Then Play On (2013

For this particular music buff, this new edition of Fleetwood Mac's expansive 1969 album THEN PLAY ON is quite possibly the key reissue of 2013. Having had to put up with that awful butchered version for all these years and thinking that the genuine UK version of the record would never come out on CD, I gave up the ghost and some months ago forked out some fifty quid on an original vinyl copy just so that I could listen to this album in the configuration that it was originally intended. Now, lo and behold, miracles do happen: Rhino Records have put the original 14-track UK edition onto CD at last. With Peter Green moving away from the pure blues and second guitarist Danny Kirwan being actively encouraged to blossom as a songwriter, THEN PLAY ON represented a major progression for Fleetwood Mac. 'Coming Your Way', Kirwan's pulsating opening track, and his wistful 'Although The Sun Is Shining' stood proudly alongside Green's increasingly introspective compositions like 'Closing My Eyes' and his truly sublime album closer 'Before The Beginning'. THEN PLAY ON is not without its flaws - the cut-up jam session 'Fighting For Madge'/'Searching For Madge' does tend to disrupt the flow of the album to some extent - but overall the collection offers up many indicators as to the Mac's future course. I've read some negative comments about the remastering (as usual). I would agree that it's perhaps not the most dramatic sound make-over I've ever heard, but compared to the vinyl copy I bought (which was in pretty good nick) I think it all sounds fine. Mick Fleetwood's bass drum patterns really hit home on 'One Sunny Day', for example, while 'Before The Beginning' - surely a number that influenced Santana - has a beautiful resonance to it. I must admit, however, that the associated singles included here as bonus tracks, namely both sides of 'Oh Well', its follow-up 'The Green Manalishi', and the latter's gorgeous Danny Kirwan-penned b-side 'World In Harmony', do sound a little more dynamic than the album tracks for some reason; to be honest, 'Oh Well (Part One)' sounds absolutely awesome on here and is worth the price of the CD alone. The packaging is perfectly satisfactory. The original gatefold cover has been nicely reproduced around the jacket of the booklet with the design continuing onto the back of the actual jewel case, while journalist David Fricke's eloquent essay lays bare the background to the album, bolstered with some additional quotes from Mick Fleetwood. To sum up, I have no real complaints over this release. It is just how I've always wanted THEN PLAY ON to be released on CD - the bonus tracks selected are just the right choices - and its welcome appearance fills a long-vacant space in my collection.

The last truly great Fleetwood Mac album. Moving in a different direction from the first albums ,but in a.good way. Some fantastic music here, and the bonus tracks added are magical. Peter Green's last farewell to his band, never anywhere near as good after this. Brilliant!🎸🎸🎸.

I understand this is the last studio album with Peter Green. It is very good, I enjoyed it a lot. Not as fiery or bluesy as their earlier ones however, it is still an enjoyable listen and ends on era where the British bands, like Fleetwood, dominated and brought the blues to a whole new generation of fans who, hopefully, like myself, then in turn discovered the original bluesman, a la BB, Muddy etc etc. Oh, what it must have been like back then, seeing Fleetwood or Cream/Blind Faith/Derek and the Dominos and even Savoy Brown/Chicken Shack. I own all of the early Fleetwood albums and they are brilliant. Who would have though, back then, that within 4/5 years the band would become a Californian soft-rock/AOR band, who released one of the most infamous and biggest selling albums ever.! But that story is for another review....

