Artist	Song
Fleetwood Mac	My Dream
Fleetwood Mac	Although The Sun Is Shining
Fleetwood Mac	Station Man
Fleetwood Mac	Jewel Eyed Judy
Fleetwood Mac	One Together
Fleetwood Mac	Future Games
Fleetwood Mac	Sands Of Time
Fleetwood Mac	Sometimes
Fleetwood Mac	The Ghost
Fleetwood Mac	Bare Trees
Fleetwood Mac	Sentimental Lady
Fleetwood Mac	Emerald Eyes
Fleetwood Mac	Forever
Fleetwood Mac	Hypnotized
Fleetwood Mac	Why
Fleetwood Mac	Angel
Fleetwood Mac	Bermuda Triangle
Fleetwood Mac	Born Enchanter

Comment:

Not a lot of bands out there name themselves after the rhythm section (ok, maybe the Dave Clark Five), but in the case of Fleetwood Mac it proved a particularly prescient move. As we all know, the band has been around in one form or another for 40 years, the only constants being drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, with a rotating cast of frontmen (and women). Obviously, the best-known Mac is the mid-70s/early-80s radio-friendly pop incarnation, with the Buckingham/Nicks team (along with holdover Christine McVie) driving stratospheric album sales. And the initial British blues-based version of the band, with legendary guitarist Peter Green at the helm, has long been a critical fave. (No need to mention the execrable post-Buckingham era.)
Sadly overlooked (for the most part) is the half-decade between Green's departure and Buckingham/Nicks' arrival, which, alas, I now must admit to being a huge guilty pleasure of mine. Guilty, because much of this period was characterized by bland mediocrity, a few fine AOR hits aside (particularly the soft rock classic "Hypnotized"). Yet I happen to see a lot of mellow beauty in this era. Green-era holdovers Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan moved the band into a quieter direction, replacing the blues with a more pop/country amalgam. The addition of Bob Welch (and the increasing role of Christine McVie) moved the band towards the mainstream, though they were at their best with Welch's psychedelic-tinged jazzy rock, with much of the music sounding a lot like early-70s Pink Floyd or Steely Dan (the musical theme of mix closer "Born Enchanter" is a direct rip-off of the jam section of Floyd's "Echoes"). Granted, a lot of this was sappy to a fault (i.e. semi-hits "Sentimental Lady," "Emerald Eyes"), and Welch tended to reuse riffs, lending to a sameness to his work, though I've always found it somewhat charming and soothing. However, I've never been a fan of Christine McVie's straight-ahead pop, which became increasingly prevalent as the 70s wore on, so she's pretty much absent from this mix (the gentle "Why" being the exception).
A few caveats. I don't have the album Penguin, finding it the weakest of the bunch, so nothing from that to be found here (wouldn't mind revising this mix if someone's got a copy, though). And, alas, this period of the band is in dire need of remastering; the cd's sound like they were mastered off an old cassette, burying undeniable beauty like "Jewel Eyed Judy" under a sea of hiss.
The mix, arranged chronologically from Green's final album (a couple Kirwan tracks from 1969's Then Play On) through Welch's swan song (1974's Heroes Are Hard To Find) actually came out quite nicely. As most of the albums are fairly inconsistent (with the possible exception of 1973's Mystery To Me, by which time Spencer and Kirwan were long gone and the band was firmly in the hands of Welch and McVie), culling them down to 2-3 tracks per album definitely benefits the band.

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