Then Play On

Infobox Album |
Name = Then Play On
Type = Album
Artist = Fleetwood Mac


Released = September/November 1969
Recorded = 1968–1969
Genre = Blues Rock
Length = 53:39
Label = Reprise
Producer = Fleetwood Mac
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dq6atr89kl2x~T1 link]
Last album = "English Rose"
(1969)
This album = "Then Play On"
(1969)
Next album = "Kiln House"
(1970)

"Then Play On" is the third album by blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, first released in September 1969 (see 1969 in music). It is often considered the best album by the Peter Green lineup of the band, and one of the best rock albums of the late 1960s. It was the first of their original albums to feature Danny Kirwan and the last with Peter Green. Jeremy Spencer did not feature on the album apart from "a couple of piano things" (according to Mick Fleetwood in "Q" magazine in 1990).

The album has been released with four different song lineups. The current CD lineup compiles all songs from the two US LP lineups, both of which were deviations from the original UK song order.

Track listing

UK LP/Original US LP, September 1969

The two songs deleted from the US lineup had already appeared on the US compilation "English Rose". They are also not included on the CD release of the album.

Side 1:
# "Coming Your Way" (Kirwan) – 3:47
# "Closing My Eyes" (Green) – 4:50
# "Fighting for Madge" (Fleetwood) – 2:45
# "When You Say" (Kirwan) – 4:22
# "Showbiz Blues" (Green) – 3:50
# "Underway" (Green) – 2:51 (US timing, fades out), 3:06 (UK timing, no fade, cuts to next song)
# "One Sunny Day" (Kirwan) – 3:12*

Side 2:
# "Although the Sun Is Shining" (Kirwan) – 2:31
# "Rattlesnake Shake" (Green) – 3:32
# "Without You" (Kirwan) – 4:34*
# (3-US) "Searching for Madge" (McVie) – 6:56
# (4-US) "My Dream" (Kirwan) – 3:30 (a long giggle links this to next song)
# (5-US) "Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
# (6-US) "Before the Beginning" (Green) – 3:28

*Missing from the original US LP.

Revised US Song Lineup, post-November 1969

After "Oh Well (pts 1 & 2)" (released November 1969) became a hit single, it was added to the US lineup, and some of the other songs were either deleted or moved to side two. The edit of "Oh Well" actually contains an error: the first minute or so of "Part 2" is heard twice, as this section of the song was heard on both the A-side and B-side of the single. (The B-side was a clean mix of the complete part 2 with no crossfade.) If the error were corrected, the song would run at 7:58.

Another change was putting the two edits from the "Madge" jam back to back, fading down and up between them. The giggle that previously linked "My Dream" to "Like Crying" was now edited onto the end of "Fighting for Madge".

Side 1:
# "Coming Your Way" (Kirwan) – 3:47
# "Closing My Eyes" (Green) – 4:50
# "Showbiz Blues" (Green) – 3:50
# "Underway" (Green) – 2:51
# "Oh Well" (Green) – 8:56

Side 2:
# "Although The Sun Is Shining" (Kirwan) – 2:31
# "Rattlesnake Shake" (Green) – 3:32
# "Searching For Madge" (McVie) – 6:56
# "Fighting for Madge" (Fleetwood) – 2:45 (a long giggle links this to next song)
# "Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
# "Before the Beginning" (Green) – 3:28

CD Track listing

The currently in-print late 1980s–early 1990s re-release sticks mostly to the order of the revised US track listing, but reinserts two of the deleted songs in new locations. The giggle which originally preceded "Like Crying" is separated from its original location by the reinsertion of "When You Say" after "Fighting For Madge" (which "When You Say" followed when "Fighting for Madge" was in its original "Track 3" location.) The mix of "Oh Well" still contains the repeated minute. The two songs which appeared only on the UK LP are still missing here.

Chat groups and online music stores feature many consumer complaints that the current issue of the CD uses poor copies of the tapes, several generations removed from the original master. Dropouts, distortion and excessive hiss are evident, some of it missing from the original UK pressing.Fact|date=June 2008

# "Coming Your Way" (Kirwan) – 3:47
# "Closing My Eyes" (Green) – 4:50
# "Showbiz Blues" (Green) – 3:50
# '"My Dream" (Kirwan) – 3:30"
# "Underway" (Green) – 2:51
# "Oh Well" (Green) – 8:56
# "Although the Sun Is Shining" (Kirwan) – 2:31
# "Rattlesnake Shake" (Green) – 3:32
# "Searching for Madge" (McVie) – 6:56
# "Fighting for Madge" (Fleetwood) – 2:45 ("Like Crying" giggle still left here)
# '"When You Say" (Kirwan) – 4:22"
# "Like Crying" (Kirwan) – 2:21
# "Before the Beginning" (Green) – 3:28

Unreleased Bonus EP: The Milton Schlitz Show

The original intention was to include a bonus EP in the "Then Play On" album. The EP was to be compensation for the fact that Jeremy Spencer barely appeared on the album. The EP consisted of Spencer's parodies of doo wop ("Ricky Dee and the Angels"), Alexis Korner, country blues ("Texas Slim"), acid rock ("The Orange Electric Squares"), and John Mayall. It was finally released on Fleetwood Mac's "The Vaudeville Years" compilation in the 1990s.

# "Jeremy's Contribution to Doo Wop" (Spencer) – 3:34
# "Every Day I Have the Blues" (Peter Chatman) – 4:23
# "Death Bells" (Spencer) – 5:05
# "(Watch Out For Yourself) Mr. Jones" (Spencer) – 3:35
# "Man of Action" (Spencer) – 5:21

Credits

Fleetwood Mac
*Peter Green - vocals, guitar, harmonica
*Danny Kirwan - vocals, guitar
*John McVie - bass
*Mick Fleetwood - drums
*Jeremy Spencer - piano on "Oh Well" {Pt 2}

Additional Personnel
*Christine Perfect - piano (uncredited)
*Big Walter Horton - harmonica (uncredited)

Production

*Producer: Fleetwood Mac
*Engineer: Martin Birch
*Sound consultant: Dinky Dawson

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)