The Squire Presents

It was thought that the early years of Elton John’s career were well know. Born Reginald Dwight in 1947, he showed aptitude for the piano by being able to play back classical pieces after only hearing them once. He gained a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music but quit before taking his final exams. By 1962, he had formed the Bluesology and backed musicians such as The Isley Brothers and Long John Baldry. The band released three singles before disbanding. Dwight, taking the John from Long John Baldry and Elton from bandmate Elton Dean, created the stage name he would be known as from now on. 

Now know as Elton John, he answered an advert in the New Musical Express placed by Ray Williams,  the A&R man at Liberty Records, looking for talent in the shape of artists, composers, singers and musicians. John was happy in his ability to write melodies and tunes, but was not happy with his lyric writing. Explaining this to Williams, John was handed a bunch of lyrics that had been sent to Liberty by someone else who had seen the advert, a chap called Bernie Taupin. They started off collaborating by post before meeting in late 1967 when Taupin moved to London. 

Through Williams, John was put back in touch with his old Bluesology band mate, Caleb Quayle who was the studio manager of Dick James Music on New Oxford Street. Quayle snuck John into the studio after hours to record demos until they were rumbled. Quayle was able to pursued his boss, Dick James (who had set up Northern Songs to administer the publishing of The Beatles music) that John was a talent that would be of benefit to the company. James listened to the songs and agreed, signing John and Taupin to a publishing and management contract. The first fruits of this contract was the single, ‘I’ve Been Loving You’ which came out in March of 1968 and is listed as being written by John and Bernie Taupin, but was a actually written by John alone. John had given Taupin the co-credit so that his collaborator might have a bit of bit of extra income from the royalties.. The single was not a chart smash, but undaunted, John continued to record and write. They placed songs with Roger Cook and a Eurovision entry for Lulu, which came last out of the 1969 UK entries. John released two more singles in 1969 as well as his debut album, ‘Empty Sky’. It was with his 1970 single, ‘Your Song’ that John scored his first major hit and the rest the say is history. 

However, this turns out not to be the complete story. In 2020, John released a rather fine box set called ‘Jewel Box’. Containing deep cuts and B-sides, it also contained a number of demo recordings from 1965 -1975. This was a treasure trove of songs showing how the songwriting team of John and Taupin developed. The sleeve notes also mentioned an unreleased album called ‘Regimental Sgt. Zippo’. A track listing was included and even though some of the ones had been released before on bootlegs, no one realised that they were meant for an otherwise unreleased LP. One song had been given a legitimate release on a very rare Portuguese EP version of the ‘Thank You For All Your Loving’ single called‘Angle Tree’. 

‘Jewel Box’ contained demos for most of the songs but what was a bigger surprise was that the album existed in a fully realised form. A mono edition was given a limited release as part of Record Store Day in 2021, and then a stereo version came out the following year. Why this album didn’t come out is anyone’s guess. No one really seems to know but it could’t have been that the title track was just a little too similar in name to the behemoth that was ‘Sgt Pepper’ that had come out the year before. It could have been that those involved just felt it wasn’t commercial enough with the record company were struggling to find a single out of the songs that had been recorded. What is nice is that it came out at all, if belatedly. 

But what if the record had come out in 1968? Well, it could have ended up like his true debut, ‘Empty Sky’ as a forgotten part of his career, only really known to his most committed of fans. If it had been released, what would a deluxe edition of this record would have looked like? To answer this, I have taken more traditional route for deluxe edition of records by making this CD based. All songs were originally recorded between 1967 and 1968. Any song recorded later has not been included as these should go in an ‘Empty Sky’ set. A demo of ‘Skyline Pigeon’ was recorded in 1968 but i have not included this also due to a full band recordings appearance on the aforementioned ‘Empty Sky’ LP. 

Disc 1

This would include the stereo mix of the album. It also includes his first single release (which came out in 1968). 

