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
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.
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.
(4-US) "My Dream" (Kirwan) – 3:30 (a long giggle links this to next song)
(5-US) "Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
(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:
"Coming Your Way" (Kirwan) – 3:47
"Closing My Eyes" (Green) – 4:50
"Showbiz Blues" (Green) – 3:50
"Underway" (Green) – 2:51
"Oh Well" (Green) – 8:56
Side 2:
"Although The Sun Is Shining" (Kirwan) – 2:31
"Rattlesnake Shake" (Green) – 3:32
"Searching For Madge" (McVie) – 6:56
"Fighting for Madge" (Fleetwood) – 2:45 (a long giggle links this to next song)
"Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
"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]
"Coming Your Way" (Kirwan) – 3:47
"Closing My Eyes" (Green) – 4:50
"Showbiz Blues" (Green) – 3:50
'"My Dream" (Kirwan) – 3:30
"Underway" (Green) – 2:51
"Oh Well" (Green) – 8:56
"Although the Sun Is Shining" (Kirwan) – 2:31
"Rattlesnake Shake" (Green) – 3:32
"Searching for Madge" (McVie) – 6:56
"Fighting for Madge" (Fleetwood) – 2:45 ("Like Crying" giggle still left here)
'"When You Say" (Kirwan) – 4:22
"Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
"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.
"Jeremy's Contribution to Doo Wop" (Jeremy Spencer) – 3:34
