Mr. Wonderful (Fleetwood Mac album)
Mr. Wonderful | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Studio album by Fleetwood Mac | ||||
Released | 23 August 1968 | |||
Recorded | April 1968 | |||
Studio | CBS, London | |||
Genre | Blues rock[1] | |||
Length | 41:30 | |||
Label | Blue Horizon | |||
Producer | Mike Vernon | |||
Fleetwood Mac chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Mr. Wonderful is the second studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 23 August 1968. This all-blues album was broadly similar to their debut album, albeit with some changes to personnel and recording method. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board.[3] A horn section was introduced and Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie) of Chicken Shack was featured on keyboards. The album took a total of four days to record.[4] In the US, the album was not issued under the name Mr. Wonderful, though around half of the tracks appeared on English Rose.
The band originally wanted the album to be titled A Good Length, which would have featured an "obvious phallic symbol" on the album's front cover according to Fleetwood, although this idea was rejected. Udder Sucker was the next proposed title, and Fleetwood even traveled to his godmother's farm to take a photo underneath a cow for the cover art, but the record label also turned this idea down. Fleetwood instead posed naked on the cover of Mr. Wonderful.[4]
An expanded version of Mr. Wonderful was included in the box set The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions. The song "Lazy Poker Blues" was covered by Status Quo on their 1970 album Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon.
Reception
Compared to the huge success of the band's first album, Fleetwood Mac, this follow-up received rather muted critical reviews: AllMusic described it as "a disappointment". Four of the songs, "Dust My Broom", "Doctor Brown", "Need Your Love Tonight" and "Coming Home", all begin with an identical Elmore James riff. "Evenin' Boogie" was the first instrumental released by Fleetwood Mac.
Sputnik Music describes the style as "vocally conservative, sticking to gruff mannerisms, and it often sounds like Green is drunkedly wandering through the music. The production adds further insult to injury, as it muffles his voice rather than amplifying it and makes the instruments sound murky."[5]
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Stop Messin' Round" | Peter Green, C.G. Adams | 2:22 |
2. | "I've Lost My Baby" | Jeremy Spencer | 4:18 |
3. | "Rollin' Man" | Green, Adams | 2:54 |
4. | "Dust My Broom" | Elmore James, Robert Johnson | 2:54 |
5. | "Love That Burns" | Green, Adams | 5:04 |
6. | "Doctor Brown" | J. T. Brown, W. Glasco | 3:48 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
7. | "Need Your Love Tonight" | Spencer | 3:29 |
8. | "If You Be My Baby" | Green, Adams | 3:54 |
9. | "Evenin' Boogie" | Spencer | 2:42 |
10. | "Lazy Poker Blues" | Green, Adams | 2:37 |
11. | "Coming Home" | James | 2:41 |
12. | "Trying So Hard to Forget" | Green, Adams | 4:47 |
Personnel
Fleetwood Mac
- Peter Green – vocals, guitar, harmonica
- Jeremy Spencer – vocals, slide guitar
- John McVie – bass guitar
- Mick Fleetwood – drums
Additional personnel
- Christine Perfect – keyboards, piano
- Duster Bennett – harmonica
- Steve Gregory – alto saxophone
- Dave Howard – alto saxophone
- Johnny Almond – tenor saxophone
- Roland Vaughan – tenor saxophone
Production
- Producer: Mike Vernon
- Engineer: Mike Ross
- Coordination: Richard Vernon
- Cover design: Terence Ibbott
- Photography: Terence Ibbott
Charts
Chart (1968) | Peak position |
---|---|
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[6] | 6 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[7] | 8 |
UK Albums (OCC)[8] | 10 |
References
- ^ "The Top 30 British Blues Rock Albums Of All Time". Classic Rock. Future plc. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- ^ Mr. Wonderful at AllMusic
- ^ Mick Fleetwood (30 October 2014). Play On: Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac. Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 76–. ISBN 978-1-4447-5326-4.
- ^ a b Fleetwood, Mick; Davis, Stephen (1990). Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures with Fleetwood Mac. New York: William Morrow and Company. pp. 60–62. ISBN 0-688-06647-X.
- ^ "Fleetwood Mac - Mr. Wonderful (album review 2)". Sputnikmusic.com. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Fleetwood Mac – Mr. Wonderful". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- v
- t
- e
- Peter Green
- Jeremy Spencer
- Bob Brunning
- Danny Kirwan
- Bob Welch
- Bob Weston
- Dave Walker
- Billy Burnette
- Rick Vito
- Bekka Bramlett
- Dave Mason
- Mike Campbell
- Neil Finn
- Fleetwood Mac
- Mr. Wonderful
- Then Play On
- Kiln House
- Future Games
- Bare Trees
- Penguin
- Mystery to Me
- Heroes Are Hard to Find
- Fleetwood Mac
- Rumours
- Tusk
- Mirage
- Tango in the Night
- Behind the Mask
- Time
- Say You Will
- Live
- Live in Boston
- Live at the BBC
- The Dance
- Shrine '69
- Live in Boston
- Rumours Live
- English Rose
- The Pious Bird of Good Omen
- Fleetwood Mac in Chicago
- Black Magic Woman
- The Original Fleetwood Mac
- Greatest Hits
- Vintage Years
- Greatest Hits
- 25 Years – The Chain
- Madison Blues
- The Vaudeville Years
- The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967–1969
- Show-Biz Blues
- The Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
- The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac
- The Essential Fleetwood Mac
- 50 Years – Don't Stop
- Extended Play
1960s |
|
---|---|
1970s |
|
1980s |
|
1990s |
|
2000s |
|
2010s |
- "Stop Messin' Round"
- "Dust My Broom"
- "Madison Blues"
- "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonite"
- "Mission Bell"
- "(I'm a) Road Runner"
- "Hypnotized"
- "Monday Morning"
- "Blue Letter"
- "Crystal"
- "World Turning"
- "I'm So Afraid"
- "Second Hand News"
- "Never Going Back Again"
- "Songbird"
- "I Don't Want to Know"
- "Oh Daddy"
- "Gold Dust Woman"
- "Over & Over"
- "The Ledge"
- "What Makes You Think You're the One"
- "Storms"
- "That's All for Everyone"
- "That's Enough for Me"
- "Brown Eyes"
- "Never Make Me Cry"
- "I Know I'm Not Wrong"
- "Beautiful Child"
- "Walk a Thin Line"
- "Only Over You"
- "Tango in the Night"
- "No Questions Asked"
- "Tallahassee Lassie"
- "Murrow Turning Over in His Grave"
- Discography
- Band members
- Buckingham Nicks
- Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie
- Tramp
- Stretch
- Bekka & Billy
- The Biggest Thing Since Colossus
- Blues for Greeny
- Tusk (Camper Van Beethoven album)
- Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
- "Rumours" (Glee episode)
- John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
- Clifford Davis
- Brett Tuggle
Category