1. When I Saw Teaby Abbey
2. And The Clock Goes Round
3. Sitting Doing Nothing
4. Turn To Me
5. Angel Tree
6. A Dandelion Dies In The Wind
7. Reginmental Sgt. Zippo
8. You’ll Be Sorry To See Me Go
9. Nina
10. Tartan Coloured Lady
11. Hourglass
12. Watching The Planes Go By
13. I’ve Been Loving You (Single A-Side)
14. Here’s To The Next Time (Single B-Side)

Disc 2

This includes the mono mix of the album, along with any demos of these songs. ‘Nina’ sounds like the album version but is 10 seconds shorter than both the mono and stereo mix so has been included for completeness. This disc also includes John’s first demos recorded after he had been introduced to the lyrics of Bernie Taupin, some of which were recorded before the two men had even met. 

1. When I Saw Teaby Abbey
2. And The Clock Goes Round
3. Sitting Doing Nothing
4. Turn To Me
5. Angel Tree
6. A Dandelion Dies In The Wind
7. Reginmental Sgt. Zippo
8. You’ll Be Sorry To See Me Go
9. Nina
10. Tartan Coloured Lady
11. Hourglass
12. Watching The Planes Go By
13. When I Saw Tealby Abbey (Piano Demo)
14. And The Clock Goes Round (Piano Demo)
15. Angel Tree (Piano/Guitar/Tambourine Demo)
16. A Dandelion Dies In The Wind (Piano Demo)
17. Nina (Band Version)
18. Scarecrow (Piano/Tambourine Demo)
19. Velvet Fountain (Piano Demo)
20. A Little Love Goes A Long Way (Piano Demo)
21. If You Could See Me Now (Piano Demo)
22. Mr. Lightning Strikerman (Piano Demo)

Disc 3

A collection of period demos, including ‘Here’s To The Next Time’ which was the B-Side of his debut solo single.

1. Countryside Love Affair (Piano Demo)
2. I Could Never Fall In Love With Anybody Else (Piano Demo)
3. I Get A Little Bit Lonely (Piano Demo)
4. The Witch’s House (Piano Demo)
5. Year Of The Teddy Bear (Piano Demo)
6. Where It’s At (Piano/Percussion Demo)
7. Who’s Gonna Love You (Piano/Percussion Demo)
8. Get Out Of This Town (Piano/Tambourine Demo)
9. Here’s To The Next Time (Piano/Tambourine Demo)
10. Thank You For Your Loving (Band Demo)
11. Where The First Tear Shows (Band Demo)
12. 71-75 New Oxford Street (Band Demo)
13. Reminds Me Of You (Piano Demo)
14. I Can’t Go On Living Without You (BAnd Demo)
15. I’ll Stop Living When You Stop Loving Me (Piano Demo)
16. Trying To Hold On To A Love That’s Dying (Piano Demo)
17. Cry Willow Cry (Band Demo)
18. There Is Still A Little Love (Band Demo)
19. If I Asked You (Band Demo)
20. Two Of A Kind (Band Demo)
21. The Girl On Angle Pavement (Band Demo)
22. Smokestack Children (Band Demo)
23. Baby I Miss You (Band Demo)
24. Bonnie’s Gone Away (Piano/Guitar Demo)
25. Just An Ordinary Man (Piano Demo)
26. There’s Still Time For Me (Piano/Guitar/Tambourine Demo)
27. The Tide Will Turn For Rebecca (Piano Demo)

The sleeve is the same as the one used for the 2021 release but with the deluxe edition banner added. 

Disc 2 could not be reproduced on Spotify

To complement the post from earlier this month, I though that I would take a look at the follow up to ‘Self Portrait’, 1970s ‘New Morning’. ‘New Morning’ was released four months after ‘Self Portrait’ and the rumour at the time was that Dylan had rushed back into the studio after the negative reaction to his previous effort. The truth was that the sessions for ‘Self Portrait’ lay around for a year before coming out and therefore, ‘New Morning’ was already in the can. 

After listening through ‘Another Self Portrait’ and ‘1970 with Special Guest George Harrison’, I was wondering if it would be possible to produce an alternative version of ‘New Morning’ using alternative takes. Dylan is a musician who records many versions of the same song (listen to the Collectors edition of ‘The Bootleg Series Vol.12’ which includes every note recorded during the 1965-1966 sessions to see what I mean. You will have to make your way through over 19 hours of music).  

