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Then Play On

 
Album Review: Then Play On

  • Artist: Fleetwood Mac
  • Rating: StarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: 1969 10
  • Total Time: 53:39
  • Genre: Rock

Review

This Peter Green-led edition of the Mac isn't just an important transition between their initial blues-based incarnation and the mega-pop band they became, it's also their most vital, exciting version. The addition of Danny Kirwan as second guitarist and songwriter foreshadows not only the soft-rock terrain of "Bare Trees" and "Kiln House" with Christine Perfect-McVie, but also predicts Rumours. That only pertains to roughly half of the also excellent material here, though; the rest is quintessential Green. The immortal "Oh Well," with its hard-edged, thickly layered guitars and chamber-like sections, is perhaps the band's most enduring progressive composition. "Rattlesnake Shake" is another familiar number, a down-and-dirty, even-paced funk, with clean, wall-of-sound guitars. Choogling drums and Green's fiery improvisations power "Searching for Madge," perhaps Mac's most inspired work save "Green Manalishi," and leads into an unlikely symphonic interlude and the similar, lighter boogie "Fighting for Madge." A hot Afro-Cuban rhythm with beautiful guitars from Kirwan and Green on "Coming Your Way" not only defines the Mac's sound, but the rock aesthetic of the day. Of the songs with Kirwan's stamp on them, "Closing My Eyes" is a mysterious waltz love song; haunting guitars approach surf music on the instrumental "My Dream"; while "Although the Sun Is Shining" is the ultimate pre-Rumours number someone should revisit. Blues roots still crop up on the spatial, loose, Hendrix-tinged "Underway," the folky blues tale of a lesbian affair on "Like Crying," and the final outcry of the ever-poignant "Show Biz Blues," with Green moaning "do you really give a damn for me?" Then Play On is a reminder of how pervasive and powerful Green's influence was on Mac's originality and individual stance beyond his involvement. Still highly recommended and a must-buy after all these years, it remains their magnum opus. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Coming Your Way Danny Kirwan Fleetwood Mac (3:47)
Closing My Eyes Peter Green Fleetwood Mac (4:50)
Showbiz Blues Peter Green Fleetwood Mac (3:50)
My Dream Danny Kirwan Fleetwood Mac (3:30)
Underway Peter Green Fleetwood Mac (2:51)
Oh Well Peter Green Fleetwood Mac (8:56)
Although the Sun Is Shining Danny Kirwan Fleetwood Mac (2:31)
Rattlesnake Shake Peter Green Fleetwood Mac (3:32)
Searching for Madge John McVie Fleetwood Mac (6:56)
Fighting for Madge Mick Fleetwood Fleetwood Mac (2:45)
When You Say Danny Kirwan Fleetwood Mac (4:22)
Like Crying Like Dying Danny Kirwan Fleetwood Mac (2:21)
Before the Beginning Peter Green Fleetwood Mac (3:28)

Credits

Big Walter Horton (Harmonica), Fleetwood Mac (Producer), Fleetwood Mac (Main Performer), Mick Fleetwood (Drums), Danny Kirwan (Guitar), Danny Kirwan (Vocals), Jeremy Spencer (Guitar), Jeremy Spencer (Vocals), John McVie (Bass), Martin Birch (Engineer), Peter Green (Guitar), Peter Green (Vocals), Dinky Dawson (Sound Consultant)
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Wikipedia: Then Play On
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Then Play On
Studio album by Fleetwood Mac
Released 9 September 1969
Recorded 1968–1969
Genre Rock, blues-rock, progressive rock
Length 53:39
Label Reprise
Producer Fleetwood Mac
Professional reviews
Fleetwood Mac chronology
The Pious Bird of Good Omen
(1969 UK)

English Rose
(1969 USA)
Then Play On
(1969)
Kiln House
(1970)

Then Play On is the third studio album by blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac, first released in September 1969. It was the first of their original albums to feature Danny Kirwan and the last with Peter Green. Jeremy Spencer did not feature on the album apart from "a couple of piano things" (according to Mick Fleetwood in Q magazine in 1990). The record, appearing after the group's sudden success in the pop charts, offered a broader stylistic range than the classic blues of the group's first two albums.

This was the band's first release with Warner/Reprise after being lured away from Blue Horizon and a one-off with Immediate Records. Forty years on, Fleetwood Mac remain with Warner. The album, which at its original UK release had an unusually long running time, has been released with four different song lineups. The currently-available CD compiles all songs from the two US LP versions, both of which omitted tracks from the original UK version.

Contents

Track listing

UK LP/Original US LP, September 1969

The two songs deleted from the US lineup had already appeared on the US compilation English Rose. They are also not included on the CD release of the album.

