1 great song,2 good ones..lots of filler

The liner notes tell some of the tale, detailing 4 new members since the band's beginning only 4 years earlier (Peter Green left in 1969, Jeremy Spencer in 1970, Christine McVie and Bob Welch are the new bandmates here), and a search for a new direction musically.



The band's push toward a softer rock begins here, most of the tracks being moody and languid. Making the pacing this way means the album lives or dies on the strength of the lyrics and in this case, there are about 3 too many Danny Kirwan songs sinking the proceedings. "Woman of 1000 Years" and "Sometimes" are dreadful. With a better lyric, "Sands of Time" would be outstanding, but the meandering pretentious lyric renders the song mediocre. "What a Shame" is another uninteresting instrumental.



The best tunes here are Bob Welch's Biblical potboiler "Lay it All Down" which shows the strongest hook appeal of any of the songs, the wistful title track which is the only song here to wax philosophical and benefit from it, and Christine's "Show me A Smile".



This is definitely one to only pick up used and only if you're a diehard FM fan. The band has some good pre-Buckingham/Nicks material but this isn't the place to find it.



2 1/2 stars

Thank you Danny

No one knew what to expect in 1971 from the new lineup

of fleetwood mac. Peter Green was gone as was jeremy spencer.

The mood on this album is much softer then the previous

albums, but most of the songs are excellent. Christine Mcvie's

show me a smile is a beautiful song. Bob Welch's future games

blends jazz and rock very well. Danny Kirwan's woman of 1000

years and sands of time are classics. 2 of the best songs fm

ever recorded. This album is very good. BUY IT.

The best

Future Games and Bare Trees are among the best of any of the Fleetwood Mac albums and two of my favorite all time albums. Danny Kirwan adds the magic that these albums are filled with.