One song is missing from this collection, ‘The Man in Me’. That is because there was not an alternative version of this released on either ‘Another Self Portrait’ or the Archive release, 1970. I substituted it with an outtake from the a session with George Harrison, ‘Working on a Guru’. 

Side A

1. If Not For You*
2. Day Of The Locusts (Take 2)**
3. Time Passes Slowly #2*
4. Went To See The Gypsy*
5. Winterlude**
6. If Dogs Run Free*

Side B

1. New Morning (With Horn Section Overdubs)*
2. Sign On The Window**
3. One More Weekend**
4. Working On A Guru*
5. Three Angels**
6. Father Of Night (Rehearsal)**

• The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971)

** 1970 With Special Guest George Harrison

The front cover is the same as the one on the original version of ‘New Morning’, but in negative.

One or more of these songs was not available on Spotify.

Is ‘Self Portrait’ Dylan’s worst album release? Probably not, with 1973’s ‘Dylan’ album most probably taking that title (see footnote). What cannot be argued is that is it bizarre, being made up of folk songs, covers of popular tunes, some originals, live tracks and instrumentals. For a man known as the ‘Voice of a Generation’, putting instrumentals on a Dylan record may well have been the first FU of the project. Dylan himself has been a bit dismissive of this album, saying that he treated as an official bootleg as it full of songs that he and his band would record whilst warming up for a session. At other times, he was looking to get people off of his back as this so called ‘Voice of a Generation’. Whatever the reasons behind it, the album was received with almost universal poor reviews. Is the album really that bad or without merit. Music is subjective so I leave it up to you to make you own mind up. What is without question is that there were good recordings from the sessions. It just took until 2013 for most people to find that out. 

That was because in 2013, Volume 10 of the legendary Bootleg Series was released, titled ‘Another Self Portrait’. This included songs that would be released on the original ‘Self Portrait’ and its follow up, ‘New Morning’, but in alternative or demo form. There is a smattering of Dylan originals, songs by his contemporaries and traditional numbers. This was followed in 2020 by ‘1970 with Special Guest George Harrison’ which contained even more outtakes from the same sessions.  Having played through these compilations, I wondered if there was enough material to make an albums of traditional songs. Dylan had come from a folk background (just listen to his first album and the ‘Basement Tapes’) and would return to these songs when in need of inspiration. Dylan himself would release  two album of traditional songs with 1992’s ‘Good As I Been To You’ and 1993’s ‘World Gone Wrong’. What if he had decided to do this earlier? To complete this record, I would not use any of the recordings used on the ‘Self Portrait’ album. 

With the striped backed production, Dylan follows his muse and even though none of these were meant to see the light of day, they stand up quite well. A couple needed to be faded out as the original recordings come to a sudden stop but other than that, the recordings are as they were recorded. With these versions, gone are some of the over top production that plagued ‘Self Portrait’ and the female backing vocalists are now complimenting the recording instead of over powering them. Overall, I believe this to be a more satisfying listening experience. 

Side A

1. Little Sadie (Without Overdubs)*
2. Come All You Fair & Tender Ladies (Take 1)**
3. Things About Comin’ My Way**
4. Days Of ’49 (Without Overdubs)*
5. Lily Of The West (Take 2)**
6. Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie (Take 1)**

Side B

1. Belle Isle (Without Overdubs)*
2. Alberta #3*
3. This Evening So Soon*
4. Pretty Saro*
5. Tattle O’Day*
6. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue*
7. Railroad Bill*

• The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971)

** 1970 With Special Guest George Harrison

Even though it is a dreadful cover, I decided to use the original artwork used in 1970 for the ‘Self Portrait’ album, but in a negative form. Dylan did produce it himself.  

The ‘Dylan’ album from 1973 is a curious beast, being made of outtakes from ‘Self Portrait’ and ‘New Morning’ albums. None of the songs on this release were sanctioned for release by Dylan himself and it could be argued that he album only came out due to spite from Columbia, Dylan’s label since the start of his recording career. Dylan had temporarily left the label for Asylum Records. He would only stay at Asylum for two records (‘Planet Waves’ and ‘Before The Flood’) before returning to Columbia for ‘Blood On The Tracks’. 

This ‘lost album’ could not be recreated on Spotify.

