Hi everyone!. Welcome to a New Year full of exciting new musical stories. This time with a not very well known double disc by Fleetwood Mac publised in November 1978. A strange compilation made of different sources as demos, live and alternate or early versions. Unknown or unpublished songs. Ok!,
Let's get ready then to discover some or remind others, that it was this album called "Almanac", now fully restored.
Between February 4, 1977, date of publication of the successful “Rumors” and October 12, 1979 when “Tusk” appeared, a double album emerged, supposedly made by the group's English fan club and which was distributed in a limited way only in the UK and with hardly any publicity. But it was a bootleg recording.
The original project had been conceived some time ago, when Fleetwood Mac announced the dates of the European tour of “Rumors”, for the first days of April 1977, something that had not happened since 1973, due to the little impact that their albums had in the "Old Continent". This was to begin in the United Kingdom on April 2, 1977 at the Birmingham Odeon, a total of seven concerts by differents cities that would conclude on the 11 in Bristol at the Colson Hall, before continuing the tour in France.
By then, the English fan club suggested the idea of publishing a special album to be distributed only in the United Kingdom in support of the tour of that country, whose content included songs recorded between 1974 and 1975 with some alternative versions and others live plus a previously unreleased track from Buckimham and Nicks early sessions with Fleetwood Mac members, John McVie on bass and Mike Fleetwood on drums.
Two alternatives were proposed that it was an EP or finallyhow it seemed that it was going to be an LP.
The Unreleased English Promotional EP:
Side A: Rhiannon (live)
Side B: I´m so afraid (live) / Without you (outatke).
The Unreleased English Promotional LP:
Side A: Spare me a Little (live) / Rhiannon (live) / I´m so afraid (live)
Side B: Storms / Sorcerer / Watch Devil / Without you
Finally the lp was not released and was forgotten. Time after how the “Tusk” sessions were taking longer than necessary and there was no new material after the release of the single “You make lovin 'fun / Gold dust woman” at the end of the summer of 77.
This rejected project with another unreleased material taken from the second Buckimham / Nicks album plus some Stevie Nicks demos recorded for Fleetwood Mac were compiled for a new album.
In March 1978 a promotional single "Rhiannon / Suggar Daddy" was released, but the album was postponed once again. Towards the end of the year, the album was restructured again along the lines of "Rarities" by the Beatles.It was the last attempt with the title of "Almanac", bit.ly/FM78al despite the improvements that were made, it ended up being archived because almost the entire unreleased Buckimham and Nicks album was included and the band didn't like it.They just wanted a couple of tracks to be taken where at least McVie and Fleetwood were featured, and compared to "Rumors" it was not of sufficient quality. That did not prevent copies of it from being distributed unofficially in Europe with this line-up:
Side One: (15:42)
1. Watch Devil (A.k.a:Watch Chain) (4:05) / 2.Spare Me A Little (live) (4:39) / 3.Secret Love (3:17) / 4.Without You (3:39)
Side Two: (17:44)
1.Storms (5:41) / 2.Landslide (3:17) / 3.Sarah (8:46)
Side Three: (18:57)
1. Nomad (A.k.a: Candlebright) (2:08) / 2.I'm So Afraid (4:22) / 3.Designs Of Love (A.k.a: That´s all right) (2:55) / 4.You Could Forget (A.k.a: Garbo) (3:11) / 5.Silver Springs (6:19)
Side Four: (17:02)
1.Sorcerer (4:30) / 2.Goldfish and Ladybug (3:03) / 3.Rhiannon (live) (7:51) / 4.Cathouse Blues (1:36)
In 1993 this lost double LP was released on bootleg CD with the name; "Cathouse Blue" with some changes and different artwork.
"Watch Devil" - A.k.a: "Watch Chain". A demo from Buckingham/Nicks unreleased 2nd album like a: "Without you", "Nomad", "Designs of love","You could forget" A.k.a: "Garbo", "Sorcerer","Goldfish and Ladybug" and "Cathouse blues". Which the duo has been working on just prior to joining Fleetwood Mac un 1974. Some recorded with John McVie on bass and Mike Fleetwood on drums.
"Spare Me a Little" & "Rhiannon" - Live at Jorgensen Auditorium, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, October 25.1975.
"Secet love" & "Storms" - Stevie Nicks wrote these songs in 1976 for "Rumors" and recorded these demos, but didn´t make the cut for the album. Written during her stormy relationship with the drummer Mick Fleetwood.
"Landslide", "Sarah",·I´m so afraid" and "Silver Springs" are early or alternate versions.
Ok folks, that´s all!. See you soon with more and better.