Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Title: Bare Trees
Year Of Release: 2017 (1972)
Label: Rhino / Warner Bros. Records
Genre: Pop/Rock, Blues-Rock
Source: HDtracks
Quality: FLAC (tracks) [24Bit/192kHz]
Total Time: 37:17
Total Size: 1,46 Gb (Front Cover)
Release of the album: 1972, March [LP Reprise Records, Cat.# K 44181, UK]
Release of this HDtracks edition: 2017 [Label: Rhino/Warner Bros. Records]
Note: Digitally Remastered
(p) 1972 Reprise Records. Marketed by Rhino Entertainment Company, a Warner Music Group Company.
(c) 1972 Reprise Records.
Credits:
Engineer – Martin Birch
Engineer [Remix] – Bob Hughes
Originally Mastered By – Bobil (tracks: 1 to 4), Rasputin (tracks: 5 to 10)
Photography By [Cover Photo] – John McVie
Producer – Fleetwood Mac
Tracklist:
01. Child Of Mine (05:29)
02. The Ghost (04:02)
03. Homeward Bound (03:23)
04. Sunny Side Of Heaven (03:11)
05. Bare Trees (05:06)
06. Sentimental Lady (04:36)
07. Danny's Chant (03:20)
08. Spare Me A Little Of Your Love (03:47)
09. Dust (02:40)
10. Thoughts On A Grey Day (01:43)
[hr]
"Bare Trees" is the sixth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in March 1972. This is their last album to feature Danny Kirwan, who was fired during the album's supporting tour. In the wake of the band's success in the mid-1970s, Bare Trees peaked at #70 and achieved Gold status in 1976 and certified platinum in 1988 for selling over a million copies. The album features the original version of "Sentimental Lady", which was later re-recorded by its composer Bob Welch (with Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham backing him) for his solo album French Kiss. "Spare Me a Little of Your Love" became a staple of the band's live act from 1972–1977. The latter track was also covered by Johnny Rivers on his studio album New Lovers and Old Friends in 1975, the same year that Fleetwood Mac broke through in the United States with their self-titled album. Five of the ten tracks were penned by Kirwan. His "Sunny Side of Heaven" was an instrumental, which, at the time, was mixed in with some radio station sign-offs. "Danny's Chant" features the use of wah-wah guitars, while the lyrics for Kirwan's composition "Dust" were taken from a poem by Rupert Brooke. "Trinity", another Kirwan song, was an outtake from the album that was subsequently released in 1992 on the 25 Years – The Chain box set. Fleetwood was particularly impressed with Kirwan's contributions to the album. "It's a well-rounded album. Like Lindsey, Danny had the chops with layering techniques, and the ability to know what's right and wrong in the studio." The final track on the album, "Thoughts on a Grey Day", is a poem read by an elderly woman, Mrs Scarrott, who lived near the band's communal home in southern England.
~Wikipedia~
Arguably the first consistently strong album Fleetwood Mac ever recorded - all the way back into the Peter Green/Jeremy Spencer era, the Mac's albums had previously consisted of individual moments of brilliance in a sea of uninspired filler - 1972's Bare Trees is also the album where the band finally defines its post-blues musical personality. Low-key but less narcoleptically mellow than 1971's sleepy Future Games, Bare Trees is a singer/songwriter album in the traditional early-'70s style, backed up with just enough musical muscle to keep from sounding like weedy soft rock in the manner of Bread or Cat Stevens. This is the one Fleetwood Mac album on which singer/guitarist Danny Kirwan is the dominant figure, writing five songs to Christine McVie and Bob Welch's two apiece. Impressively, all three writers get off a small masterpiece on side two; McVie's "Spare Me a Little of Your Love" sounds like a dry run for the string of hits she would start writing with 1975's Fleetwood Mac, and it's her first really good pop song. By comparison, Kirwan and Welch's best songs are all-time career highlights. Kirwan's "Dust" combines a gentle, gliding melody with resigned, melancholy lyrics and his most memorable chorus. Welch's "Sentimental Lady" was, of course, his first solo hit in its 1977 re-recorded version, but this original take is far superior, and one of the great lost pop songs of the early '70s. Outfitted with a terrific vocal melody, hooks galore, and an impressive tremolo guitar solo, "Sentimental Lady" is perhaps a little trite lyrically, but it's a heartfelt and lovable tune regardless, and the best thing Fleetwood Mac did in the years between "Albatross" and "Over My Head." The rest of the album is less magical, but the instrumental "Sunny Side of Heaven" and the downright funky "Danny's Chant" are impressive in their use of atmospheric arrangements and so point toward the subtle but effective production choices that would make Fleetwood Mac and Rumours among the most listenable albums of their time. Bare Trees isn't in that league, but it shows that after five years of false starts and failed experiments, Fleetwood Mac were finally on their way.
~Review by Stewart Mason~