The 1960s were a time where music trends came and went relatively quickly. The music that came out in 1969 was very different from what came out in 1960. There weren’t many artists who went through through the decade without having to follow the trends, because there were artists like Dylan, who were setting them. His first album was a folk record, where he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. By 1966’s ‘Blonde On Blonde’, he had turned on the electricity and bucked the trend by releasing one of the first rock double albums. The music from the debut, that was only four years old at this point, was lightyears away from what Dylan was producing in 1966. Everyone waited to see what he would do next but then there was nothing for eighteen months. This was the 60s were albums would come out every six months (give or take a month or two). When The Beatles took a few months out in late 1966, there was a rumour that they had split up. That is nothing though compared to Dylan’s break, but what had caused him to take so long between records?

Dylan says that he was involved in a motorcycle accident near his home in Woodstock, New York but there are no records of an ambulance being called or show that Dylan was hospitalised. Whatever the truth, Dylan did write in his autobiography that he needed a break and would not return to touring for another eight years. He retreated to his house, but did not sit around doing nothing. Calling on The Band, who had toured with him the year before, the musicians set about recording numerous covers and new Dylan songs. Dylan would say that the recordings were not for him but for act as guides for other artists to cover, and cover them they did. ‘Quinn The Eskimo/The Mighty Quinn’ and ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’ were both top five hits for Manfred Mann and Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity respectively. The Byrds recorded two of the songs for their ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’ LP and Fairport Convention included ‘Million Dollar Bash’ on their ‘Unhalfbricking’ album. 

The sessions that became known as the Basement Tapes would appear on rocks first bootleg record, the infamous ‘Great White Wonder’. This intern would lead to a whole industry to spring up around unauthorised releases and Dylan is believed to be the most bootlegged artist in history. He even acknowledged this when his archival releases are called ‘The Bootleg Series’.  There was an attempt to beat the bootleggers, six years too late with the release of ‘The Basement Tapes’ album in 1975. However, this was not the complete story as there were multiple songs that were not included on this release and it would take until 2014 when the entire still listenable performances were given the deluxe box set selection. 

Hearing these performances, it is easy to see that these were guide performances as there are some out of tune vocals and some loose playing. It only adds to the charm. There were also a lot of performances, especially early on in the recording process where there were a number of cover versions and traditional songs being played as the musicians got used to playing with one another. 138 of these performances would see the light of day on ‘The Bootleg Series Vol.11: The Basement Tapes Complete’. What is quite incredible is the amount of songs that Dylan wrote for these sessions, with not one of them being used on his next album, ‘John Wesley Harding’. The rootsy nature of that album and The Band’s ‘Music From Big Pink’ would usher in a more basic style of recording that would influence artists such as Eric Clapton to leave Cream and The Beatles to pull back on the excesses of their self titled album to go back to simpler style for the ‘Let It Be’ sessions. 

What this compilation, we look at what-if Dylan had decided to be even more rootsy and release a selection of the self written material as an album in 1967 and pushed back ‘John Wesley Harding’ until mid 1968. Even though this album would not have seen the light of day in 1967, it would have been interesting how this would have received. A record with mostly short songs with only five on this release clocking in at over four minutes. The loose playing would have also stood out against the majority of music that was being produced in 1967. If you look at the amount of time that The Beatles and Brian Wilson spent recording ‘Sgt Pepper’ and ‘Smile’ to see that these live takes were harking back to a simpler time for reading music. 

When compiling this, I thought that it would there would only enough material for a single disc, which is what the record label would no doubt have instead on after the release of ‘Blonde on Blonde’,  However, there was so much good material that I felt it would be a waste not to use them. I also had three songs left over and used them as a single (with two B-Sides). How Dylan was able to write this much material without re-recording it shows what a purple patch he was going through from 1963 to 1969. This would all come to a grinding halt with the release of the ‘Self Portrait’ album in 1970, but there would be stacks of great material still to come in the years that followed. 

