Mick Fleetwood Play on


Mick Fleetwood and Anthony Bozza

 





Everyone is familiar with Fleetwood Mac and its affable, lanky drummer Mick. But there are things here that would amuse most Fleetwood Mac fans. “Play On” is not simply the autobiography of Mick but it’s also, as you might imagine, a biography (autobiography?) of a band.


Given how committed Mick Fleetwood has been to Fleetwood Mac over the decades, another choice for the title of the book could have been “Don’t Stop” because Mick Fleetwood hasn’t stopped drumming for Fleetwood Mac . . ever. Ok sure he was in other bands in the beginning but once he and John McVie were proclaimed Fleetwood Mac he just kept playing on and didn’t stop.


Given his name is in the name of his band I had assumed that he and John McVie decided, after much ale and laughter, that their band would now be known as Fleetwood Mac. A cute combination of their two last names. But it turns out I was wrong.


The proclamation came after guitar guru Peter Green dubbed them as such because they were his favourite rhythm section. Cool little story. 


Peter Green was featured in “Play On” because he was a guitar god in the sixties. Peter had issues with acid and stuff so he left the band and might have had a break from not only the world but himself. Is there a Peter Green biography anywhere?


Mick spoke of getting Peter to play “Black Magic Woman” with Santana at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. No one was truly sure, when the song began, what Peter Green would do. After all, he hadn’t played but a pair of notes in rehearsal. Mick wasn’t certain even after all the talking and cajoling he had done just what the Green God might do. If you’ve seen the performance you know what Peter Green did. 


As I said, this is as much a book about Fleetwood Mac as it is about Mick. Mr. Fleetwood combined these two entities when he and his wife moved in with the other members of the blues-based Fleetwood Mac. There was a communal living arraignment where they worked on music. That sounds like a typical 1960s hippie lifestyle. 


But let’s face it, we all came for the “Rumors” didn’t we? Well, after the chart hit “Sentimental Lady” there was another split in the band. Mick got introduced to Lindsay Buckingham in some studio somewhere. Everyone in music is always running into someone else in music at these studio things. Go figure!


Then comes the band that everyone knows and loves. The band that the general public knows as Fleetwood Mac. Stevie and Lindsay changed that band in ways that can’t really be quantified. Except to say that they became a hit making machine.


This was a fun ride with Mr. Fleetwood. Mick sure had a full life and it would be difficult for anyone to cram it into 350 pages. Mick and his compatriot, Anthony Bozza. have done an admiral in cramming Mick’s life into these pages.


Fans of all phases of Fleetwood Mac should love this book. If you only know of the Stevie Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac then this autobiography could be a revelation. 


The history of Fleetwood Mac is long and storied but the life of Mick Fleetwood is also long and storied. The history of Fleetwood Mac is truly the history of Mick Fleetwood. 


The band is in the man’s blood. The man is the band’s blood. No matter which way you look at it this is a fun, quick read for fans of classic rock.  


But, and yes there is a but, this is not a definitive biography of Fleetwood Mac so don’t get confused. IT is what it is. Perhaps Mick Fleetwood and his buddy Anthony could write the definitive history of Fleetwood Mac the band.




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