Fleetwood Mac (1968 album)
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| Studio album by Fleetwood Mac | |||||
| Released | 24 February 1968 | ||||
| Recorded | April 19, November–December 1967 | ||||
| Studio | CBS Studios & Decca Studios, London | ||||
| Genre | British blues, blues rock | ||||
| Length | 35:10 | ||||
| Label | Blue Horizon | ||||
| Producer | Mike Vernon | ||||
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Rolling Stone | (positive) |
Fleetwood Mac, also known as Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, is the debut album by the band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1968. The album is a mixture of blues covers and originals penned by guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, who also share the vocal duties.
The release of the album brought the band overnight success; in the UK, the album reached No. 4 and stayed on the charts 37 weeks, despite the lack of a hit single. The album barely made the charts in the US, reaching No. 198. Even though the album has sold over a million copies in the UK, it has never received a certification there. As of June 2015, the album has sold over 150,000 copies in the US.
An expanded version of this album was included in the box set The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions.
On April 19, 1967, John Mayall, the frontman of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, gave his bandmate Peter Green free studio time at the Decca Studios in West Hampstead, London to use as he wished. Four songs came out of the recording sessions, one of them being an instrumental called Fleetwood Mac, named after the rhythm section, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The other three songs recorded that day were First train home, Looking for somebody and No place to go. After this recording session, Green approached Fleetwood and McVie with the idea of forming a new band. While Fleetwood, who had been fired from The Bluesbreakers, was willing to join immediately, McVie was initially hesitant. Green was sure that McVie would join his band, so he advertised in Melody Maker for a temporary bassist.Bob Brunning answered the ad and was told that they would play at the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival in a month.
In addition to a guitarist, drummer, and bassist, Green was also adamant about recruiting a second guitarist in Fleetwood Mac. As Green didn't want to be seen as the leader of the group, he hoped that a second guitarist would help take the spotlight away from him. Fleetwood Mac's producer, Mike Vernon told Green of an "amazing slide guitarist" while searching for new bands to add to the label's roster. The guitarist's name was Jeremy Spencer, who had formed his own band called the Levi Set Blues Band in the mid 1960s. The band sent in an audition tape that was so bad, Vernon didn't bother playing the tape to his colleagues. He did, however, show the tape to Green, so he could hear Spencer's guitar playing. Green was so impressed with Spencer that he drove over to Lichfield where the Levi Set were playing and outright told him that he was joining Fleetwood Mac.
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