This is a compilation album but doesn't play like one. These songs sound great together. The blues numbers as always with early Mac are tremendous adding stinging guitar to great standards like Need Your Love So Bad. On two of the blues numbers Eddie Boyd's booming blues voice is put to good use plus on this twelve track CD you get Albatross and Black Magic Woman. They are tracks 7 and 8 on a record dominated by Greens guitar and just show what a variety of uses to which it could be put. Albatross is of course a beautiful guitar instrumental and Black magic Woman(soon to be made famous by Santana)is irresistable with Fleetwoods big Indian Chief drum beats accenting the dark magic of the blues rock mix. This is a favorite CD in my blues collection. It sits next to my Bluesbreakers and Butterfield CD's but it displays an energy(that slide guitar sound) all its own. This band was just getting ready to break into the wilder rock terrain which was to lead to their later blues-rock masterpiece Then Play On but this disc channels that energy into the blues. The only reason these guys aren't better known is that name. The later Mac line-up and their accomplishments overshadowed this branch of the tree. And that name just confuses people. Stevie Nicks playing the blues? Once you've become aquainted with Peter Green you will want to hear his newer Robert Johnson CD's as well,Songbook and Hot Foot Powder. But this is the best CD to start with. And you can hear this stuff played live on Shine 69 if you want to know what they could do with this material in the open air.

This is a good compilation for showing off fleetwood mac in their blues days and before you go i dont really like blues music think you should consider listening to it even if only on the internet if you love rock music its only a matter of time before you take some interest in blues and this is many a rock fans favorite blues band for a good reason. This is white boy blues at its best and worth a listen for any rock n roll fan and blues fan.

PS If your a fleetwood mac fan that likes stevie nicks era and your interested in how the band transformed into the pop rock band they became The best of Peter Green's fleetwood mac covers more material but misses favorites from the blues era and the cd is very inconsistent in sounds so its not as solid of a listen as pious bird of good omen (the version without out several different versions of need your love so bad)but has several single only releases some of which are favorites among fans of this era. I would reccomend both cds for bigger fans (who dont want studio albums) for the rest chose which one suits you better and discover one of the best bands of 60's if you havent already.

This is THE album for (original Peter Greene) Fleetwood Mac lovers. I can't believe no one has reviewed it before now. "Albatross", "Need your love so bad" and "Black Magic Woman" (Fleetwood Mac, not Santana style) are pure bliss, and the rest of the tracks are quite simply incredible unadulterated blues tracks which are a must for any blues fan. ENJOY.