When Fleetwood Mac comes to mind, most people probably think of the British-American pop-rock juggernaut that recorded the classic 1977 album Rumours led by singer-songwriters Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie. However, the band originated in the late 1960s as an outfit led by guitarist Peter Green that was at the forefront of the British blues explosion.
Videos by American Songwriter
This Saturday, February 24, marks the 56th anniversary of the release of Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled debut album. The group was formed in 1967 by Green, who had established himself as one of the U.K.’s premier blues guitarist when he replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.
[RELATED: Behind the Band Name: Fleetwood Mac]
The Formation of Fleetwood Mac
While Green was a member of the Bluesbreakers, the lineup also featured drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. In April of 1967, Mayall gifted Green some free studio time, and he enlisted Fleetwood and McVie to record a few songs. One song was an instrumental tune that Green titled “Fleetwood Mac” after the rhythm section members, “Mac” being McVie’s nickname.
Green soon got the idea to form his own group, and asked Fleetwood, who by this time had been fired by Mayall, and McVie to join. Green decided to call the group Fleetwood Mac, after the instrumental they’d recorded.
Fleetwood immediately agreed to join, but McVie initially decided to keep his gig with the Bluesbreakers. Green hired Bob Brunning to play bass, with hopes that McVie would eventually change his mind.
Slide-guitarist Jeremy Spencer was soon added to the lineup, and the band played its first show on August 13, 1967, at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. McVie, unhappy with the jazzier direction Mayall’s Bluesbreakers had started taking, joined Fleetwood Mac a few weeks later, solidifying the group’s first lineup.
About the Fleetwood Mac Album
Fleetwood Mac began recording its debut album in early September 1967. Brunning was still in the band at the time, although he’s only heard on one track featured on the record, the Green-penned “Long Grey Mare.” Subsequent sessions with McVie took place in November and December.
The Fleetwood Mac album, which is alternately known as Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, features a mix of original songs by Green and Spencer, as well as blues covers by Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James, the latter of whom was Spencer’s biggest influence.
The album includes updated versions of two songs that Green, Fleetwood, and McVie recorded at their April 1967 session—the Green original “Looking for Somebody” and the Howlin’ Wolf cover “No Place to Go.”
Although the album featured no hits singles, it was a huge U.K. chart success, peaking at No. 4. Interestingly, one song from the record, the Green-penned “The World Keep on Turning,” was reworked years later by Buckingham and Christine McVie as “World Turning,” and was featured on Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled album.
After the Albums Release
Not long after their debut album’s arrival, Fleetwood Mac began releasing a series of hit U.K. singles written by Green. They included “Man of the World,” “Oh Well,” and the chart-topping instrumental “Albatross.”
Green left Fleetwood Mac in 1970, and struggled with drug abuse and mental health issues throughout his life. He died in 2020 at age 73.
Fleetwood Mac (1968) Track List:
Side One
- “My Heart Beat Like a Hammer”
- “Merry Go Round”
- “Long Grey Mare”
- “Hellhound on My Trail”
- “Shake Your Moneymaker”
- “Looking for Somebody”
Side Two
- “No Place to Go”
- “My Baby’s Good to Me”
- “I Loved Another Woman”
- “Cold Black Night”
- “The World Keep on Turning”
- “Got to Move”
