Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA – February 19, 1971

Fifty-two years after it was recorded and forty-nine years after it first appeared on the bootleg LP, “Merely a Portmanteau’ (The Amazing Kornyphone Record Label) (TAKRL)* the full “Jam” appended to their closing number, ‘Tell Me all the Things You Do’, at the first show that Peter Green and Nigel Watson played with Fleetwood Mac after Jeremy Spencer’s abrupt departure can now be heard in full.

On June 28, 2023, YouTuber DannysChants posted an 18:57 clip of the full jam under the title Fleetwood Mac Jam IV 1971 (thanks, again! to Robert Byrne for bringing this to my attention) –

When the track ‘Tell Me all the Things You Do’, and the “Jam” first appeared on the bootleg LP, “Merely a Portmanteau” the song and the coda were combined as one track, running 18:56.

The song was 4:56 and the “Jam” 14:20 (it is simply cut off before it’s conclusion, without a fade),

Fleetwood Mac

Danny Kirwan: vocals & guitar /

Christine McVie: vocals & keyboards /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Peter Green: guitar / Nigel Watson: congas

Recorded February 19, 1971 –

Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA

Fleetwood Mac Jam IV 1971 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZTBTbdUqvc&t=209s

The description on the YouTube video claims the track “Includes eight additional minutes leading to the end of the performance” but that actually would only apply to the recording on the “full show” bootleg in circulation, not the one found on “Merely a Portmanteau” –

The first bootleg that I came across which contained the entire Swing Auditorium show (six tracks – seven if the coda from ‘Tell Me all the Things You Do’ is a listed separately) has the “Jam” trimmed down to 9:28 – almost five full minutes shorter than the recording released on “Merely a Portmanteau”.

That being said, “Buyer Beware” – in 2006, a disc with the “six” songs from the Swing Auditorium, titled “Fleetwood Mac – A Great Piece” (Midnight Dreamer) was released in Japan, the only bootleg of the show commercially available that I am aware of, but I have been unable to find running times for the tracks.

Kirwan takes the song at a much faster pace than it had been played at previously and Green matches Kirwan’s breakneck pace, joining the rhythm section in pushing the number as hard it can go.

Because Kirwan is playing wah-wah throughout the number, his lead is oft times mistaken as Green’s.

C. McVie leads them into the jam with some nice keyboard work and it is from this point on that Green takes the lead. He is still playing rhythm, with Kirwan now playing fills whenever and wherever he can find a point of entry.

The band plays with a ferocity that they rarely displayed before.  Green keeps the beat steady and Fleetwood matches him, pounding at his drums with multiple rolls. Around the seven-minute mark, they break it down just a bit and Kirwan steps forward.

A few minutes later, C. McVie makes herself heard, her organ burbling like a calliope.

As they steam past the ten-minute mark, the intensity increases and C. McVie begins to howl and moan as Fleetwood bashes his kit.

They then begin to bring it down and Green now takes the lead for a few bars before they return to the pounding rhythm. Harder and harder they play, and Kirwan’s guitar fights to make itself heard.

Twelve minutes in, Watson joins the band on congas, and Fleetwood switches to cymbals as C. McVie adds washes of organ. It must be said that Watson proves himself more adept at the hand drums than either Green or Kirwan.

The number slowly winds down, and everyone plays softly; inevitably, they begin to pick up the pace once more, with Fleetwood leading the way. The audience at this point is screaming and yelling for more, loving every minute of it.

Green began playing wah-wah also at this point, but the number was cut off before we had the opportunity to hear where it went from there.

Bur now, we can.  Fleetwood takes an extended drum solo, with brief interjections of guitar from Green and Kirwan, and this goes on for a few more minutes with both Christine and the guitars becoming more assertive, but by around 16:34, the air begins to fatally leak from the number and it begins limping to its close a little before the 17:00 mark, with Christine Perfect telling the audience that they have to say, “good night”  as the venue is about to “…push the power off any minute, or something”.  They continue to play rather half-heartedly before Christine bids them a final “good night” and “thank you” around the 18:00 minute mark with the remainder of the track audience applause and, who I believe is Nigel Watson, thanking them before the tape ends.

While the full track does little to change our appreciation of the number, it is nice to finally hear it complete, including the uncertain ending, understandable due to the circumstances under which it was done.

A small, but important piece of the jigsaw puzzle for Peter Green / Fleetwood Mac collectors.

*“Merely a Portmanteau” (The Amazing Kornyphone Record Label) – was among the first, if not the first Peter Green era bootleg to gain wide commercial release.  It would be more than ten years until the tapes from the Boston Tea Party began to go into circulation.  A half-century later, releases of Green-era BBC broadcasts and live shows is a mini-industry unto itself.

Unfortunately, it is also a prime example of the carelessness of most “Bootleg” releases, in terms of information concerning the contents.

Side One had three tracks, ‘Rattlesnake Shake / Underway’, ‘Tiger’ and ‘The Green Manalishi’.  The liner notes claim that the three tracks were recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1968.  The inclusion of ‘The Green Manalishi’ alone, gives lie to that date. 

The three songs are actually from the April 01, 1970, Radio One “In Concert” BBC broadcast.

Side Two had only two songs, ‘Station Man’ and ‘Tell Me all the Things You Do’ (with the “Jam” that followed).

There is no information as to where these two numbers were recorded, only that they date from 1970 (sic). 

They also do not list Peter Green or Nigel Watson among the band members.