Fleetwood Mac:

Then Play On:(1969)

Fleetwood Mac In Chicago:(1969)

Fleetwood Mac:(1975)

Tusk:(1979)

Mirage:(1982)

Few bands survive the huge artistic/stylistic changes Fleetwood Mac went through, and The Mac did it and came out with their biggest hits. We all know the fabled story. But for my money, Then Play On is my favorite Fleetwood Mac studio album that features just the band. But, my all time favorite Fleetwood Mac album is Fleetwood Mac in Chicago. Did I mention this is back when they were a blues rock band? On this album they jam through four vinyl sides with the likes of Willie Dixon, Honeyboy Edwards, Otis Span and others in the legendary Chess Studio. This album is hell and gone from the pop music the future would bring to their table after Peter Green checked out. Key track for me is Black Jack Blues. 

Now that's not to discredit the Buckingham/Nicks era Fleetwood Mac, I still sing along in the car to those Classic Rock gems, but you really can't talk about the two major incarnations of this band in the same paragraph. So, onto the pop side... 1975's Fleetwood Mac yielded, what, three top twenty hits? And became a Classic. Tusk is an album I'm torn over. I dig the titled track, and a handful of other songs on this sprawling double album, but a lot of it feels like soft fluff. Like maybe there should have been less coke and more editing going on in the studio. Mirage is when things really start falling off for me as the band succumbs to some overly smooth late 70's early 80's production techniques that just grate on my nerves. In fact as I'm listening to this now, I'm not sure why I've kept this album. 

Go back to the Fleetwood Mac In Chicago album, quickly.