


After Welch left the band, a somewhat slicker version of the song (recorded with Buckingham, Christine and Fleetwood) became a solo hit for him.

The highlight of his time with Fleetwood Mac, “Sentimental Lady,” was a tender ode to his wife, Nancy, with a mellow California feel that was new to Fleetwood Mac. “‘Could you send me plane fare?’ I knew I was being scrutinized not so much for my musical talents but for my psychological soundness.” Welch joined a group moving past its blues origins. “I said, ‘I’ll be there in two seconds,'” he recalled later. singer-guitarist Bob Welch was playing with a band in Paris when he was recommended to Fleetwood Mac by a secretary for their management. What brings it all together is an almost mystical chemistry, wrought from grueling personal drama and heartbreak that they somehow found a way to turn into some of the most beloved rock & roll of all time. Our list of the band’s 50 greatest songs pulls from all these eras. They began as a vehicle for the blues visions of tragic genius Peter Green, continued through fascinating, often overlooked, transitional records during the early Seventies with Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan and Bob Welch, and hit an astonishing peak when songbird Christine McVie, mad drummer Mick Fleetwood and ultra-reliable bassman John McVie hooked up with the Southern California songwriting team of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Days and nights would just go on and on.”īut the soul of the Mac’s magic has always been their songs. Huge amounts of illicit materials, yards and yards of this wretched stuff. “Parties going on all over the house,” John McVie told Rolling Stone in 1977, recalling the making of their classic Rumours LP. Through it all, there’s been brutal romantic blowups and historic levels of drug use. Fleetwood Mac have been rock’s greatest soap opera for five decades - from their Sixties origins in the English blues-rock scene to their Seventies reinvention as California rock superstars through their smooth Eighties hits and right up to today.
