Search - Fleetwood Mac :: Bare Trees

Once again...

Mike | Philadelphia, PA, USA | 02/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just like "Future Games", why didn't this album break Fleetwood Mac into the mainstream? The music is absolutely breathtaking. True, it may sound more commercial than the early blues material that made the band in the first place, but the fact that this album never got so big definitely helps the music's credibility.



Danny Kirwan asserts himself more than ever by contributing, a staggering 5 (count 'em) 5 songs! out of the 9 on this album. He balances his songwriting between amicable pop (the title track), bluesy rock ("Child Of Mine", "Danny's Chant"), and folk-ish balladry and instrumentation ("Sunny Side Of Heaven", "Dust").



Christine McVie and Bob Welch with two songs each, equal in depth to Kirwan's 5. McVie's "Homeward Bound", while not anything like the more famous Simon & Garfunkel tune, definitely invokes similar imagery, albeit more desperate in the author's want and need to just get home and relax.



Welch's "The Ghost" just rolls along at a whirlwind pace, brought on by John McVie and Bob Welch dueling for dominance in the intro, which gives way to a haunting combination of slide guitar and a Mellotron Flute drenched in reverb courtesy of Christine McVie.



The almost obligatory love songs actually offer a bit of variety on this album. McVie's "Spare Me A Little Of Your Love" holds it own against her stream of late 70's/early 80's hits, while Welch's "Sentimental Lady" (which, I must say, the version on here bests Welch's late 70's reinterpretation megahit by leaps and bounds) shows how important it really to hold on those lost moments with the one you love.



Overall, just a really good and underrated collection of songs (along with the predecessor "Future Games") that should have broken a talented bunch of musicians and songwriters into mainstream success, but instead sort of drifted into semi-obscurity underneath the late 70's and early 80's Buckingham/Nicks-era (which I have nothing against, but I prefer this era of the Mac better)."

A classic in every sense of the word

Peter Hansen | New York City | 10/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard to believe that a record could be this good. After 25 years, it's still one of my favorite albums. "Little Child of Mine" is a wonderful rocker, "Bare Trees" evokes powerful images of winter better than any other song I've heard. "Homeward Bound" is so heartfelt that you just want to give Christine McVie a big hug. Laced throughout with Kirwan's wonderful guitar, John McVie's superb bass, Christine McVie's great piano, Fleetwood's solid beat and fine singing by Kirwan, C. McVie and Bob Welch, you have perhaps the best British rock record of the 70's. Combined with "Future Games", this is one of those ten CDs for the proverbial desert island. It's the perfect antidote to an overdose of Stevie Nicks on the FM radio..."

The PERFECT road album!

Peter Hansen | 05/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The story goes, at least in one version, that Danny Kirwan completely went insane following this record. What a tragedy! I mourn when I remember the golden and shimmering beauty of "Sunny Side of Heaven." When I sing along with the before-its-time hard rock "Danny's Chant." Or when I listen to Christine McVie's "Homeward Bound," her best song ever, and see how her keyboards work inspired his guitar solo. They, and drummer Mick Fleetwood, pushed each other to heights for that song. "Dust," though, showed Kirwan's time wasn't long, with it's dark look at death. This record, by the way, features hot guitar licks on all the songs, and the original (and only good) version of the Bob Welch song "Sentimental Lady." If you are driving down an interstate, particularly in the winter, then this album will resonate with you. It will affect your mood profoundly. It will make you wish this had not been the swan song for Danny Kirwan."