(NB. This is a review of the 2013 deluxe extended reissue.) In a recent issue of Uncut magazine, they rated all Fleetwood Mac`s albums - a mad idea in itself, since the original band were nothing like the later, blander version. They unaccountably, and all too predictably gave the bafflingly overrated Rumours a full ten out of ten, while Then Play On picked up eight. Had I been rating them, Rumours would have got five or six at most, and TPO would have got nine or ten. To these ears Rumours is to TPO what Michael McIntyre is to Dylan Moran, or Dan Brown to Ian McEwan. Alright, rant over. TPO has been somewhat neglected since its release. It did well back in 1970, but has fallen off the radar, partly perhaps due to early Mac albums not getting a proper CD reissue programme till now. This welcome new edition of a unique record is the bee`s knees. It was the last one Peter Green made before his demons sent him into freefall (thank goodness he`s still with us) and he`s very much to the fore, as is Danny Kirwan, their differing styles of both singing and guitar complementing each other beautifully. The Kirwan-sung tracks are lyrical, melodic and rather innocent - though he was to have his own demons; and he`s still with us too. (Amazingly, against all odds, the Mac are one band who, as far as I can tell, have not lost any members to the Grim Reaper, quite a rare thing in rock.) Green`s songs are both bluesy (the rousing Rattlesnake Shake) and mourfully soulful (the lovely Closing My Eyes). Jeremy Spencer, as the excellent booklet notes tell, us, hardly plays on this one, seeming content to pop into the studio and lay down only one or two licks. The whole set is more like a seamless `suite` of songs, with two instrumentals dedicated to a devoted Mac fan named Madge punctuating them. I bought the original LP and played it a lot. It sounded unlike anything else at the time, and it still has a unique feel to it. What is such a relief is to find how wonderful it still sounds, after so long. Bonus tracks consist of both parts of Oh Well and the darkly ominous, scarifying The Green Manalishi, plus a fine Kirwan instrumental called World In Harmony, all the latter having been recorded at the sessions for TPO. Don`t give me Rumours! This is what mattered then and, to me, matters now. This music has guts, soul, sincerity, and a thoroughly distinctive sound that later manifestations of F Mac could only dream of. One of the finest albums of its illustrious late 60s/early 70s era. Beautiful, unique, essential.

this is the first of the truly great fleetwood mac albums in my opinion. up until this time, they had functioned mainly as a blues band but certainly one of the greatest in the history of british blues music. then after the release and unexpected success of "albatross" at the end of 1968, it was to become a different situation for all concerned. on this, their breakthrough album as far as american sales were concerned, i regard peter green's compositions as being amongst the most original and talented in his song-writing career. classics like "rattlesnake shake," "underway," closing my eyes," "before the beginning" and "oh well" have all stood the test of time and they sound just as fresh as they did back in 1969 when this album was recorded. for his part, danny kirwan has contributed well as the opening song, "coming your way" clearly demonstrates. i love that opening guitar riff that kicks off the whole number, a bluesy sound but with the added ingredient of rock thrown in. that sums up the style of this entire album and the style that fleetwood mac would adapt whilst peter green was still part of the line up. all songs on here have much more of a rockier sound but still maintaining a blues feel at the same time. it seems to me that fans are slightly divided over which part of "oh well" they prefer, the first part or the second one. personally, i love both just as much but the song does consist of two completely different styles of music and also the tempo is vastly changed when the second half of the song begins. i rate "underway" as being one of my all-time favourite fleetwood mac songs as the guitar arrangements and riffs have been woven together marvellously well. it is also quite a touching number. "before the beginning" sounds quite a haunting tune as peter green describes via his lyrics, his inner turmoil about his feelings for this woman in the song and that he wishes to find somewhere so that he can sing his songs. a great number but maybe this possibly coincided with how peter green was beginning to feel in his own life at this point? to me, "before the beginning" has shades of "man of the world." i hope that in the not too distant future, that "then play on" receives the deluxe treatment as it is surely an album that deserves such an honour.

A really Great Album, nice, to be able to play it again. The original Fleetwood Mac at their best.

It's taken 44 years for this original 1969 UK LP version of "Then Play On" to finally appear on CD! This was the swan song album of the original Fleetwood Mac founded by Peter Green in 1967. This final incarnation of this group included Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer & Danny Kirwan (guitar & vocals), John McVie (bass) and Mick Fleetwood (drums). Since the earlier days of CD we have had to be content with the inferior American version of this album. This new remaster of "Then Play On" reflects the multitrack technology of the time. It was not a very dynamic sounding recording in the first place, however this new digital transfer gives us what's on the master tapes with more punch. At last we have the original 54 minute edit of the UK LP running order along with bonus tracks of the last two 45 singles from this group, "Oh Well" (Parts 1 & 2), "The Green Manalishi (with the Two Prong Crown)" and "World in Harmony". The total playing time for this new CD reissue with it's original feel and segues is a generous 69:53. All tracks are stereo except for "Oh Well" (in it's original mono mix). Also included in the booklet are 8 pages of fascinating new liner notes and graphics. "Then Play On", one of the masterpiece British albums of the late 60's, alongside John Mayall's "Bare Wires", demonstrated how the British blues movement had evolved into a polished art form all of it's own. The darkness of "Then Play On" anticipates the murkiness of "Exile on Main St." by the Rolling Stones 3 years hence. We will never know where this Fleetwood Mac might have gone next... This is a desert island disc.

