Plus: Session Outtakes

In an interview published in the June 28, 1969 edition of Disc, Clifford Davis stated that Fleetwood Mac would begin to curtail the number of live appearances that they would be doing to concentrate on studio recording.  In addition to the album that they were currently working on (Then Play On), they would also be releasing three other LPs that year, solo works by Green, Kirwan and Spencer, with each in the series going out under the rubric “Fleetwood Mac Plays…”

Of course, this never came to pass.

               The only one of the three to record an LP was Jeremy Spencer.  Over the course of three days, July 25, August 30 and September 23 1969 Spencer recorded fifteen songs: nine originals and four covers.  Twelve would make the LP, one was released as the B-side of a single and two would remain unreleased for twenty-nine years.

               The first day’s session is a productive one as they put five songs to tape, four of which will open the LP.

Side 1

Jeremy Spencer

Jeremy Spencer: vocal & guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Recorded July 25, 1969 De Lane Lea Studios

‘Linda’ released as the A-side of a Reprise single

October 16, 1969 (U.K. only)

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

Linda (J. Spencer) (2:18)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal & piano /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums /

Steve Gregory: saxophone

Recorded July 25, 1969 De Lane Lea Studios

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

The Shape I’m In (Johnny Restivo) (2:00)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 2:14)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal & guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Recorded July 25, 1969 De Lane Lea Studios

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

Intro (0:47) / Mean Blues (J. Spencer) (3:01) (4:08)

(working title ‘Blues Piss Take’)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 4:10)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal & guitar /

Danny Kirwan: guitar / Peter Green: banjo /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Recorded July 25, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

String-A-Long (Fabian) (2:19) –

Jeremy Spencer: vocal, guitar & possibly maracas / Danny Kirwan: guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Danny Kirwan, John McVie & Mick Fleetwood: backing vocals

Recorded September 22, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

Here Comes Charlie (With His Dancing Shoes On) (J. Spencer) (2:46)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal & guitar / Danny Kirwan: guitar /

Mick Fleetwood: percussion

Danny Kirwan, John McVie & Mick Fleetwood: backing vocals

Recorded September 22, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

Teenage Love Affair (Curtis Johnson with The Windjammers) (2:57)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 13:16)

‘Linda’ – the lead track on the LP, and the A-side of it’s single, the song is often compared with Buddy Holly’s ‘Peggy Sue’ but a close listen shows that it is the sound of Tommy Rowe’s ‘Sheila’, a number that Spencer performed during a May 27, 1968 BBC taping, that Spencer is emulating.

               Granted, Rowe’s song utilizes the strummed guitar, tempo and galloping drums of Holly’s number and then mimics Holly’s hic-cupping vocal.

               Rowe sings the first verse in his “normal” register, but switches to a more nasal, whiny pitch with the second.

               Spencer uses an exaggerated version of the breathy, pinched vocal throughout the song (an affect that he will use to ever diminishing returns for each of the LPs teen pop parodies)

               Spencer’s faithfulness to the style of songs that he is spoofing precludes any instrumental breaks and the majority of the songs are all well under three minutes.

               Musically, the song is faultless, and the backing vocals, spot-on; Spencer most certainly accomplished what he set out to achieve, but I question the purpose of the exercise: a parody of a facsimile.

‘The Shape I’m In’ – co-written by Otis Blackwell, the song sets ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ to a boogie beat.

In fact, it is Spencer’s thumping piano that makes his cover a worthwhile listen. 

The problem here, (such as it is), is that Spencer does not interpret Johnny Restivo’s* original recording, so much as he replicates it, down to the ten second sax break at exactly 0:54 into the number and the muttered asides during the fade out. 

               An enjoyable listen, but the credit must go to the original recording.

‘Mean Blues’ – the first of two originals from the first session, the number begins with Spencer imitating an over-enthusiastic M.C. introducing the latest “greatest” blues band that scene has to offer, The Snoggly Blues Band with special mention for its lead guitarist.

               For me, this is far more successful as a parody, taking on the ascendant rock bands of the time who called their music “blues” for cachet that it still carried.

               With McVie’s bass throbbing like a toothache, Spencer churns out a guitar lead that reminds one of “heavy” British Blues bands with the amps overloaded to the point of distortion. 

               He sings the stereotypically misogynistic lyrics in the faux-whiskey scorched growl favored by too many blues-rock front men.

               The number concludes with the “audience” yelling for more.

