Customer Reviews

Pious Bird Of Good Omen (Sony)

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This is a compilation album but doesn't play like one. These songs sound great together. The blues numbers as always with early Mac are tremendous adding stinging guitar to great standards like Need Your Love So Bad. On two of the blues numbers Eddie Boyd's booming blues voice is put to good use plus on this twelve track CD you get Albatross and Black Magic Woman. They are tracks 7 and 8 on a record dominated by Greens guitar and just show what a variety of uses to which it could be put. Albatross is of course a beautiful guitar instrumental and Black magic Woman(soon to be made famous by Santana)is irresistable with Fleetwoods big Indian Chief drum beats accenting the dark magic of the blues rock mix. This is a favorite CD in my blues collection. It sits next to my Bluesbreakers and Butterfield CD's but it displays an energy(that slide guitar sound) all its own. This band was just getting ready to break into the wilder rock terrain which was to lead to their later blues-rock masterpiece Then Play On but this disc channels that energy into the blues. The only reason these guys aren't better known is that name. The later Mac line-up and their accomplishments overshadowed this branch of the tree. And that name just confuses people. Stevie Nicks playing the blues? Once you've become aquainted with Peter Green you will want to hear his newer Robert Johnson CD's as well,Songbook and Hot Foot Powder. But this is the best CD to start with. And you can hear this stuff played live on Shine 69 if you want to know what they could do with this material in the open air.

"Pious Bird" is a sampler of sorts of very early Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac (i.e. prior to the Green/Mac classic "Then Play On"). It does include the original "Black Magic Woman," along with some foreshadowing of Peter Green's greatness on "Looking for Somebody" and "Albatross." Otherwise, it's fairly unexceptional, competent 60's British blues - very similar to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, but with a bit more emphasis on guitars.

All in all, good British blues, but not essential.

This is THE album for (original Peter Greene) Fleetwood Mac lovers. I can't believe no one has reviewed it before now. "Albatross", "Need your love so bad" and "Black Magic Woman" (Fleetwood Mac, not Santana style) are pure bliss, and the rest of the tracks are quite simply incredible unadulterated blues tracks which are a must for any blues fan. ENJOY.

This is definitely one of my fav Fleetwood Mac stadio albums. If ya are a FM after Peter left the band such as Rumor etc, you might not like this bluesy album. However, if ya are a blues fan and/or Peter Green fans, this is a HUGE must!