For reasons that no one seems to recall in detail -- but for which we can be grateful -- when it was time to release a second
Fleetwood Mac LP in America, producer
Mike Vernon and the band didn't just send the existing
Mr. Wonderful album across the Atlantic -- a little fine-tuning and retooling was in order. The band had just expanded by one member, to a quintet -- with the addition of guitarist
Danny Kirwan -- by the end of 1968, whereas
Mr. Wonderful represented them as a four-piece outfit. Additionally, the group had just toured the U.S. for the first time, as a quintet, playing to very enthusiastic audiences, and so there was some point to sending U.S. licensee
Epic Records something extra, representing who they were at the start of 1969. And that became the
English Rose album, offering three
Kirwan-authored instrumentals, plus the hit U.K. single
"Albatross," and also their previous single,
"Black Magic Woman," which had been a British Top 40 hit (though it was unknown in the U.S., and preceded
Santana's hit recording of it by almost two years). Half of
Mr. Wonderful was still there, including the opener,
"Stop Messin' Round" and
"I've Lost My Baby," representing the stronger tracks from that record. Between the paring down of
Mr. Wonderful and the addition of the single tracks,
English Rose ended up being a stronger album than its predecessor, though without a hit single in America to drive sales and get it exposure, it barely brushed the Top 200 LP listings in the U.S. Strangely enough, despite the overlap with
Mr. Wonderful,
English Rose was released in England about six months later, probably to help make up for the loss of the group's contract (due to an oversight) by
Blue Horizon. ~ Bruce Eder