‘String-A-Long’ – for me, the best of the LP’s three covers, this song had been recorded three times between 1960 to 1966.**

               What makes this cover stand out in comparison to the others is that Spencer brings something new to the table rather than simply duplicating the other versions.

               Spencer seems to be using the first recording of the song, by Fabian as his template; the Rick Nelson version was taken at a slower tempo and included a guitar break by James Burton (for me, all that can recommend the song).

               The biggest surprise here is the decision to feature Peter Green on banjo.  Kirwan plays the insistent rhythm guitar and Spencer is on second guitar.

               It is a crowded soundscape, and Green’s contributions are sometimes hard to make out but they are all important as otherwise, as with ‘The Shape I’m In’, Spencer hews too close to the original, including a break at the same point and for the same duration as heard on Fabian’s recording. 

               The number is a standout on the LP, but as it surrounded too many tracks of the same duration and similar sound, it is easy to overlook. 

Here Comes Charlie (With His Dancing Shoes On) – the first “straight” song on the LP meaning Spencer doesn’t rely on a “comedic” vocal, singing it straight. Set to the Bo Diddley beat of Johnny Otis’s ‘Willie and the Hand Jive’ one can’t but tap their feet. 

As such, one can enjoy the music without being constantly reminded that this is all meant to be funny.

The “lyrics” such as they are, are little more than words that rhyme without saying anything at all.

I understand the same could be said for many of the songs of the era that he is spoofing, but it is a disappointment, nonetheless.

Teenage Love Affair – How Spencer found this one-off single (the singer doesn’t appear to have released anything else under his name) from 1957, we’ll never know.  This was the B-side to a single on the Event label (located in Maine) under the name Curtis Johnson with The Windjammers. 

This is anotherexcellently played song that Spencer undermines with an uninspired, insipid vocal.  One wished that the humor of the pieces came from the lyrics, as the jokey voices become tiresome rather quickly, distracting from the numbers rather than enhancing them.

Unbelievably, a label in the U.K. reissued the original Event single in 1978 (!) with a reproduction of the original label.

               It would be more than a month before Spencer and his co-conspirators would return to the studio to resume recording.

               According to Christopher Hjort in his invaluable “Strange Brew: Eric Clapton and the British Blues Boom 1965 – 1970” (Jaw Bone 2007), work continued on ‘String-A-Long’ (without Green, who apparently nailed his banjo contributions at the first session).

               For the remainder of the second session, they would work on another Fabian cover (which didn’t make the LP set list), and two Spencer originals that did.

As if to make up for the little work that they accomplished at the end of August, the final session, done three weeks later sees Spencer and company put seven songs in the can, all of which will make the final cut.

Side 2

Jeremy Spencer

Jeremy Spencer: vocal, & guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Recorded September 22, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

Jenny Lee (J. Spencer) (1:59)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 16:04)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal & guitar / Danny Kirwan: guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Steve Gregory: saxophone

Recorded September 22, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

Don’t Go, Please Stay (working title ‘Don’t Go’) (J. Spencer) (2:38)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 18:00)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal, piano & guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Recorded September 22, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

You Made A Hit (Ray Smith) (2:10)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 20:35)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal, piano & guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums /

Unknown: percussion

Recorded July 25, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

Take a Look Around Mrs. Brown (J. Spencer) (4:29)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 22:42)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal & guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums /

Danny Kirwan, John McVie & Mick Fleetwood: backing vocals

Recorded September 22, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

Surfin’ Girl (working title ‘Double Spinner’)(2:03)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 27:03)

Jeremy Spencer: vocal, & guitar /

Danny Kirwan, John McVie & Mick Fleetwood: backing vocals

Recorded September 22, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

January 23, 1970 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer (Reprise 1970)

If I Could Swim the Mountain (working title, ‘Merry Christmas (Bless Ye Old Christmas)’) (J. Spencer) (3:28)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jFQDuB6cX0 (song starts at 29:02)

Jenny Lee – Although I find this to be one of the weakest songs on the collection, Spencer liked it enough to not only open Side 2 of his LP with it, but performed it on Fleetwood Mac’s first BBC broadcast without Peter Green (I wrote up that session here: https://smilingcorgipress.com/jeremy-spencer-danny-kirwan/

Another number that Spencer sings with the pinched, nasal vocal, making it one to avoid for me, which is a shame as the playing is fine (McVie and especially Fleetwood seem far more comfortable with the more straight-forward style required for these numbers).

