Their first album without him, 1970's Kiln House, saw the return of early guitarist/vocalist/pianist Jeremy Spencer (who was on Fleetwood Mac's first two albums but sat out of much of Then Play On and other singles from the era), and Spencer's Kiln House contributions were often 1950s parodies that sounded regressive compared to the forward-thinking Then Play On. It's a leap from anything Fleetwood Mac had released before it, and once hard rock and progressive rock became popular in the 1970s, this song would prove to be ahead of its time.Īs we all know, Fleetwood Mac eventually recovered from Peter Green's departure, but it didn't happen quickly or immediately. Kirwan and Green's guitars are in constant conversation with each other, Mick Fleetwood's polyrhythmic percussion livens things up and never relies on a traditional blues beat, and the song eventually evolves into a doomy coda that qualifies as proto-metal. The song uses blues rock as a starting point, but it goes in all kinds of other directions from there. 'Coming Your Way,' the Kirwan composition that opens the album, sets the tone for it perfectly. It's a masterpiece that blends blues, rock, psychedelia, folk, flamenco, classical, and more (and has stunning artwork), and it's as essential as anything Fleetwood Mac released in the Buckingham/Nicks era but for entirely different reasons. Peter Green's growing interest in psychedelia and folk music and the increased singing and songwriting input from Danny Kirwan - whose contributions were praised and encouraged by Peter - led to Fleetwood Mac's third full-length and first timeless album, Then Play On.

List of fleetwood mac albums