Side A

1. Odds & Ends (Take 2)
2. Please Mrs. Henry
3. Apple Suckling Tree (Take 2)
4.  You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (Take 2)
5. Crash On The Levee (Take 2)
6. Yea! Heavy & A Bottle Of Bread (Take 2)
7. Nothing Was Delivered (Take 2)
8. I Shall Be Released (Take 2)

Side B

1. Million Dollar Bash (Take 2)
2. Tiny Montgomery
3. My Woman She’s A-Leavin’
4. Santa-Fe
5. Mary Lou, I Love You Too
6. Open The Door Homer (Take 1)
7. Quinn The Eskimo (Take 2)
8. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue

Side 3

1. Silent Weekend
2. Clothes Line Saga
3. Dress It Up, Better Have It All
4. Too Much Of Nothing (Take 2)
5. Lo & Behold! (Take 2)
6. Sign Of The Cross

Side D

1. 900 Miles From Home
2. Goin’ To Acapulco
3. I’m Not There
4. Tears Of Rage (Take 2)
5. One For The Road

Bonus Single

1. This Wheel’s On Fire (Single A-Side)
2. I’m Alright (Single B-Side)
3. Cool Water (Single B-Side)

The front cover of the LP is taken from ‘I Design Album Covers’ website (https://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com).

I have moaned before about the shoddy treatment that Fleetwood Mac’s back catalogue has received down the years, especially on the Reprise label. An album that is screaming out for the super deluxe treatment is ‘Then Play On’ from 1969. It was:

• The first Mac LP to appear on Reprise, label having left their original home of Blue Horizon after the unexpected success of the ‘Albatross’ single
• The first album to deviate from the straight blues of the first two Mac albums.
• The first album to feature guitarist Danny Kirwan even thought he had appeared on songs on the compilation album ‘Pious Bird of Good Omen’ and ‘Fleetwood Mac in Chicago’.

Founding member Jeremy Spencer also contributed very little to ‘The Play On’, only appearing playing the odd bit of piano. More on that later.

Containing fourteen songs in its original UK configuration, the album was also quite long clocking in at just under 54 minutes. For the US market, the album dropped two songs (‘One Sunny Day’ & ‘Without You’) which had appeared on the earlier ‘English Rose’ compilation, and the instrumental ‘Underway’ was edited down by 15 seconds. What difference these 15 seconds made is anyone’s guess.

When the song’ Oh Well’ became a minor hit in the US, the LP order was changed once again. ‘When You Say’ and ‘My Dream’ we dropped and both parts of ‘Oh Well’ were put in their place. When this album was first released on CD back in 1990, both ‘My Dream’ and ‘When You Say’ were put back into the running order and it was in this edition that I first heard this record. I only heard ‘Without You’ and ‘One Sunny Day’ when I managed to find a copy of ‘English Rose’ in a second hand record shop, most probably Reckless Records on Brewer Street in London. 

The original UK track listing was only restored when the album was re-released in 2013 Deluxe Edition. I was really looking forward to this edition when I read about it, but I was really annoyed when I found out that this was not that deluxe at all. The only additional tracks being both sides of the ‘Oh Well’ single and the follow up, ‘The Green Manalishi’ and its B-Side, ‘World In Harmony’. What I have tried to do here is to present this album in a Deluxe Edition that it actually deserves. 

The band recorded a lot of material during this time, a good deal of it has been released so putting this compilation together has been quite straight forward. Some members of the band also moonlighted in other groups and Jeremy Spencer released a solo album. 1969 and into the early part of 1970 was a busy time for Fleetwood Mac and this box set could have contained even more music if I had decided to include the ‘Blues Jam in Chicago’ songs. However, this was recorded when the band were still on Blue Horizon and was part of ‘The Complete Blue Horizons Session 1967-1969’ box set from 1999. I have also not included any guest sessions that the band made on other Blue Horizon artists such as Otis Spann as I am sure that there would be a rights issue if a set like this was ever attempted. 

CD 1 – Original UK Track Listing & Singles 

This is the same track listing as the 2013 re-release. That is, the original 14 track UK track listing with the 1969 Oh Well and 1970 The Green Manalishi singles along with their respective B-Sides.  

