Mac Drive

Though they ultimately made their name as a blues-rock band, and Peter Green's admiration of artists like Jerry Garcia eventually found its way into their music, Fleetwood Mac began as a straight-ahead blues band. A bunch of Brits devoted to the music of Chicago and the Delta, Green and company couldn't help but put their own twist on the blues, but they were simultaneously reverential towards it. This is the situation presented in this 1968 live recording. While the sound quality is less than stellar, it's good enough to make the guitar talents of Green and Jeremy Spencer obvious, as they work up effective solos over "Got To Move," "Vuzz Me" and others. Unlike their peers, who used blues as a vehicle to something larger and louder, Mac circa '68 stuck close to their roots and made it work. The live setting proved even more inspiring for the two guitarists, whose blistering lead work is the central focus throughout this album.

Our favourite bothy botherers Mac-Talla Nan Creag (comprised of Hoch Ma Toch, Other Lands and Lord Of The Isles) return to Firecracker Recordings, channeling ancient rites, the mysteries of the Scottish landscape and its elements through technologies both old and new for your listening pleasure.

Mac Rebennack, who would gain fame under the pseudonym Dr. John, had become a valued composer, as well as a skilled keybordist and guitarist by his late teens. He played with bands in his home ity of New Orleans, cooking up a gumbo of rhythm & blues, boogie, and rock & roll peppered with unleashed horns and a Creole flavor. His work was influenced greatly by pianist/songwriter Professor Longhair, who is regarded as a trailblazing pioneer of New Orleans-style R&B.

While most bands undergo a number of changes over the course of their careers, few groups experienced such radical stylistic changes as Fleetwood Mac. Initially conceived as a hard-edged British blues combo in the late '60s, the band gradually evolved into a polished pop/rock act over the course of a decade…

An excellent live performance CD from late 1975 by F Mac, with Stevie Nicks just recently joined. Contains songs from the last Bob Welsh album alongside quite a few from the classic 1976 self titled record. A very nice addition to any Mac collection…

It's unfair to say that Fleetwood Mac had no pop pretensions prior to the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the lineup in 1975. When they were led by Bob Welch they often flirted with pop, even recording the first version of the unabashedly smooth and sappy "Sentimental Lady," which would later be one of the defining soft rock hits of the late '70s…