Fleetwood Mac, Black Magic Woman (side C)

This double-LP collects tracks from their early blues years. The first half is their first LP, 1968's Fleetwood Mac. The second half was originally released as a weird US compilation from 1969 called English Rose, with some singles, tracks from Mr. Wonderful, and a Danny Kirwan tune that was on some pressings of Then Play On. Discography confusion aside (and there was a lot with the early Fleetwood Mac material), Black Magic Woman is inconsistent but often amazing. "Black Magic Woman" and "Albatross" are of course timeless classics. The rest of the album ranges from straightforward blues to some Peter Green character pieces to spotlights on Jeremy Spencer's 50s persona. Some of the recordings have some weird lo-fi vocal sounds, and the reissue mastering definitely is not great. I'm a huge fan of early Fleetwood Mac, so while there's less consistency here than on Then Play On, I still appreciate the great parts and even the weirdness, but not the terrible packaging of the reissue (from 1971).