1. Coming Your Way
2. Closing My Eyes
3. Fighting For Madge
4. Show-Biz Blues
5. Underway
6. One Sunny Day
7. Although The Sun Is Shining
8. Rattlesnake Shake
9. Without You
10. Searching For Madge
11. My Dream
12. Like Crying
13. Before The Beginning
14. Oh Well (Part 1)
15. Oh Well (Part 2)
16. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) 
17. World In Harmony

CD 2 – Sessions

The second CD is made up from sessions that took place during and around the recording of the parent album. These include extended or full length versions of the jams that were included in edited form on the original record. Also included is an earlier version of ‘Showbiz Blues’ as well a an updated version of ‘Drifting’ but now called ‘Fast Talking Woman Blues’. ‘

‘Then Play On’ is known as an album that member Jeremy Spencer was shown in the line up picture, but played next to nothing not he record. To make up for this, it was originally planned that Spencer would be able to include an EP of his songs. The EP took the structure of a radio show where numerous different acts would perform, even though in reality, it was just Fleetwood Mac. Spencer was in full imitation mode, with swipes at the rock n’ roll revival scene, Alexis Korner, Texas Bluesmen, Acid Rock and John Mayall. A record consisting of a band playing lots of different types of music was quite a new idea, and I can only think of one other who had done something similar up to this point. That being The Turtles and their ‘Battle of the Bands’ LP which came out the year before. 

1. Fast Talking Woman Blues – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
2. Him & Me (Early Version of Showbiz Blues) – Show-Biz Blues 1968-1970
3. Jeremy’s Contribution to Doo Wop – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
4. Everyday I Have The Blues – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
5. Death Bells – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
6. Watch Out For Yourself) Mr. Jones – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
7. Man Of Action – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
8. Underway (Full Length Version) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
9. The Madge Sessions 1 (Full Length Version) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
10. The Madge Sessions 2 (Instrumental) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
11. October Jam 1 (Unissued) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
12. October Jam 2 (Unissued) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
13. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) (Alt. Version) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970

CD 3 – Sessions & Live

CD 3 is another round up of alternative versions and unreleased songs. However, I have also looked to include songs that the band recorded live in the last year with Peter Green which did not make it onto one of their records. Some of these have yet to be officially released. This disc finishes with a concert taken from the ‘Before The Beginning’ CD set. These performances are clearly from 1970 because ‘The Green Manalishi’ was included in the set list. However, where and when this gig took place is a mystery because the tape boxes were found without any information attached. I am sure with a bit of effort and some more research, the people who put this collection out could have found out the date and place the gig took place. 

1. World In Harmony (Alt. Take) – Show-Biz Blues 1968-1970
2. Mighty Cold – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
3. Tell Me From The Start – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
4. Although The Sun Is Shining (Demo) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
5. Blues In B Flat Minor (Before The Beginning Instrumental Early Takes) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
6. Leaving Town Blues (Violin Version) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
7. Oh Well (Part 1 – Live) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970
8. Lemon Squeezer – Shrine ‘69
9. All Over Again (I’ve Got A Mind To Give Up Living) – Previously Unreleased (The Warehouse, New Orleans, 1st February 1970) 
10. One Sided Love – Previously Unreleased (Concertgebouw, Amsterdam 20th April 1969)
11. Like It This Way – Previously Unreleased (Finish Radio Broadcast 24th August 1969)
12. Greeny Alone – Previously Unreleased (Concertgebouw, Amsterdam 20th April 1969)
13. Before The Beginning – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
14. Madison Blues – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
15. Can’t Stop Lovin’ – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
16. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions

CD 4 – Live

This continues with the gig that was started on Disc 3. Some of the songs needed to have some work on them to get rid of as many of the problems that were with the original tapes. For instance, ‘Sandy Mary’ needed an edit due to either a fault in the master, or some shoddy work preparing the tapes for release. There was an annoying jump in the slowed down section, so I edited in a better sounding bit from the next chorus and then edited around it. I hope you can’t hear the join. Some of the flubs could not be edited out though. I have also included a guest sessions on here as there wasn’t room for them anywhere else. First is a cover of the Danny Kirwan penned ‘When You Say’. Both Kirwan and Perfects husband, John McVie play on this version.

