Dream
9. Love That Woman
10. Allow Me One More Show
11. First Train Home
12. Ramblin Pony No. 2
13. Mighty Cold
14. Jumping at Shadows (Live Recording)
15. Somebody's Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked In Tonite)
16. Man of Action
The Original Fleetwood Mac Reviews:
4-star Out-takes 
2005-01-06 - Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac formed in July 1967, and made their live debut at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival on 12 August. They released their first single, I Believe My Time Ain't Long/Rambling Pony, in November. This marked the beginning of their association with producer Mike Vernon, mostly for the Blue Horizon label, with the then stable line-up of Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, and their first, self-titled album appeared three months later.
It was a very prolific time for the blues band as neither side of the single appeared on the album and a second album, Mr Wonderful, appeared six months later along with the non-album single, Black Magic Woman/The Sun Is Shining. A third album, English Rose, appeared just six months after that, in February 1969.
Even more remarkably, during this period they recorded enough surplus material for a further 12-track album of equally good material, which Blue Horizon's parent label CBS put out in 1971, after they had been with Reprise for a couple of years.
As well as their usual mix of original material, liberally spiced with Elmore James influences, there are covers of songs by Homesick James, Otis Rush and BB King. There are also two acoustic country blues pieces, including the traditional Mean Old Fireman, performed by Jeremy Spencer, who is no slouch on bottleneck guitar. Peter Green's playing is exemplary throughout, of course. Some of the tracks seem to feature Danny Kirwan from Boilerhouse who was added to the line-up in time for the third album, and Christine McVie's piano makes a guest appearance on one or two tracks. There is a reworking of Rambling Pony, too, their rewrite of Rolling And Tumbling, with Mick Fleetwood on washboard. It would be nice to know if it was from the same sessions as the 1967 B-side or revisited some time later.
For this re-issue four bonus tracks have been added: Jeremy Spencer's rocker Mighty Cold, an atmospheric live version of the late Duster Bennett's Jumping At Shadows sung by Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer's Man Of Action and, most interestingly, the stereo debut of a former B-side from their one-off Immediate single Man Of The World, recorded 10-11 January 1969, Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight. This tongue-in-cheek rock and roll pastiche, which again featured Jeremy Spencer, was issued under the pseudonym Earl Vince and the Valiants and shows the band shrugging off their blues straitjacket and letting their hair down (it was later covered by the Rezillos)
Strangely Misunderstood 
2004-06-03 - Mike Vernon who owned Blue Horizon Records and was the man who produced most of the music on this disc, once wrote that he truly did not understand why these tracks were relegated to outtake status. Several reviewers have already commented on this anomaly. Stranger yet, is the reception to the Jeremy Spencer tracks on this set. Peter Green is THE best blues guitarist I have ever heard. He played with a tenderness and with passion and a sense of dynamics that only Hendrix rivaled. Yet, Spencer gets called "a good rhythm guitarist" at best, and a waste of time at worst. He was neither. Green's ability has been amply and aptly described by reviewers of this and his other recordings. I would like to say a few words about Spencer.
These recordings contain some of Jeremy's best work. The two acoustic tracks, "Mean Old Fireman" and "Allow Me One More Show" are beautiful. Supposedly, he was experiencing a cold while these songs were recorded. But, the softness with which he played this music is unlike anything he'd done at that time. Just beautiful.
"Love That Woman" and "Can't Afford To Do It" were panned by one reviewer as "average". They most certainly were not! Both songs exude a sweetness, joy and playfulness that is rare in the blues. Jeremy was having FUN when he recorded these songs. And, I love to listen to them because of the joy that radiates from them. His slide guitar on the Lafayette Leake tune that Otis Rush originally recorded (Love That Woman) is nothing short of transcendant. A bit like George Harrison's slide, especially on "Marwa Blues". Jeremy's laughter on Homesick James' "Can't Afford To Do It" shows how happy he was recording a song he truly loved.
Actually, the worst tune on the album is Spencer's impersonation of Mayall. Everything else is filled with feeling, both Spencer's and Green's work.
A caveat. All of this material is available on box sets or compilations. Don't overpay for this one exceptional set if you want it all. It will be superfluous.
