There are many bands who have enjoyed a history of work before they finally broke out in huge scale. One such band is Fleetwood Mac. Over their early years, they released NINE albums before hitting the high waves with their self-titled 1975 classic. Fleetwood Mac worked with a changing group of musicians, all capable of taking the band to the top. But because they hadn’t certainly never meant that their recorded albums were inferior. In fact, there are those who tout the band’s earlier works as being among their best, myself included. But, of course, your individual mileage may vary in assessment.
Fleetwood Mac‘s first album included the great Peter Green, who continued on through their third, Then Play On. From there, each successive album featured specialized guitarists that included Danny Kirwan, Jeremy Spencer, Bob Welch, and Bob Weston. Soon, Lindsay Buckingham would round out that extraordinary list. The bottom line is that many albums released prior to the best-sellers are generally not known as well to many new fans, if at all. It is those records that become neglected in up and coming reissue projects.
I become quite excited when seemingly obscured albums like Then Play On (1969), Bare Trees ( 1972), Mystery To Me (1973), Heroes Are Hard To Find (1974), Kiln House (1970), become reissued as deluxe editions. Personally, I’d love to see these (and other) pre-1975 gems get revisited. Then Play On was in 2013, and will reissue again this year on CD and LP. Le’s hope for the others.
Let’s hope it’s the case.