I understand that the short running times are standard for the type of material that Spencer is parodying, but combined with the slightness of the material itself, it too often feels as one is gorging on Cotton Candy.  No matter how much you’ve consumed, you’re still hungry and left only with a cloying sweetness in your throat.

Don’t Go, Please Stay – if only he had approached all of the material this way; seemingly taking his inspiration from a 1961 hit by the American vocal group The Drifters (‘Please Stay’), Spencer arranges, plays and sings the song in the style of Elmore James.

Now, the repetitiveness of the lyrics doesn’t matter, it is the emotion conveyed by the vocal and guitar playing that make the number work.  This is the only  “true” blues on the LP and for me, the best song on the album. ***

You Made A Hit – The only one of the seven songs recorded at the third session that was a cover.

Ray Smith was a rock-a-billy singer / guitarist from Kentucky, modeling his vocals on Elvis Presley and his guitar playing on Carl Perkins, who first recorded for Sun Records.  This song was the B-side of his second single on Sun, released in 1958.

As with the other covers, Spencer needlessly restricts himself to the running time of the original (this one is actually shorter) but thankfully, as with the Fabian covers, he allows himself to expand on the arrangement. 

The piano opens the number up, providing a propulsive beat not heard on Smith’s recording.

Spencer sings the number without affectation and Kirwan, McVie and Fleetwood provide backing vocals in the style of The Jordanaires.

This is one of the more successful numbers on the collection.

‘Take a Look Around Mrs. Brown’ – an unofficial companion piece to ‘(Watch Out for Yourself) Mr. Jones’ from the unreleased EP he had recorded almost a year earlier, it is another take-down of “enlightened” hippie bands putting down the middle class who are too blind to see the emptiness of their lives.

               As with many of the songs he is mocking, he throws in everything and the kitchen sink.

The number opens with an engineer signaling the tapes are rolling, followed by a belch and then either the sound of water being poured or a someone taking a quick pee, then another more bilious belch.

A pretty, lilting melody played on guitar and piano gives way to Spencer’s multitracked vocal, making him sound like drunken lads joining in on a sing-along in a pub.

               They deliver what in their minds are devastating observations of life in “…plastic purple suburbia…” before the drums kick in a tempo change and the “lads” begin a football chant chorus of the “revolution” that Mrs. Brown needs to join to free herself.

               After another verse and chorus, the number shifts into a send-up of The Beatles, with chants of Hare Krishna and backward guitars and a ‘koo-koo-ka-joo’ or two thrown in for anyone who might have missed the joke.

               While the number achieves its goal of taking the piss out of such pretentious musical politicking, it’s musical and comedic value wouldn’t make one return to it that often. 

 Surfin’ Girl – this one roars out of the gate with a fast tempo and twangy surf guitar.  Working against the fun of the number are Spencer’s purposefully annoying nasal vocals.

The harmonized singing, Spencer’s vocal is multi-tracked and the others all join in, giving it the sound of a Jan & Dean number.

One of the problems with many of Spencer’s parodies is that the lyrics are just rhyming words related to the subject that he is poking fun at.  There is no sustaining theme or story to hold the listener’s attention.  It is the “sound” that Spencer is hoping to capture, but for many, it will not be enough.

If I Could Swim the Mountain (working title, ‘Merry Christmas (Bless Ye Old Christmas)’) – a send-up of Presley at his most portentous, I find this to be a serious misfire.  He seems to be determined to send-up Presley’s gospel recordings but lacks the nerve the to actually mock his faith.  (This may explain the Christmas-themed working title). 

Sounding like someone slowly coming to from heavy anesthesia with his mouth badly swollen from dental surgery, the words are barely understandable and the number sounds like an a capella version of the prog-rock parody “Intergalactic Musicians Walking on Velvet’ (only without any energy or sense of fun) that he and the band had recorded for the BBC a year earlier.

An unfortunate album closer.

Session Outtakes:

Jeremy Spencer

Jeremy Spencer: vocal, piano & guitar /

Danny Kirwan: guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Recorded August 30, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released as the B-side of Reprise single ‘Linda’

October 16, 1969 (U.K. only)

Available on: Jeremy Spencer –

Expanded Edition (Real Gone Music 2015)

Teenage Darling (J. Spencer) (2:56)

‘Teenage Darling’ – this number plays like the doo-wop equivalent of ‘Mean Blues’ from the first session; but where that number captured the sound and attitude of a specific style, Spencer’s approach here seems more scatter-shot.

The playing is purposefully bad, opening with what sounds like an elementary school teacher desperately attempting to restore order in her classroom by repeatedly banging a ruler on the desk.

