Mr. Wonderful (Fleetwood Mac album)
| Mr. Wonderful | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| 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 |   [2] |
Mr. Wonderful is the second studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 23 August 1968. In the US, the album was not released, though around half of the tracks appeared on English Rose. An expanded version of Mr. Wonderful was included in the box set The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions.
Background
[edit]The 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. Mike Vernon, who served as the producer on the album, placed baffles and wooden partitions between the instruments to avoid audio spill.[4] Spencer granted the horn section leeway when determining what to play on his compositions, telling them to "just blow".[5] The album took a total of four days to record.[6] "Trying So Hard to Forget", the album's final song, was a duet between Green on guitar and Duster Bennett on harmonica.[5]
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 travelled 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.[6]
Reception
[edit]Compared to the huge success of the band's first album, Fleetwood Mac, the 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."[7]
Track listing
[edit]| 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
[edit]Fleetwood Mac
- Peter Green – vocals, guitar
- 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
[edit]| Chart (1968) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[8] | 6 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[9] | 8 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[10] | 10 |
References
[edit]- ^ "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.
- ^ Vernon, Mike (1999). The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967–1969 (Boxed set booklet). Fleetwood Mac. New York City: Sire Records. p. 7. 73003-2.
- ^ a b Carr, Roy; Clarke, Steve (1978). Fleetwood Mac: Rumours n' Fax. Harmony Books. pp. 34–35. ISBN 0-517-53364-2.
- ^ 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.
