Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Almost the best album of FM's Middle Years..., January 23, 2004
First off, this is where Welch really shines on this album.His Emerald Eyes and Hypmotized are his strongest efforts from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac - save for Future Games and Sentimental Lady. Christine McVie adds some of her unmistakeable pop charm with Believe Me, Just Crazy Love, The Way I Feel, and Why. But this is Welch's spotlight album. He rocks out on some tracks as well such as City, Miles Away and Somebody. The band also does a cover of For Your Love, a song made famous by The Yardbirds. Bottom Line: The album is the peak of the band's middle years and the peak of Welch's input with the band. Classic stuff on here folks!
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47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The journey towards pop continued, but this is no RUMOURS, March 13, 2002
The exact point at which Fleetwood Mac went from blues-rock towards sunny California-style pop is hard to pinpoint. But you could say that when Jeremy Spencer disappeared from the band to join a religious cult, not to mention leader Peter Green retiring into a drug-induced seclusion, Fleetwood Mac needed to carry on, even if that meant changing their musical approach. In the early 1970s, Fleetwood went through personnel changes galore, with Mick Fleetwood & John McVie the only constants from the original lineup. Christine McVie had officially become a permanent part of the group, but she was still a newcomer basically.
An American by the name of Robert Welch was the unofficial leader by the time of 1973's MYSTERY TO ME, which even with its sound even further removed from the Mac's blues-rock beginnings, it still failed to turn a profit. In fact, a standing joke around Warner Brothers was that Fleetwood Mac's albums made enough money to pay their electric bills. While in a few short years Mac would soon be able to do more for Warners than that, with MYSTERY TO ME they were still journeymen at best.
Welch, who would go on to solo success with hits like "Sentimental Lady" & "Ebony Eyes", dominates the album by writing 7 of its 12 songs. Not all of them are winners, but those that are include "Hypnotized", "Somebody" & the early concert standard "Emerald Eyes". All of these songs have a certain sexiness to it that is only helped by the snaking rhythm that powers these songs. They also prove that Welch had a good chance of making it as a solo artist, even if it only lasted a short while. Welch also sings on the cover of the Yardbirds' classic "For Your Love", which was from when the legendary blues-rock pioneers started their journey towards pop that would lead Eric Clapton to depart the group. The Mac's version is a likeable one, but it doesn't exactly threaten the Yardbirds' chance of retaining it for their own.
Christine McVie takes up the slack on 4 more songs that predate the bouncy pop that would soon become her stock in trade on the Mac's classic work. "Believe Me", "Just Crazy Love", the all-too-short "The Way I Feel" & the closing ballad "Why" prove McVie as the band's saving grace whenever they came up short on an accessible song that could make a good hit single. She also sings lead on Welch's "Keep On Going", which is one of the songs that doesn't quite add up.
MYSTERY TO ME, in essence, was basically just another entry in Fleetwood Mac's extended transitional period that saw them winning next-to-nothing in the way of commercial success. Creatively, they were still in a holding pattern, just beginning to get the hang of the new pop sound that would help make them one of the biggest-selling bands in music history. After the 1974 follow-up HEROES ARE HARD TO FIND, Bob Welch left the group to go solo, as did lead guitarist Bob Weston. The remaining 3 members of the Mac then moved to California, where they heard an album by a duo named Buckingham-Nicks. Enchanted, they enlisted the duo to join the group. They recorded their self-titled 1975 album & the rest, as they say, is music history. After that, Fleetwood Mac's success would be a mystery to no one.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Album from the Best Line-Up of Fleetwood Mac, June 7, 2005
Nothing against Lindsay Buckingham or Stevie Nicks (who have alot of awesome music out to begin with), but I personally liked the Bob Welch-led set with FM. It was not so polished and radio-friendly; instead it had an innocent glaze to it that was made to appreciated in scope, rather than individual "Hit Singles". To give credit where credit is due, Mr. Welch really started carving out the pop-ish legacy that FM would later generate worldwide with the entrance of Buckingham/Nicks. "Hypnotized" is crafted so well both in sound and lyrics that it makes one wonder how it was not further recognized or appreciated. "Emerald Eyes" is gifted too, with riffs that are reminiscent of Eric Clapton. The blues roots that FM started in their 1960s debut was still kept alive here, with "Why" as a clear example. Christine McVie shines magically here with "The Way I Feel" .... a truly raw/honest telling from the heart that makes me sit back in complete every time I hear it; her piano playing is stronger than ever (to anyone who might doubt her ability) and nearly Carole King-like in nature. Mick's drumming and John's bass were always the foundation to the band's craftsmanship, and this album is no exception or disappointment to that fact. All the songs travel in warp speed to the consciousness .... when a track begins at a slightly slow pace (such as "Believe Me") the moment changes to a highly-charged follow-up in musicianship that makes the listener free and willing to dance around a bit.
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