Boston (Live)

This is from Peter Green’s era with Fleetwood Mac. An important distinction, of course, especially when there’s a Buckingham/Nicks–era album also recorded live in Boston. This is a digital issue of an often-circulated extended-weekend stand from 1970, where the three-guitar lineup of Fleetwood Mac played the blues like few other bands could ever do. The sound quality is much improved over the tonally challenged bootlegs that once bled fans for too many dollars. And it just shows how spoiled collectors have become—and how blues-era Fleetwood Mac have been kicked out of the canon—that this exemplary set isn’t spoken about with the same reverence as classic live sets from The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, and Santana, for starters. The two 25-minute versions of “Rattlesnake Shake” highlight the incredible genius of leader-guitarist Peter Green. That's further exposed in the lengthy workout of “The Green Manalishi,” which shows how Judas Priest so easily adapted the song for their commercial heavy metal purposes. (Green plays far heavier.) Jeremy Spencer handles Elmore James’ “I Can’t Hold Out” and “Got to Move” with equal authority.