Fleetwood Mac - "Blue Letter"
Friday, October 24, 2008
It's one of my darker secrets, that I only really joined the Mac party around 1997 when The Dance came out and all of a sudden they were everywhere. It wasn't like "Silver Springs" was the song that pushed me over the edge, but that MTV special was the first time I'd ever really taken in their music in any visual way, and in a longer form than hearing "Go Your Own Way" or "Rhiannon" on the radio. Even in the horribly canned confines of a Burbank soundstage with approximately 300 auxiliary musicians onstage, there was definitely a unique chemistry there that made me an instant convert.Oddly though, as I proceeded to dig through the good, bad, and brilliantly demented parts of the band's catalog, I've continually overlooked the band's first (self-titled) album with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, which essentially is their second-most revered LP after Rumours. Maybe because two of my favorite tracks on the album, "Monday Morning" and "I'm So Afraid" were released on later live albums in far superior versions (as was "Landslide"), and along with the overplaying of "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me" by radio, I just never felt the need to listen to it.
As such, I ended up entirely forgetting about one of the band's best little oddities, a Buckingham-led cover of The Curtis Brothers' "Blue Letter." The liner notes of the 2004 reissue simply state the song is "a brisk country-rocker penned by Rick and Mike Curtis-aka The Curtis Brothers-who were making demos at Sound City that Fleetwood overheard." I'd be quite curious to hear Buckingham himself reveal how the song made the LP over one of his own compositions, but even more remarkable is how well the song fits into the contemporary Mac repertoire, seemingly aping Buckingham's simplistic lyrical structure and rhythmic tendencies before he'd even formed his own style within Fleetwood Mac.
The song was briefly issued as the b-side of Christine's "Warm Ways," which was quickly overshadowed by "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me" leaving the single largely forgotten by both radio and the band itself. The energy of "Blue Letter" kept it in the live setlist through the 1982 Mirage tour, even being used as a main set closer through the Rumours tour. however it has laid dormant ever since, being relenquished soley to the minds of diehards and curiosity seekers. Even on this cover version on his first LP with the band, you can hear the sound he would bring to the band and quickly use to dominate the proceedings in the studio with great success on subsequent albums.
Here is the 'single version' of the song, a long-forgotten, slightly 'rockier' mix released as a bonus track on the 2004 reissue. Enjoy.
Download: Fleetwood Mac - "Blue Letter (single version)"
"Blue Letter" live in Largo, MD, 1975.
Labels: 1970's, Classic Rock, Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks
posted by Steve @ 4:59 PM,
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The Author
Steve C.
Steve is a graduate of the music department at Columbia College Chicago and just moved to Nashville. Why? Why not. He likes the crackle and hum of vinyl, long walks on the beach, and bacon. Especially bacon.
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This blog is written by a fan who has spent way too much money on music over the years, simply as an outlet to rant and share what he loves to hopefully lessen the amount of rambling done in person to his friends. Also, in case anything as horrible as Avril Lavigne singing "The Scientist" ever again graces the internet, I need a suitable place to post about it. The end.
