Mystery To Me Arkansas

Mystery To Me

Fleetwood Mac

Reprise Records, 1973

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/06/1999

One could be forgiven for making the incorrect assumption thatFleetwood Mac was formed in 1975. After all, that's when the fruitsof almost a decade's worth of work finally began to come tofruition, and the band was launched into superstar status.

But there are some of you, like Ian Macintyre of Canada, who areaware that Fleetwood Mac existed long before their 1975 self-titledalbum. In his entry to one of our contests, Ian suggested we checkout their 1973 release Mystery To Me; in his e-mail, Ian wrote, "This gem from theBob Welch era is just a masterpiece."

First, a caveat. It's been a long time since I listened to theearly works of Fleetwood Mac, so I'm not in any position to comparethis album to, say, Penguin or Heroes Are Hard To Find, much less Then Play On. In fact, prior to Ian's suggestion, Then Play On was scheduled to be reviewed next, simply so Icould give myself a re-education in this band.

Having said all this, I'm not sure I'd use the term"masterpiece" to describe this outing - but it's not terribly farfrom the mark. Featuring some songs that I know I've heard at somepoint in my life, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and company mark theirprogress toward pop music superstardom - and their move away fromthe blues scene that first launched this band - with some solidefforts that beg for your attention.