1. Albatross – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
2. Sandy Mary – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
3. Only You – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
4. World In Harmony – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
5. I Can’t Hold Out – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
6. Oh Well (Part 1) – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
7. Rattlesnake Shake – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
8. Underway – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
9. Coming Your Way – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
10. Homework – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
11. My Baby’s Sweet – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
12. My Baby’s Gone – Before The Beginning: 1968-1970 Rare Live & Demo Sessions
13. When You Say (Christine Perfect) – Christine Perfect

Disc 5 – Guest Sessions

As has been said before, Jeremy Spencer did not contribute much to ‘Then Play On’, but as was mentioned above, he did get to make an EP songs with Mac backing him. Unreleased at the time, the EP was just a prelude to Spencer first solo album. Released early in 1970, Fleetwood Mac were the backing band even though Peter Green only featured playing the banjo on ‘String-A-Long’. This is, as you would expect from Spencer, parodies of different music styles with a couple of covers thrown in for good measure. ‘Teenage Darling’ was not included on the original LP but was the B-Side to ‘Linda’, the only single released from this album. This is essentially a dry run for Mac’ ‘Kiln House’ LP that would come out later in 1970 after Peter Green had left the band. 

The remainder of the songs on this disc is from The Brunnning Sunflower Band, or Brunning Sunflower Blues Band. They seemed to change their name every time they put out a record. This featured Bob Brunning, who was the original bass player in Fleetwood Mac. He had an agreement with Peter Green that if John McVie, who had been Green’s first choice for the role, ever wanted to join, Brunning would step aside. This is exactly what happened. Brunning would form a couple of bands after Mac, including this one. Peter Green is listed as playing on the ‘Trackside Blues’ LP, but as none of the releases of this album have ever had extensive sleeve notes, it is hard to tell exactly what songs he actually plays on so I have included them all except for ‘Sunflower Shuffle’ as the only instrument on it is a piano.  

1. Linda (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
2. The Shape I’m In (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
3. Mean Blues (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
4. String-A-Long (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
5. Here Comes Charlie (With His Dancing Shoes On) (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
6. Teenage Love Affair (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
7. Jenny Lee (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
8. Don’t Go, Please Stay (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
9. You Made A Hit (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
10. Take A Look Around Mrs. Brown (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
11. Surfin’ Girl (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
12. If I Could Swim The Mountain (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
13. Teenage Darling (Jeremy Spencer) – Jeremy Spencer
14. Uranus – Take 1 (Brunning Sunflower Blues Band) – I Wish You Would
15. Ride With Your Daddy Tonight (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
16. Tube Train Blues (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
17. Simple Simon (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
18. I Met This Bird In Playboy (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
19. Ah! Soul (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
20. It Takes Time (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
21. Baby You’re The Real Thing (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
22. If You Let Me Love You (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
23. North Star (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues
24. Closing Hours (The Brunning Sunflower Band) – Trackside Blues

Disc 6 – Guest Sessions

Tramp was another band that Bob Brunning band but this one included both Mick Fleetwood and Danny Kirwan in their ranks. the band release two albums, ‘Tramp’ (1969) and ‘Put A Record On’ (1974). Only the latter has been included here. The song ‘Too Late Now’ has not been included because neither Kirwan and Fleetwood play on it. What follows is the ‘Man Of The World’ single. This was the only release by Fleetwood Mac on the Immediate label which they were signed to between Blue Horizon and Reprise. I have read that this was only ever a one off deal with Immediate, but with the label in financial turmoil by the time of this release, it can be argued that if the band were signed to a longer deal, it would not have panned out as the label was struggling financially. Immediate were struggling to release what music they already had ready to go (e.g. Billy Nicholas and the legendary ‘Would You Believe’ LP). I have included it more for completeness more than anything else. 

Clifford Davis was Fleetwood Mac’s manager between 1967 and 1974. He is also credited as being the co-writer of a number of songs on Mac’s ‘Mr Wonderful’ album under his  birth name of Adams. He also tried his hand at being a recording artist, releasing two singles which have are believed to include members of Fleetwood on them. I have included these songs as they fit the correct time period but if anyone can shed light on which members of Mac play on them, if any, I would be grateful. When it comes to his version of ‘Man Of The World’, I am sure that this is the Mac version with Green’s vocals replaced by Adams and some strings added to the mix. This disc is rounded off by some early takes of ‘Man Of The World’. 