Side 1:

  1. "Coming Your Way" (Danny Kirwan) – 3:47
  2. "Closing My Eyes" (Peter Green) – 4:50
  3. "Fighting for Madge" (Mick Fleetwood) – 2:45
  4. "When You Say" (Kirwan) – 4:22
  5. "Showbiz Blues" (Green) – 3:50
  6. "Underway" (Green) – 2:51 (US timing, fades out), 3:06 (UK timing, no fade, cuts to next song)
  7. "One Sunny Day" (Kirwan) – 3:12*

Side 2:

  1. "Although the Sun Is Shining" (Kirwan) – 2:31
  2. "Rattlesnake Shake" (Green) – 3:32
  3. "Without You" (Kirwan) – 4:34*
  4. (3-US) "Searching for Madge" (John McVie) – 6:56
  5. (4-US) "My Dream" (Kirwan) – 3:30 (a long giggle links this to next song)
  6. (5-US) "Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
  7. (6-US) "Before the Beginning" (Green) – 3:28

*Missing from the original US LP.

Revised US Song Lineup, post-November 1969

When the double-sided single "Oh Well (pts 1 & 2)" (released November 1969) became a hit it was added to a revised version of the US release and other songs were deleted or moved to side two. The two parts of "Oh Well" differed widely, the first being a Jimi Hendrix–style rocker, the latter a meditative instrumental, reminiscent of Ennio Morricone, on which Green played 'cello.[1] The first minute or so of "Part 2" was included as a fade-out coda to the A-side and then begun again on the B-side of the single. The album edit of "Oh Well" crudely butt-joined the sides of the single as it stood so that "Part 2"'s beginning is heard twice, otherwise the whole piece would run for only 7:58.

Another change was putting the two edits from the "Madge" jam back to back, fading down and up between them. The giggle that previously linked "My Dream" to "Like Crying" was now edited onto the end of "Fighting for Madge". ("Madge", the press were told at the time, was a female fan of the group who was immortalised as the dedicatee of two excerpts of a long instrumental jam whose inclusion allowed Fleetwood and McVie a composition credit each.)

Side 1:

  1. "Coming Your Way" (Kirwan) – 3:47
  2. "Closing My Eyes" (Green) – 4:50
  3. "Showbiz Blues" (Green) – 3:50
  4. "Underway" (Green) – 2:51
  5. "Oh Well" (Green) – 8:56

Side 2:

  1. "Although The Sun Is Shining" (Kirwan) – 2:31
  2. "Rattlesnake Shake" (Green) – 3:32
  3. "Searching For Madge" (McVie) – 6:56
  4. "Fighting for Madge" (Fleetwood) – 2:45 (a long giggle links this to next song)
  5. "Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
  6. "Before the Beginning" (Green) – 3:28

CD track listing

The currently in-print late 1980s–early 1990s re-release sticks mostly to the order of the revised US track listing, but reinserts two of the deleted songs in new locations. The giggle which originally preceded "Like Crying" is separated from its original location by the reinsertion of "When You Say" after "Fighting For Madge" (which "When You Say" followed when "Fighting for Madge" was in its original "Track 3" location.) The mix of "Oh Well" still contains the repeated minute. The two songs which appeared only on the UK LP are still missing here.

Chat groups and online music stores feature many consumer complaints that the current issue of the CD uses poor copies of the tapes, several generations removed from the original master. Dropouts, distortion and excessive hiss are evident, some of it missing from the original UK pressing.[citation needed]

  1. "Coming Your Way" (Kirwan) – 3:47
  2. "Closing My Eyes" (Green) – 4:50
  3. "Showbiz Blues" (Green) – 3:50
  4. '"My Dream" (Kirwan) – 3:30
  5. "Underway" (Green) – 2:51
  6. "Oh Well" (Green) – 8:56
  7. "Although the Sun Is Shining" (Kirwan) – 2:31
  8. "Rattlesnake Shake" (Green) – 3:32
  9. "Searching for Madge" (McVie) – 6:56
  10. "Fighting for Madge" (Fleetwood) – 2:45 ("Like Crying" giggle still left here)
  11. '"When You Say" (Kirwan) – 4:22
  12. "Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
  13. "Before the Beginning" (Green) – 3:28

Unreleased Bonus EP: The Milton Schlitz Show

The original intention was to include a bonus EP in the "Then Play On" album. The EP was to be compensation for the fact that Jeremy Spencer barely appeared on the album. The EP consisted of Spencer's parodies of doo wop ("Ricky Dee and the Angels"), Alexis Korner, country blues ("Texas Slim"), acid rock ("The Orange Electric Squares"), and John Mayall. It was finally released on Fleetwood Mac's The Vaudeville Years compilation in the 1990s.

  1. "Jeremy's Contribution to Doo Wop" (Jeremy Spencer) – 3:34
  2. "Every Day I Have the Blues" (Peter Chatman) – 4:23
  3. "Death Bells" (Spencer) – 5:05
  4. "(Watch Out For Yourself) Mr. Jones" (Spencer) – 3:35
  5. "Man of Action" (Spencer) – 5:21

Credits

Fleetwood Mac

Additional Personnel

Production

  • Producer: Fleetwood Mac
  • Engineer: Martin Birch
  • Sound consultant: Dinky Dawson

Charts

AlbumBillboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1970 Pop Albums 109

Singles – Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1970 "Oh Well – Pt. I" Pop Singles 55

References


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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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