Clockwise from left: Welch, John McVie, Christine McVie, Bob Weston, Mick Fleetwood
Sad news today. Bob Welch, arguably the best guitar player of a long line of fine musicians with the group, Fleetwood Mac, to include Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, Bob Weston, Lindsey Buckingham, and Peter Green, has committed suicide.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1686910/fleetwood-mac-bob-welch-suicide.jhtml
Rest in peace Bob. We’ll miss you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZeTlMpnfHk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvCUJgnVg3o
Regarding Bob Welch – I highly recommend listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Mystery to Me album. Underrated, great tunes.
That and Bare Trees….their best two albums
Bare trees, grey light…
Great album, indeed.
Sadly – I have not listened to either of those!
Just download them and listen to them. Hypnotized is one of the links I included and is truly hypnotic.
Ah, THAT one! Yes, great song. Thx.
I remember seeing Fleetwood Mac for the first time in 1974 in Sausalito. I was 18~high on acid. I was totally blown away (in more ways than one)!
Feels like a dream…..got me hypnotized.
Rest in peace dear friend and thanks for the music.
HEY !! I was 18 in ’74 ! Sausalito….what a great place to see such a concert. The thing is, most people think that Fleetwood Mac began w/ Nicks and Buckingham….simply because that was their vast commercial success period (between ’76 and ’83). The first Fleetwood Mac song I ever heard was Over My Head sung by the beautiful sultry and smokey-voiced CHristine McVie. All that song did was make me want to hear more of Christine McVie (I had never heard a voice like this). So, since the rest of the more contemporary (new) Fleetwood Mac stuff was rife w/ Stevie Nicks (whose voice I could never get used to) “Over My Head” made me want to get more of Christine McVie….thus I introduced myself to Mystery to Me and Bare Trees both of which were dominated by McVie and Bob Welch….which is how I got to know Welch’s talent (and another fascinating voice). On a side note, I also got to know the talent of Danny Kirwan who heavily influenced Bare Trees. That period between ’72-75, which I regard as pre-Nicks/Buckingham as well as the lost years of Fleetwood Mac, is not only my favorite period of the Mac…but what I would consider their best music. Yes, even better than “Rumours”. John McVie and Mick Fleetwood were the least talented (if any talent at all) of all Fleetwood Mac rotating door membership. Plus they ruled FM with an iron fist and were ruthless in their treatment of Welch and Kirwan in particular. But they did have ONE magnificent talent: picking talent….especially great guitar players, i.e., Welch, Weston, Spencer, Green, Kirwan, and Buckingham. In fact, the band usually had TWO great guitar players at one time. In any event, I’ll always remember FM mostly for the Welch period.
I remember the “alternative” music station when I was a kid played a guitar piece from Peter Green during the news as background. Forget the name, but I can hum it today, 40+ years later.
and good alternative music stations are also a dying breed
Wow. Sad to hear, however thanks for the links. I’m only a little younger than you guys, so I’ll relay my Fleetwood Mac story. Unfortunately, no Bob Welch. I saw the new, re-worked Fleetwood Mac open up for Jethro Tull at the University of Montana in ’75 or ’76. I had to discover Bob Welch several years later when Ebony Eyes came out. What I found was some superb music that went un-noticed by most high school kids in my part of the country. Luckily, the people I hung with knew music and we didn’t rely on airplay to find it back then.
We’ve lost a lot of good people lately. Thanks for the links, Southpaw.
BB – I was AT that Tull concert at UM!!!!
Totally cool. I’m pretty sure that was my first concert! Do you remember the giant, clear bubble being bounced around the crowd? The smoke filled Adams Field House? Etc., etc. Glad you were there, Montana…
LOL – can’t remember the bubble! I remember the smoke-filled field house, however – heh. We also used to smuggle in mickies of rum in our socks. I was either a sophomore or junior in high school. I can’t remember if that was my first concert – there were a lot of good ones there. Johnny and Edgar Winter – Doobie Brothers… Did you ever make it to those all night Bluegrass Festivals at the Field House? The scrambled eggs and toast they brought out in big cardboard boxes at 4:00 a.m.?!
Prosit, BB!
I totally agree!!
I remember seeing Fleetwood Mac some years later at “A Day on The Green” in Oakland. The concert was named “The British are coming”, or something like that. The line-up was:
Gary Wright~remember “Dream Weaver”
Peter Frampton~He totally “sold out” from his Humble Pie dazes, although I grudging will say “Do You Feel Like I Do” had me dancing on the green.
Fleetwood Mac~This was to promote their “Fleetwood Mac” album. I was disappointed with Buckingham’s voice in Hypnotize as I had the albums “Bare Trees” and “Mystery to Me”. Full discloser here, I also have “Fleetwood Mac”, “Rumours”, and “Tusk”. YES, I ‘sold out’ to the “pop” version of Fleetwood Mac!
Robin Trower~”Bridge of Sighs”. Trower was said to be the next Jimi Hendrix, BUT no one can replace Jimi.
I also saw Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival. I remember seeing Jimi and Jerry Garcia jam in the Agricultural Building and my life was changed forever~I became a Dead Head (We didn’t name ourselves until ’76) at the age of 11!
The Day on the Green was another one of those ‘acid’ trips and I remember there was lunar eclipse that night.
Anyway, I’m rambling! I’ve given up way to much information!
peace my friend,
debi(~};)
What a line-up!!!!!
And Bridge of Sighs was one of my favorite albums.
and one of mine
One of my favorite alternate radio stations is KPIG in Freedom, CA. I can still listen here in Arizona at KPIG.com