1. Own Up (Tramp) – Tramp
2. Same Old Thing (Tramp) – Tramp
3. What You Gonna Do (Tramp) – Tramp
4. Somebody Watching Me (Tramp) – Tramp
5. Too Late Now (Tramp) – Tramp
6. Baby What You Want Me To Do (Tramp) – Tramp
7. Street Walking Blues (Tramp) – Tramp
8. On The Scene (Tramp) – Tramp
9. Month Of Sundays (Tramp) – Tramp
10. Hard Work (Tramp) – Tramp
11. Another Day (Tramp) – Tramp
12. Man Of The World – Single A-Side
13. Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonite (Earl Vince & The Valiants) – Single B-Side
14. Before The Beginning (Clifford Davis) – Single A-Side
15. Man Of The World (Clifford Davis) – Single B-Side
16. Come On Down & Follow Me (Clifford Davis & Friends) – Single A-Side
17. Homework (Clifford Davis & Friends) Single A-Side
18. Man Of The World (Takes 1, 2 & 3) – The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968-1970

I am sure that there is more tracks that could have been included out there but a six CD set is not a bad effort considering that Reprise have only ever released a one disc set for ‘Then Play On’. I would love to do a similar treatment to all of the albums Mac released between 1970 and 1974, but I don’t think there is the material out there to do so. 

Fleetwood Mac released their first two albums within six months of each other, but then it took them over a year to released their third. This was the 60s and releasing a new album every six months was not unusual so I wanted to see if there would have been enough material for the band to have released another album early in 1969. If this was to happen, this album needed to follow a certain amount of rules, including adhering to the template of the first two. That is: 

Each singing member gets a roughly equal amount of songs to sing.

Some originals and some covers. 

The LP would contain twelve tracks like the first two albums did. 

What would have been new for this release was Danny Kirwan. He was added to the line up to take some of the burden off of Peter Green because Jeremy Spencer, the other guitar player in the band did not play on the songs Green brought to the band. 

Looking through the rather fine ‘Complete Blue Horizon Sessions’ box set, there is the ‘Blues Jam in Chicago’ album. This album was recoded in the legendary Chess Records studio with Fleetwood Mac being joined by a series of blue legends such as Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy. There was enough original material from this release to cover the majority of the songs. To make this a coherent album, I have done some editing to remove studio banter, false starts and the odd bum note (especially true on I Can’t Hold Out where a stray sax notes comes in during Jeremy Spencer’s Elmore James’ influenced intro). With these songs included, there still wasn’t enough material for a complete album. There were a couple of stray songs written by Danny Kirwan that I have included and this meant there was only enough room for one cover. This is ‘Jumping of Shadows’. taken from the ’Live At The BBC’ album. It is a good blues number and the band seems to have played it quite a lot in their live shows around this time. 

If the band had chosen to release another LP on the Blue Horizon label earlier in 1969, this could have been what is sounded like. This would also have been the last of a trilogy of Blues albums where the songs were recorded live in the studio. With ‘Then Play On’, overdubs and editing as well as spending more time on the process were the order of the day, but that is a story for another time.  

Side A

1. Watch Out (Blues Jam in Chicago Vol.1
2. World’s In A Tangle (Blues Jam In Chicago Vol.2)
3. I Can’t Hold Out (Blues Jam In Chicago Vol.1)
4. Talk With You (Blues Jam In Chicago Vol.2)
5. I’m Worried (Blues Jam In Chicago Vol.1)
6. Without You (English Rose)

Side B

1. Last Night (Blues Jam In Chicago Vol.1)
2. Something Inside Of Me – Take 2 (The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967-1969)
3. Rockin’ Boogie (Blues Jam In Chicago Vol.2)
4. Homework (Blues Jam In Chicago Vol.1)
5. I Held My Baby Last Night (Blues Jam In Chicago Vol.2)
6. Jumping At Shadows (Live At The BBC)

The LP artwork is edited from a Reprise Record release in Germany and the Netherlands from 1973, but with the title edited out. It is quite hard to find artwork of the five man Mac. The title was chosen as it links into the album that followed, even if that did not use the original Shakespeare quote accurately.