Mick Fleetwood - The Visitor
#260
By Steve Caisse
June 1981
Mick Fleetwood
The Visitor
Genre: Partly African World Beat – Partly Not
Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Steve’s Rating: 3 out of 5
Highlights:
Rattlesnake Shake
Superfluous cover: Not Fade Away
Confession: Mick Fleetwood is one of my favorite drummers. Maybe #2 after some guy named Ringo. I’m as tired of all those Fleetwood Mac hits as the next guy, but I’ve always thought the best thing about them are the drums. The way Mick shifts the snare drum location in “Rhiannon”, the tom work in “Go Your Own Way”, the brush work on “Sara”, or that lazy hypnotic groove on “Dreams” – to name a few. I like the sound of them and how they fit into the mix - some of which can be attributed to Sound City recording studios. When we talk about all those great British Invasion drummers – Ringo, Charlie, Bonham, Moon, Baker – Mick doesn’t usually enter the conversation. That’s too bad, because he has a distinct sound going all the way back to “Albatross”, “Rattlesnake Shake”, “Oh Well” and “World Turning”. He always brings exactly what is needed for each song, yet makes it a bit unique, too. That in itself is an underrated talent.
Anyway, that brings us to this curiosity. Why, after three monster albums with his namesake band, did he need to put out a solo album? The album was recorded in Ghana and Mick indulges himself with a variety of local musicians. I’m assuming Mick considers himself “The Visitor”, so hence the album title. It’s also a hodgepodge of styles with a rotating band of old pals to fill out the sound. Mick has the rolodex, so the players are no slouches. There is nothing that would be an obvious fit for radio or even MTV, but I suspect that Mick didn’t care. He is scratching an itch and when you are Mick Fleetwood, you can do that.
The album opens with an awesome recut of a 1969 Fleetwood Mac classic “Rattlesnake Snake”, complete with Peter Green on guitar and vocals. It’s stays quite true to the original with a smoking drum track, and Green (listed as Greenbaum on the album) brings his typical brilliance. It’s the only thing on the album really worth checking out and worth cranking up. It’s also a head fake since the rest of the album is nothing like it .
Three songs are straight-up West African pieces – and one is a bit of a Issac Hayes style funk marching band instrumental that sounds like a “Tusk” outtake that was repurposed. And speaking of “Tusk”, there is “Walk A Thin Line”, a Lindsey Buckingham song from that album that features George Harrison’s unmistakable slide guitar and background vocals. That makes it notable, but it’s not that great. I love me some George Harrison, but I prefer the “Tusk” version. There is also a version of “Not Fade Away” complete with African percussionists and background vocals, but it still doesn’t sound like anything new is added and wouldn’t rank in the top 1,000 of covers of this song.
If I had to guess, Mick really wanted to go full on with the West African world beat thing for the whole album but got talked out of it by the higher-ups at the label. That’s a shame, because that’s where his heart is. I was left wishing he was allowed to pursue that further and the Brits meets Ghana combination was more fully synthesized over the course of the whole album – an approach Paul Simon would perfect in South Africa a few years later. Instead each song is usually titled towards one style or the other - or just not fully realized. Still, points for stepping away from his pop fame, giving this music a wider audience and showcasing a different side of his talents.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2Dvv9d8BmCYBUrHKIbG8e2?si=oEgwcSNBQT6Xp3eGpg6NMQ
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