First off, why do Amazon still persist on lumping all the reviews for a particular album together? The older reviews for this album pertain to the original CD release of Then Play On not the new 2013 CD issue. Just makes it more confusing for the casual fan who may be trying to find out about a particular version! Anyway, rant over (almost!). I've been waiting for this album to be properly remastered and reissued for YEARS. I'm a huge fan of the Peter Green era of FM. I have all the Blue Horizon remastered CD's and they sound fantastic - which makes this album all the more frustrating. They've got the running order right, seperated Oh Well into parts 1 and 2 as it should be, added the singles as bonus tracks and supplied a great booklet. (I doubt Mick Fleetwood was interviewed for this album, more likely his quotes about the album have been lifted from elsewhere, but hey-ho). Even the pre-order price of £6.99 was great. But the sound.....come on!? I was hoping to hear Oh Well properly remastered in stereo, but no, its still the mono version. The sound is identical to the CD issue of the old CBS Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits that came out 25 years ago (at least). Here was an opportunity to offer properly remastered, complete sterephonic sound of this album and singles and its been squandered. Ok, I know theres the argument about mono v stereo (Beatles etc) but why not offer both versions as bonus tracks?? As said elsewhere there is hiss all over the place and the high end is clipped badly, especially during Oh Well Part 2 - its sounds like its being played off an old cassette from years ago (and not a Maxell even, one of those cheap ones from Poundstretcher!). I can only imagine they couldn't find the master tapes, that's the only excuse thats close to forgiveable! The main album is a little better mainly because its in stereo but I can't hear too much improvement over the original CD. Its a double edged sword, I'm glad the album has been reissued and I can now complete the studio output of that era of the band. The UK version of the album has been neglected for such a long time and now its available for people to discover. But... on the other hand I feel that someone from Rhino has been on the blogs regarding the The Top Ten Forgotten Albums and someones thought, "we could license that and put it out". Unfortunately, not taking the proper care and attention that a release such as this deserves. After all, the sound is what its about, not the fancy booklet. I've given the album a generous 3 stars. 5 for the music and genius of Peter Green but 1 for the poor sound. It sounds like this CD was put out in 1983, not 2013. Also, have a look at the reviews of the Fleetwood Mac 1969-72 Vinyl box that Rhino have just released which also includes the vinyl version of this album. People are complaining that they've been skimping on the vinyl and they're being put out on 120g not 180g so they're warped. Maybe this cost cutting can also explain why they haven't invested in properly dealing with the sound on the CD. They've probably cut a master with the vinyl box set in mind and used that, rather than mastering one specifically for the audibility of CD. Just a hunch though.

1970年3月に買った日本盤（解説は木崎義二）にはOh Well はもちろん、One Sunny DayとWithout Youも入っていない12曲でした。その後買った輸入盤では、Oh Well が入ったと思ったら、今度は When You SayとMy Dreamが落ちて11曲、CDではこの２曲が復活して13曲と収録曲が安定しませんでしたが、この盤は上記すべてにGreen ManalishiとWorld in Harmonyが入るという大盤振る舞いで、しかも価格も安いということで迷わず買いました。 ギターは３人でやっているように聞こえますが、Jeremy Spencerはピアノで参加した程度ということで、Peter GreenとDanny Kirwan だけでやっているようですが、ギターの掛け合いを十分楽しめることに変わりはありません。とくにRattlesnake Shakeは何度聴いたかわかりません。 良く分からないというか、関心があるのは彼らのアルバムの作り方です。まずレーベルの関係が複雑です。日本では One Sunny DayとWithout Youも”English Rose”の収録曲としてはじめて紹介されたのでBlue Horizon（CBS）時代の曲だと思っていた（だから最初の日本盤に入っていないことに違和感はありませんでした）のが、Repriseからのこのアルバムにも収録されていたり、逆にComing Your Wayの初期ヴァージョンが "The Original Fleetwood Mac"のBox盤に入っていたりで、一体どうなっているんだというのが正直なところです。、また、各曲の録音時期・場所のデータがないので、収録曲が短期間にまとめて録音されたものなのか、雑多な音源をつなぎ合わせたものなのかもはっきりしません。"The Vaudeville Years"が発売されて、Underway やMadge Sessionが、15分以上の音源を編集したものであったことも分かっています。木崎義二は、時間のあるときに録音してストックを作り、そのなかから選んでアルバムを作るのではないかと書いてましたが、同じ曲でも複数のヴァージョンがあるので、そうなのかもしれません。 ただ、ブルースをベースに多彩で奔放な音楽を開花させた本作は、それまでのブルース一辺倒のアルバムよりも変化に富むことは確かで、私は好きです。

