Fleetwood Mac - Fillmore West 1970

Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
Fillmore West 1970 [no label, 1CD]
Live at Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, January 4, 1970.

MP3 192
VG

Track 01  Can't Stop Loving You (5.2MB)
Track 02 Whole Lot Of Loving (6.9MB)
Track 03 Got A Mind To Give Up Living (10.8MB)
Track 04 Stop Messin' Round (7.3MB)
Track 05 Loving Kind (3.5MB)
Track 06 Baby Please Set A Date (4.3MB)
Track 07 Rattlesnake Shake / Underway (27.3MB)
Track 08 Oh Well (3.5MB)
Track 09 Madison Blues (6.9MB)
Track 10  Jenny Jenny (7.4MB)
Track 11  Oh Susannah (788k)
Track 12 Twist & Shout (5.2MB)
Track 13 Long Tall Sally (11.6MB)

Apart from Cream, fans would probably agree that the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac were one of the best blues bands at the end of the '60s and early '70s. Fans who latched on to the band after 1975 (long after Peter Green had left) would find the later Mac a totally different animal. Sure they may play the older hits such as Oh Well and Green Manalishi but the newer lineup had more pop than the blues in them.

After leaving John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers in 1967, guitarist Peter Green had decided to form a new band with drummer Mick Fleetwood. The two wanted bassist John McVie in the band and even named the band "Fleetwood Mac" as a way to entice McVie. ("Fleetwood Mac" was a name coined by McVie.)

The group's self-titled debut album was released in 1968. The group followed up with a second album later that year, Mr Wonderful, which featured keyboardist Christine Perfect, then of Chicken Shack. By the beginning of 1969, Fleetwood Mac already had their third album out - The Pious Bird Of Good Omen - and in September 1969, they released Then Play On.

Fans at the Fillmore West in 1970 might have expected the band to play singles such as Black Magic Woman (which Santana turned into a signature tune) and the rock ballad Albatross. But that was not to be. Instead, it was a true-and-true blues-rock show with Rattlesnake Shake/Underway forming the backbone of the set, followed by the single Oh Well, capped by a raucous performance of Twist & Shout and Long Tall Sally. Though one could hardly call the last two songs the blues, they do show the group's R&B musical roots - before being completely taken over by The Beatles, Twist & Shout was a hit for The Isley Brothers while Long Tall Sally is a Little Richard staple. Even with a reputation as a great guitarist, Green was no slouch and he put on an invigorating display.

The source of this recording could have been a radio broadcast. Though not as pristine as your latter-day shows, the sound is sufficiently "bluesy" and excellent throughout.

But Green was beginning to suffer from schizophrenia (his use of LSD might have been a contributing factor) and his last show with the group was on May 20, 1970. According to the wikipedia, "during that show, the band went past their allotted time, and the power was shut off. Mick Fleetwood kept drumming."

Download