When most people talk about the blues era of Fleetwood Mac, they’ll inevitably talk about Peter Green. When most people talk about Fleetwood’s first excursions away from blues and into pop-rock, they’ll mention Christine McVie joining the band and/or guitarist Bob Welch.
There was one man who helped steer the band from 1969 through to 1972, through their most tricky times: their third guitarist Danny Kirwan.
At the time of release of their third album ‘Then Play On’ in September 1969, Fleetwood Mac were an absolute musical powerhouse. While the band were not as purist in their blues ethic as before, on that release, bandleader Peter Green’s song writing, vocal style and guitar playing are at their career peak, while Danny Kirwan shows increased confidence in his role as second guitarist and songwriter. As usual, both Mick Fleetwood and John McVie are faultless in their rhythm section duties. Despite the strengths, cracks are also beginning to appear: although Fleetwood’s third vocalist-guitarist Jeremy Spencer is credited as appearing, he made no contributions to the original LP.