It was in that context that bandleader Mick Fleetwood first noticed Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar-playing and singing abilities, but at the time it was Keith Olsen’s studio and recording techniques that Mick was auditioning, not the musicians. The unsung hero is actually producer/recording engineer Keith Olsen, who had produced and recorded the Buckingham Nicks album, imparting a fat, warm, upfront sound to their music. So on balance I didn’t see how this major change could do anything except diminish Fleetwood Mac.īoy was I wrong! That 1975 Fleetwood Mac album sold over twenty times as many copies as any previous Fleetwood Mac album. ~~ AllMusic Review by Hal Horowitzį – 1024.0 MBį – 532.After Bob Welch left Fleetwood Mac, his first solo album in the Fall 1975 came and went in about 15 minutes, not unlike the 1973 Buckingham Nicks album, which was the sole output of Welch’s replacements, singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer/songwriter Stephanie”Stevie” Nicks. Welch left soon after the album’s release, and the group went on to bigger and better things, but Heroes is a minor gem that retains its effortless pop charms and contains some buried jewels in the extensive Fleetwood Mac catalog. McVie’s haunting rocker “Bad Loser” is reinforced by the propulsive rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, both adding tense bite to even the most tender of ballads. Welch’s folk-pop “She’s Changing Me” is one of his most upbeat, memorable melodies, offset by the rocker “Silver Heels” and his closing “Safe Harbor,” a knowing nod back to Peter Green’s atmospheric work on “Albatross” and his contributions to Then Play On. It’s a hidden classic and pedal steel by the Flying Burrito Brothers’ Sneaky Pete Kleinow is an unexpected and perfect addition to the album’s most fully realized tune. Welch continues his fascination with UFOs in a sort of follow-up to Mystery to Me’s “Hypnotized” called “Bermuda Triangle” and even heads into a spacy Hendrix “Third Stone From the Sun” groove on “Coming Home.” Christine McVie is in wonderful voice on her own ballads like “Prove Your Love” but outdoes herself on the magnificent “Come a Little Bit Closer,” a stunning track whose grandeur is heightened by strings and McVie’s majestic piano.
Bolstered by sympathetic self-production and imaginative, often aggressive arrangements that include brassy horns on the title track (a blatant but failed attempt at a hit single), the album is one of their most cohesive yet diverse. Pared down to a foursome for the first and (as of 2002) only time since the addition of Danny Kirwan, both Welch and Christine McVie contribute some of their finest songs. It was the first Fleetwood Mac studio album properly recorded in the US as well as the first to enter the Billboard top 40 albums chart.Īlthough this was Bob Welch’s last album with the band he had worked with since 1971, it sounds like he’s at his peak. This is the last album with Bob Welch, who left at the end of 1974, and was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Heroes Are Hard to Find is the ninth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, originally released on September 13, 1974.
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: | Front Cover | © Rhino/Warner Bros. Fleetwood Mac – Heroes Are Hard To Find (1974/2017)įLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 39:50 minutes | 1,47 GB | Genre: Rock