Fleetwood Mac (1972) The Ghost - LOST 70s GEMS

 The circular melody of the blues pop title track, Bare Trees, retains a certain Peter Green vibe; however this was the album where the streamlined folk pop sound they would become widely known for started to become introduced. While it may have seemed out of left field, there was always a layered dreaminess to the Green era Mac, though Christine McVie, the new addition of Bob Welch and the underrated songwriting of Danny Kirwan continued a transition to more overt folk and less blues.

 The key was to subtly commercialise their tunes by slowly dropping the rudimentary, studied guitar driven blues rock for a more lush keyboard rock sound. It may not have been clear how successful they would be from this album as it is still the guitar tracks, such as the brilliant sunshine blues licks of Sunny Side of Heaven still stand out. 

 Spare Me a Little of Your Love is a classic McVie composition; along the deeply romantic and honest lines of Come a Little Bit Closer, Did You Ever Love Me and You Make Loving Fun. The Ghost is a great transition song; starting with a jazzy, Latin blues line played on an acoustic guitar before ethereal pedal steel/flute or keyboards enter with a delicate pastoral line contrasting the heavy aggressive beat. Bob Welch's vocals sounding hurried yet smooth uniting the disparate elements, while my favourite is the hook; a breathless vocal by Welch that hits the brakes on the rhythm section to a more halted almost slow shuffle as he sings about 'And then the winds start to blow
And the fire comes scorching down (yeah)
And then the sky dissapears
In the cloud with an awful sound (yeah)'. 

 It captures lyrically and musically the mystic blues and soft pop of their two defining periods crashing together