Before the Beginning 1968 - 1970 Live and Demo Sessions

"...Peter has one of the best five groups in the country." John Peel.Along with the recently released Carousel Ballroom and the Warehouse tape albums, we now have this 3 CD set of mostly live performances from the early Fleetwood Mac (FM). Fans of that period will want to add this to their collection of early FM for a number of reasons. The early stuff is more proof of how good an English blues band could be. Five "stars" because the performances are so good if you like British blues, and for some nostalgia on my part. Below are some high points in this set--but by no means all of them.Disc One is from sometime in 1968 with Jeremy Spencer beginning things with his homage to Elmore James on "Madison Blues" and "Something Inside Of Me". Then its time for Peter Green to shine with B.B. King's "The Woman I Love". This is prime Green and FM. His vocal and solos are very typical of the period. As always his guitar work is assured and exciting, no matter if its an up tempo or slow tune. The slow B.B. King song "Worried Dream" is Green on top form with a burning solo style. This too is what FM were all about back then before Green left the band. Suffice to say that every tune here has something worthwhile for the early FM fan. "Instrumental" is a one chord jam style thing that is a respite from more straight blues. After that listen to Freddie King's "Have You Ever Loved Another Woman", with Green lifting out some fine guitar work that's pure Peter Green. The shuffle "Lazy Poker Blues" sounds similar to the studio version but played a tad faster--but it gets the job done for fans of this up tempo tune with more Green soloing that will leave you wanting more. "I Loved Another Woman" is another nice slice of Green taking his time on this slow little gem.Disc Two begins with Green getting it done on Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally". Fans of Green as a bluesman will be taken slightly aback by Green's tough rock 'n' roll vocal and the manic tempo with some fierce slide work from Jeremy Spencer. Pretty much the same can be said about "Willie And The Hand Jive", with Spencer stepping out of his Elmore James blues persona and sounding like he's really enjoying himself on this well known song. But just after that listen to Green and the band in typical form on "I Need Your Love So Bad", which is a great version of this fine tune. One of the better early FM tunes, "Shake Your Moneymaker" is here in all its smoking glory with a fine vocal and slide guitar with the rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie just pushing this song along perfectly. "Only You" is another little gem with the band pumping out this tough version. "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)" is a pretty devastating version, with all the power and menace its always had. A fine performance. Things slow down for the atmospheric "Albatross" (a long time personal favorite--especially live) with some nicely played languid guitar work. The old single "World In Harmony" (first version) is another example of the depth of this band. Another good performance of this nicely arranged instrumental. There's another version of "Only You" that obviously sounds close to the previous version above. But the intertwining guitar work is very nice on this Danny Kirwan tune. Things end on another version of "World In Harmony" which again is similar to the first version.Disc Three begins with another Spencer slide performance on Elmore James' "I Can't Hold Out", and even with Spencer's ultimately limited infatuation with James' style, this is a really nice, tough version of this great song. And then we have "Oh Well (Part 1)", which is very focused and sharp and sounding very close to the original single version--but "Part 2" is not here because of the difficulty of using a nylon string guitar and a recorder on stage. On "Rattlesnake Shake" there's some tasty guitar work (including segments of "Fighting/Searching For Madge" from the "Then Play On" album) between Green and Kirwan, along with a great Green vocal, which then segues into an atmospheric version of "Underway" with nice work from both Green and Kirwan which lasts for just over 20 minutes total. Likewise Kirwan's "Coming Your Way" is another fine tune with some more great guitar work along with Kirwan's vocal. The song then slips into a drum solo with percussion played by Green and Spencer. Otis Rush's "Homework" is an old tune not all that well known (J.Geils played this fine tune way back when) but has a real period feel to it.The four demos begin with Willie Dixon's "You Need Love", staying faithful to Muddy Waters' version with some Kirwan guitar work. "Talk With You" is another Kirwan original song in a shuffle style with Spencer playing piano underneath it all. Guitarist Jimmy Rogers' (check out his early work on the Jasmine label, among other albums) "If It Ain't Me" has some nicely played authentic sounding harp work and piano--it's too bad that Spencer never really got attention for his piano work. "Mean Old World" is a trio of Green, McVie, and Fleetwood playing this T-Bone Walker tune with some more great Green guitar and vocal along with a great bass/drums sound.Needless to say--if you're a fan of early FM--you definitely need to check out this set. This is more prime FM before Green left and the band 's sound began to change. And for the price its a no-brainer purchase for fans of early British blues from one of the better bands to come out of '60s Britain.The live sound is very good--fairly clean and open with a slight period warmth to it. The packaging is a double jewel case with trays the discs snap into. There's also a space for the 44 page booklet, which has an informative essay on the band and the music in this set. There's a number of period photos--most of which many people haven't seen before, plus a complete track list on the back cover.

I missed a lot of blues in the early days of the British Invasion for some reason. Probably because there was so much of it. The first Ten Years After album is the blues recording that blew my mind. Then the first Cream album came along which actually had great original songs too. Even the Stones were still playing covers of blues artists. This changed English blues immensely. This became the absolute peak of blues popularity, when the original Mississippi guys finally received their just do. Then "Then Play On" came out with that beautiful painting on the cover. I knew it would sound nothing like what they did before because change was in the air. The knowledge that Fleetwood Mac was an incredibly talented band was established. Coming your way, Rattlesnake Shake and Oh Well proved to be classic songs of the highest order. I hear these riffs still being copied by bands today. The Green Manalishi (a dream Peter Green had about money and greed-perfect for today's political climate) sealed the deal on their greatness. The band had reached such heights that it was hard to imagine what they could do next. This puts all the questions about that time into perfect context. The quality of most songs is like their playing in your living room. This is lost treasure which I am incredibly pleased was found. Plus this points to where the band was heading next with Kiln House. A new to me Danny Kirwan song " Only You" points to their next great milestone "Tell Me All the Things you do." I never missed any version of Fleetwood Mac which followed because they were all excellent. But this documents their ultimate pinnacle of success.

I only received this triple-CD set last night, and I'm halfway through the first disc, but I've got to say, this is already the best Fleetwood Mac release I've ever heard.Don't get me wrong -- I love the Blue Horizon albums and the box set that the label did, and all of the other Peter Green-era material that has surfaced, and have no complaints about any of the stuff that they did for Mike Vernon (or the one Warner Bros. album that they did with Green in the line-up). (And, for the record, I like the stuff that followed just fine, too, but they're an ever-more-different story, aren't they?).The intensity of the performances here, and of the singing and the playing, just elevates the band to a whole other level of engagement with the material and, by extension, with the listener. Just based on the first disc alone, featuring a concert from 1968, it's really like hearing this band for the first time, the way that they truly intended to be heard and experienced. I'm still taking it in, and there's going to be a LOT of returns to this disc and to this entire set.But take it from this longtime fan, the first CD alone is worth the price of the set.

Damn, these guys were good. Unsure what shows these are from as it's not in the booklet that I could see. It's a bit odd that the pre Danny Kirwan (R.I.P.) '68 lineup is on the whole 1st disc & 1st 5 songs of the 2nd disc. The following 10 songs on disc 2 are the '70 lineup (with Danny) which continues for 8 tunes on disc 3. Again unsure where `these were recorded. Disc 3 finishes up with 4 not terribly hi-fidelity recordings billed as demos.