Fleetwood Mac The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions

Christine Perfect's (or McVie's) earliest work on the Blue Horizon label is as bluesy as it is dated. While it never offers a dull moment, with McVie singing with a convincing amount of energy, "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" never offers the later songwriting chops McVie would later gain in Fleetwood Mac…

Chicago blues pianist Eddie Boyd only released one album for Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label (7936 South Rhodes), so in addition to those 12 tracks, this reissue scrapes together another four rarities from around the same period (1967-1968) and two from 1960 to expand the song listing to 18. The bulk of this recording was laid down in a single day, a situation that kept the energy flowing in the studio. This was producer Vernon's second session with Boyd – two leftover tunes from his 1967 Decca album open the disc – so he was acquainted with the bluesman's method of working. The project was originally credited to Eddie Boyd with Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, and indeed three quarters of that band (Green, Fleetwood, and McVie) provide backing duties for the majority of these tracks. The Mac, which had started to experience their first shot of stardom in the U.K., are in typically fine form with Green's slashing, quicksilver leads a particular treat. There are also vocal similarities between Green (who doesn't sing here) and Boyd, showing that this session was a two-way street.

This double-CD set may well mislead listeners on two counts. On the one hand, there will be some neophyte listeners expecting to hear the silky pop/rock strains of the Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks-era Fleetwood Mac. This is, indeed, the original version of the band organized in 1967 by virtuoso blues guitarist/singer Peter Green, in which the latter shared the spotlight with fellow guitarist Jeremy Spencer, and they got no closer to pop/rock than renditions of Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King material.

As far as odds and ends packages go, Original Fleetwood Mac (1971) is an undeniably strong collection culled primarily from the band's first incarnation, featuring John McVie (bass/guitar), Mick Fleetwood (drums), Peter Green (guitar/vocals), and Jeremy Spencer (guitar/piano/vocals). As evidenced by the material, this quartet are an unmistakably blues-based combo. Early on they distinguished themselves as not only interpreters of traditional fare, but skilled composers, especially Green, who penned the vast majority of these selections…