An essential for fans of the blues
2001-12-12 - When it comes to British Blues, no one can do it better than Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. And this is certainly a blues classic, with Mac classics all around, which is saying something considering its an outake collections.
1.)Drifting; A perfect example of Peter Green's guitar genius. Driven and electrifying guitar mastery.
2.) Leaving Town Blues: A perfect example of Fleetwood Mac's ability as a 12 bar blues group. Excellent vocals, perfect lyrics, and solid rhythms make this essential Mac.
3.) Watch Out: This version of Watch Out is faster, less bluesy, and somewhat inferior than the version on Fleetwood Mac in Chicago.
4.) A Fool No More: A perfect blues song. Not a chord played wrong, and the rhythm doesn't miss a beat. Plus Peter Green's singing and guitar is a perfect staging of the desparation of the song.
5.) Mean Old Fireman: Brilliant slide guitar blues. More relaxed and certainly superior than most of Jeremy Spencer's numbers.
6.) Can't Afford to Do It: A typical Jeremy Spencer number. Average guitar play and vocals, and for the most part nothing to crow about.
7.) Fleetwood Mac: An instrumental recorded way back when Peter Green with John Mayall with the rhythm section that would become the famed background of Fleetwood Mac. This is an excellent instrumental with solid backing, and excellent guitar and harmonica from Greeny that shows just what he was capable of.
8.) Worried Dream: 5 star cover of a B.B. King classic.
9.) Love That Woman: Another fairly average Jeremy Spencer cover.
10.) Allow Me One More Show: The best song on the album. Like Mean Old Fireman this is a relaxed, accoustic slide number in which Spencer is solo. Plus it is a Spencer-penned number that actually sounds original.
11.) First Train Home: Another blues number by Greeny. Rather average and sounds too much like Worried Dream and A Fool No More.
12.) Rambling Pony No. 2: Fast, rollicking, boogie blues. Classic way to close way to close out the original album
Bonus Tracks
13.) Mighty Cold: An excellent 50's rock number from Jeremy Spencer.
14.) Jumping at Shadows: Taken from the famed Boston concerts. Of the three nights this is one of the best, with Green shredding the guitar like the blues master that he is
15.) Somebody's Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked In Tonite): Spencer pulls off an Elvis Presley impersonation that is simply hilarious.
16.) Man of Action: Average Spencer parody of John Mayall. Certainly makes Mayall sound very lame.
In conclusion this outake collection is an underated blues classic. If you have any interest in the blues era of Fleetwood Mac this is not a bad place to start.
The genius of Peter Green
2001-10-27 - This is my favourite of the early Fleetwood Mac's blues albums, containing some memorable Green guitar work, and some good examples of how he refined B.B.King's style, playing with taste and restraint, on "Worried Dream", and "First Train Home", his flair for understatement to the fore.
Green succeeded in embellishing his BB influenced style with his own dramatic sense of dynmics, just listen to "Fool no More" where his choice of notes is exquisite; hereless is certainly more.
It also brings to mind the Miles Davis' dictum, which can also be applied to BB King, namely that what isn't heard is as important as the notes that were. Other hihglights include the aponymous Mac signature tune, a mellow jam, and the explosive "Drifting".
Peter Green was a truly innovative guitarist, who played with immense passion and fire. This album is a perfect example of that.
(I haven't heard the remastered version containing the bonus tracks, my comments are based on the original CD release)
Good Intro to Peter Green's Mac
2001-06-27 - This is a pretty nice reissue, that has a few extra bonus tracks. The songs are divided between Peter Green's blues numbers, Spencer's slide & rock-n-roll honky tonk. While Spencer is always entertaining, the real reason to pick up early Mac is to hear "Greenie" play & sing.
A master with holding notes (check out his tone) & using dynamics, one wonders if he wasn't the BEST blues player England has ever produced. Nobody remotely sounds similar to his style in the blues-rock genre, & his singing is considerably stronger than say... Eric Clapton's (although he comes pretty darn close on Layla).
The early Mac's studio work is somewhat inconsistent from album to album, hence my four star rating. For their best studio work, I would recommend They Play On (as Green's songwriting grew out of the blues), but this is a nice place to start.
Check it out.
