94: Fleetwood Mac – English Rose

: Cover of English Rose

There was a Fleetwood Mac before Lindsey Buckingham. This Fleetwood Mac I write about began in the 1960s and played the blues in London better than most Americans could at the time. My favorite Fleetwod Mac album is not Rumors. It's actually English Rose (1969). I had the LP before I heard Bare Trees and later Rumors. My young ears couldn't process that it was the same band.

The School of Rock lesson for today is about blues roots in rock and the blues/rock petri dish that was late '60s London. Jimi Hendrix didn't move there because he thought it was pretty. The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Led Zepplin are among the many artists finding their British blues legs during this time. Fleetwod Mac's blues are considered by many music historians to be some of the best of the British blues. I can't disagree with that at all.

Every single song on English Rose is outstanding because it is a compilation of the band's favorite songs prior to 1969. Among them are "Albatross", "I've Lost My Baby", and the timeless "Black Magic Woman" you may only associate with Carlos Santana, but was written by Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac.

For me personally, I remember playing "Jigsaw Puzzle Blues" while my aunt and I put together jigsaw puzzles (English Rose was actually her album). Hey, it was the times.