Cet album est un rêve éveillé, le genre d'album qui fait souffler d'admiration chaque fois qu'un titre vous surprend et il y en a un bon nombre. Quand je l'écoute en voiture je me surprends à parler tout seul à voix haute du genre: mais comment ont-ils faits ? le premier titre déjà: les guitares très présentes, belles mais utilisées à bon escient dans le but de valoriser la composition..puis les percus qui rentrent en jeu Plus loin "fighting for madge" les duels de guitare...on voudrait les entendre longtemps, longtemps !!! Et ça continue jusqu' à la fin: Rattlesnake shake, searching for madge, oh well incroyable mais avec la partie électrique trop courte,avec en final le magnifique instrumental world in harmony Rendons enfin hommage à cette superbe réédition parfaitement remastérisée et qui propose tous les titres initialement dispatchés selon la version US ou UK

Finally a vinyl pressing that includes the original UK track listing. In my mind this is the greatest Fleetwood Mac album ever and this new version sounds amazingly clear and detailed. Highly recommended

"Then Play On" editado en 1969 por Warner y ahora magníficamente reeditado en vinilo 180 g por el sello Rhino con portada gatefold, es el tercer trabajo de Fleetwood Mac, Grupo cuyas raíces se encuentran en los Bluesbreakers de John Mayall, ya que se formó cuando Peter Green, John McVie y Mick Fleeetwood deciden abandonar a este tras la grabación de "A Hard Road". El disco significó un giro en la discografía de Fleeetwood Mac, con un cierto abandono de las formas del Blues más purista que hasta entonces había caracterizado a la Banda para tomar la senda de un Rock más de la época, seguramente por la inclusión en el mismo de la figura de Danny Kirwan, que además de participar como miembro compone buena parte de los temas. Y así nos encontramos al Grupo formado por Peter Green a la Guitarra, Voz, Armónica, Bajo de 6 cuerdas, Percusión y Violonchelo, Danny Kirwan a la Guitarra y Voz, Mick Fleetwood a la Batería y Percusión, John McVie al Bajo, Jeremy Spencer al Piano en "Oh Well" y Christine Perfect al Piano. Y el disco, probablemente la gran obra del Grupo ( y no por ello la de mayor éxito comercial ) es de gran calidad y valor, encontrando en el mismo dos directrices diferenciadas, ya que por un lado notamos la influencia de Peter Green que sigue la vieja senda del Blues de anteriores trabajos y por otro la evolución hacia otras formas mas acordes con las nuevas tendencias del Movimiento que se estaba gestando en aquellos años, con formas Folk, Pop e incluso cercanas al Rock Progresivo. A destacar igualmente la portada, tomada de un diseño mural del artista Británico Maxwell Armfield, que es una preciosidad digna de este disco. Muy recomendable.

Album che amo come e piu' di tutti gli altri dei Fleetwood Mac. E' una gemma del passato che non ha nulla a che vedere col panorama musicale di oggi. C'e' qualcosa che rende questa musica unica per me, non e' solo il passato che si ripropone riportandomi indietro come se nulla fosse cambiato. Oggi non sono piu' il ragazzo di allora, sono un uomo, forse un vecchio, eppure... che gusto, che piacere, che sensazioni ascoltando ancora questo disco.