Then Play On Extended Edition - Deluxe Vinyl LP & Digital Download - Perfect for Music Collectors & Audiophiles

FLEETWOOD MAC-THEN PLAY ON (DELUXE EDITION)

For anyone previously unfamiliar with this album, it is long overdue for you to become acquainted with its musical mastery. it is the 3rd and last album Peter Green appeared on, of the band he formed and named after his rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, post their participation in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Green's vision and participation is great, but for me it is the addition of young guitar prodigy Danny Kirwan that really makes the lineup incredible. The mostly absent contributions of guitarist Jeremy Spencer are not much missed as his work led Fleetwood Mac in quite a different direction than the enticing intriguery presented here."Coming Your Way" composed by Kirwan gallops open the album, sonically illustrating the gorgeous cover art of Maxwell Armfeld--a delicately-chiselled, wildly naked youth, with airblown flame-red hair, escapes on a dappled grey pony prancing forward through a blazing autumn forest of change, while glancing back over his shoulder on past pursuits (or pursuers; the blues follows behind and who knows what lies ahead). 

There are so many obvious references into the mix that make this album so unique. It is not just a rock homage to the blues. It's quite apparent that Green and Kirwan lovingly admired and embraced the work of Santo & Johnny, the creators of the classic melancholy note-bending slide guitar instrumental "Sleepwalk" that was a big hit in 1959. Also, the surf rock theme of the 1966 movie "The Endless Summer". There are echoes of the spaghetti western music of Ennio Morricone; the boogie of John Lee Hooker emulated by similar Brit. bands of the era like Ten Years After and Savoy Brown; the mournful vocal style of Skip James; the classical Spanish guitar of Andres Segovia; strains of Japanese koto; bayou taboo and even snakeoil tent revival shows. All in a mixture of melancholy ballads, voodoo, tribal rhythms, blues rock, psychedelia, equine and train rhythms, jungle drums, minor key magic and mystery. The anthemic quality of the hit single "Oh Well" seems to foreshadow the coming of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". So, this album is both influenced and influential, and unlike any other Fleetwood Mac before or since. Both the voices and guitars of Green and Kirwan master the art of harmonic pairing and gorgeous sense of melody as well as the balance of masculine and feminine.I must have had about 5 versions of this album, as it's my favorite rock album of all time, despite its being mucked about by various labels and pressings. The latest version is a re-ordering of its original UK vinyl release, plus bonus tracks. I'm not particularly an audiophile, and there have been many complaints that the previously issued version was poorly mastered. I have avidly listened and adapted each and every time to the sound quality and reordering of tracks including missing tracks, different sequencing, adding of tracks and bonus cuts. This time is no different. I will learn to love it in its new version all over again. No matter how it's diced or tossed, it's a grouping of songs that's so utterly amazing that it's pretty hard to ruin. 

I haven't listened to the previous version and this newly remastered version side by side, but while finding this pleasing to the ear, I find nothing in the new remastering that is such a revelation as to knock me on my ass.

One minor complaint I had is the disturbing break-in to the closing of the track "Underway" with the abrupt opening bars of "One Sunny Day". It just sounded so unexpectedly intrusive to my ear and I would rather have enjoyed a few seconds fadeout of the first before embracing the second. But, then I read various notes indicating that the original UK version was released this way and the abrupt shift was intentional (an element I didn't recall being that way about five variations and forty years ago). After several listenings, I am already getting used to it. 

As to the bonus tracks added onto the end, I think we've all come to expect that "Oh Well, Pts. 1 and 2" definitely need to be present in the lineup whatever that lineup is, and in this, we aren't disappointed. However, the addition of "The Green Manalishi" and "World in Harmony", while a joy to some, would not be my particular choice. I find much of this album more in keeping with the sounds of haunting tracks like "Black Magic Woman" and "Albatross", and as such, those are the tracks I'd have added as a bonus, though they would have rankled many, having appeared on earlier albums. I do think their sound is more in keeping with the recording sessions that bore this album than the bonus tracks ultimately chosen. But, one never knows. there may yet be future variations of this amazing classic to resurface.I urge anyone who does not own a copy of this album, to either download it, or run right out and purchase one. I don't think I can recommend any rock album higher.