Maps of Music

Future Games (1971)

Where the lyrics of Future Games take you, and where it was really made.

The album sold poorly in the UK and never charted there, yet it did better in the US than any earlier Fleetwood Mac record.

Key places

Recording at Advision Studios, London (1971)

Recording site Advision Studios — The album was recorded in summer 1971 at Advision Studios in London. It was the first album to feature Christine McVie as a full member. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Future Games: fifth album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac
• Released 3 September 1971
• Recorded in summer 1971 at Advision Studios, London
• First album to feature Christine McVie as a full member
• First of five albums featuring American guitarist Bob Welch

Background

• Founder Peter Green left the band in May 1970
• Remaining members recorded Kiln House; Christine Perfect became a full-time member and keyboardist
• Jeremy Spencer quit in February 1971 to join the Children of God
• Band held auditions for a replacement and chose Welch after hearing his demo tape
• Judy Wong, the band's secretary, suggested Welch
• Welch had been living in Paris after his band Head West dissolved
• Without Spencer's blues leanings, the band moved toward melodic pop
• Four of the eight tracks were written or co-written by Danny Kirwan

Recording

• Reprise Records refused to release an album with only seven songs and demanded an eighth
• "What a Shame" was recorded hastily as a jam to meet that demand
• Welch's main guitar was a Gibson ES-345, played with a Fender Stratocaster
• Producer: Fleetwood Mac; engineer: Martin Rushent

Cover

• Front cover photographed by Mick Fleetwood's sister, Sally
• John McVie replaced his back-cover headshot with a photo of a penguin from London Zoo
• Early UK and American releases have a yellow background; later releases have a green one

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in July 1967 by Peter Green after leaving John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, with Mick Fleetwood on drums.
• The name combines Fleetwood's surname with bassist John McVie, who joined in 1967.
• Early line-up was primarily a British blues band; "Albatross" reached UK No. 1 in 1968.

Members

• Core members over time: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham.
• Buckingham and Nicks joined at the end of 1974 and drove the band's global success.

Career

• Rumours (1977) is one of the best-selling albums of all time and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1978.
• The band has sold more than 120 million records worldwide.
• Received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1979 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
• Received the MusiCares Person of the Year award in 2018.
• Christine McVie died in 2022; Stevie Nicks later said she saw no reason to continue the band.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Cashbox praised all eight tracks and said the album had a "soft and more harmonic" sound compared with some earlier Fleetwood Mac work
• Billboard praised the production and musicianship and predicted airplay for "What a Shame" and "Lay It All Down" on underground radio
• Record World's Ron McCreight picked the album as its album pick of the week in its 11 September edition
• Melody Maker had announced a 27 August release, but the album came out on 3 September instead

Records

• US Billboard 200: debuted at number 186 on the chart dated 30 October 1971
• US Billboard 200: peaked at number 91 on the chart dated 18 December 1971
• US: spent 12 weeks on the Billboard 200 in total
• UK: sold poorly and did not chart
• US: performed better than any previous Fleetwood Mac album
• RIAA certified the album Gold on 4 October 2000 for sales over 500,000 copies in the United States

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The opening track was titled "Woman of 1000 Years" on original UK, European and Japanese vinyl pressings, and "Woman of a Thousand Years" on some later releases.
• An early version of "Morning Rain" was recorded as "Start Again" in a BBC session on 5 January 1971.
• The title track by Bob Welch was re-recorded for his 1979 solo album The Other One; the original version appears in the 2000 film Almost Famous.
• John Perfect, Christine McVie's brother, played saxophone on "What a Shame" and harmonica on "Lay It All Down".
• In a 1995 BBC interview, Mick Fleetwood said Welch had been a member of Fleetwood Mac before the band had even played a note.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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