Then play on

chronology
Then play on
Fleetwood Mac studio album
Publication ; (s)	1969
Label (s)	Reprise Records
Format (s)	LP, CD
Genre (s)	Blues rock , psychedelic rock , classic rock
Title (number)	14th
running time	53:39
production	Fleetwood Mac

Then Play On is the third studio album by the rock band Fleetwood Mac and was released in the fall of 1969 on Reprise Records .

background

Then Play On is the group's last album with Peter Green before he left the band due to drug problems and the first with Danny Kirwan , who was to stay until 1972. During the recording, the band's third guitarist Jeremy Spencer was mostly absent. The title is taken from the opening of the comedy Was ihr wollt by William Shakespeare , in which it says If music be the food of love, play on . The bonus tracks added in a later edition come from the singles Oh Well and The Green Manalishi . The front cover shows a painting by Maxwell Armfield . In contrast to the two previous albums, on which the band tends more towards classic blues, a wider range of styles is shown here. The song Oh Well has been added to the revised editions of Then Play On , which reached a top ten position in several Western European countries at the turn of the year 1969/1970.

Track list

Original UK LP from September 1969

Coming Your Way ( Danny Kirwan ) - 3:47
Closing My Eyes ( Peter Green ) - 4:50
Fighting for Madge ( Mick Fleetwood ) - 2:45
When You Say (Kirwan) - 4:22
Show-Biz Blues (Green) - 3:50
Under Way (Green) - 3:06
One Sunny Day (Kirwan) - 3:12
Although the Sun Is Shining (Kirwan) - 2:31
Rattlesnake Shake (Green) - 3:32
Without You (Kirwan) - 4:34
Searching for Madge ( John McVie ) - 6:56
My Dream (Kirwan) - 3:30
Like Crying (Kirwan) - 2:21
Before the Beginning (Green) - 3:28

Various issues

The American version of the album from September 1969 lacks One Sunny Day and Without You . Due to the success of the single Oh Well , written by Peter Green, from November 1969, the title composition of the American version was revised and added Oh Well to the disadvantage of When You Say and My Dream . The CD edition from 1990 is based in the song order on the revised American LP version, but also contains the deleted songs When You Say and My Dream . The remastered CD edition by Rhino Records , re-released in 2013 , shows the original British version of the album supplemented by the bonus tracks Oh Well (Part 1, fast boogie rhythm), Oh Well (Part 2, slow and romantic), The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown) by Green and World in Harmony by Kirwan and Green.

occupation

tape

Peter Green - vocals , guitar , harmonica , bass , percussion , cello
Danny Kirwan - vocals, guitar
John McVie - bass
Mick Fleetwood - drums , percussion
Jeremy Spencer - piano on Oh Well (Part 2)

Additional guest contributions

Christine Perfect - piano
Big Walter Horton - Harmonica

Chart successes

Then Play On reached number 109 on the Billboard 200 in 1970 and the single Oh Well reached number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100 . In the UK charts Oh Well reached number 2 and Then Play On number 6. In Germany, Oh Well reached number 5 on the charts.

reception

In Allmusic Michael G. Nastos wrote, then play on would Fleetwood Mac show in their most indispensable and most exciting version. He called Oh Well immortal and described how the album was shaped by Kirwan on the one hand and Green on the other. It would also be a mandatory purchase and the magnum opus of the group with some time lag . It was rated four and a half out of five stars.
Music journalist Robert Christgau called Fleetwood Mac a famous second rate British blues band. The album is a strange mixture of ballads, Latin rhythms and hard material, but very good. In the evaluation he awarded a B +.
In Rolling Stone in December 1969, John Morthland wrote that the music on the album was slow and wandering in search of an idea. Peter Green, who was once a promising guitarist, was only competent, but nothing more than that. He described that Oh Well was the best thing Fleetwood Mac had ever done and complained that it wasn't on the album. In exchange for Oh Well , he'd give the entire album away and get the better deal.