A quick-strummed acoustic guitar then comes in, followed by an electric, offering twanging accents like those heard on Fabian’s recording of ‘String Along’.  The vocals, both Spencer’s wanna-be Presley, and the backing vocal are effective, but the arrangement is not interesting enough (the piano could have been brought up in the mix) to warrant repeated listening’s. 

The songs demarcation as a B-side seems appropriate.   

The number would be a reworked for Fleetwood Mac’s live shows, with Peter Green and Danny Kirwan feathering the strings and picking twinkling notes on their guitars as Spencer strutted across the stage like a ham actor in gold lame. 

Jeremy Spencer

Jeremy Spencer: vocal & guitar /

Danny Kirwan: guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Recorded July 25, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on The Vaudeville Years of

Fleetwood Mac 1968 to 1970 (Receiver 2001)

(That’s What) I Want to Know (3:54)

‘(That’s What) I Want to Know’ – rather than duplicating the sound and arrangement of an existing number, Spencer utilizes the techniques used on the earlier songs, the percussively strummed guitar, the dramatic drum beats and what sounds like a stick tambourine, to create his own number;.

               Spencer sings the number in the voice of the teen pop singer Ricky Dean (first heard on ‘Jeremy’s Contribution to Doo-Wop’ from the unused EP session).   

               While the “joke voice” can quickly cease to be funny, Spencer’s arrangement, a tiered build-up, steps climbing ever higher, engage the listener, allowing the number to almost double the length of the ‘Linda’ or the cover songs.  

For me, this is one of the best of the songs recorded at this session, and yet it didn’t make the final cut.

Jeremy Spencer: vocal, piano & guitar /

John McVie: bass / Mick Fleetwood: drums

Recorded August 30, 1969 De Lane Lea Studio

Released on The Vaudeville Years of

Fleetwood Mac 1968 to 1970 (Receiver 2001)

Mighty Cold (To a Warm, Warm Heart) (Fabian) (2:22)

‘Mighty Cold (To a Warm, Warm Heart)’ – released as the B-side to Fabian’s ‘Tiger’ in 1959, the song garnered a cover by New Zealand rock-a-billy artist Johnny Devlin the year it was released, but other than that seems known only to Fabian fans.

The original swaddled Fabian’s vocal in layers of harmonizing male singers and the guitar playing, which utilized rapidly picked descending notes, the only thing of real interest about the original recording.

As he did on ‘The Shape I’m In’, Spencer forces himself to work within the confines of the original’s running time, including where the break occurs and it’s brevity, but (thankfully) as with the previous Fabian cover, he takes a freer hand with the instrumentation. 

Opening with a strummed acoustic guitar that is soon replaced by an electric playing slide, the introduction of piano announces that this will (thankfully) not be a carbon copy of the original. 

Spencer picks up the tempo and sings with a conviction that Fabian could never have mustered (Spencer’s vocal and the piano provide some ballast for the inanity of the lyrics – a Doc Pomus / Mort Shulman composition).

The rhythm section too seems thoroughly engaged in the number, with Fleetwood turning in some of his best drumming.

The all-too-brief break finds Spencer tossing off some Elmore James inspired slide, reprised during the fade.

Had Spencer been this willing to bring his own arranging skills to the songs that he was covering, the LP would have been all the stronger for it.

This song too would remain in the can for over twenty-years before seeing release. 

*Johnny Restivo – Restivo was only fifteen years old when he recorded his debut ‘The Shape I’m In’.  The number made it to eighty on the Top One Hundred charts and he never scored another hit. 

Released in the U.K. in 1959, Restivo’s song made impression on another roots rocker, Dave Edmunds.  He recorded the song for his 1983 release “Information” and two years later, produced a version for Shakin’ Stevens’ “Lipstick, Powder and Paint” LP.

**Originally recorded by teen idol Fabian (released as a B-side) in 1960, Rick Nelson (having dropped the “Y” from his first name) recorded and released it as the A-side of a single in 1963.  In 1966, Gary Lewis and the Playboys recorded a piano based version for their LP “(You Don’t Have to) Paint Me a Picture”.

***In 2003, Shakedown Records released a box set of live and studio recordings (BBC and live recordings) of the short-lived Spencer, Kirwan, Christine Perfect fronted band.  Included is a live performance of ‘Don’t Go, Please Stay’.  I am unaware of any recordings of Spencer performing the number with Green led Fleetwood Mac.