Editing Fleetwood Mac (section)

===1970–1973: Transitional era===
The remaining four members, Fleetwood, McVie, Spencer and Kirwan, set about working on their next album. In September 1970, Fleetwood Mac released their fourth studio album, ''[[Kiln House]]'', to generally positive reviews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/kiln-house-mw0000193528|title=Kiln House - Fleetwood Mac &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits &#124; AllMusic|access-date=18 May 2021|website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref> Kirwan's songs on the album moved the band in a melodic rock direction, while Spencer's contributions focused on re-creating the country-tinged "Sun Sound" of the late 1950s. [[Christine McVie|Christine Perfect]], now Christine McVie following her marriage to John McVie, had retired from the music business after one unsuccessful solo album, though she contributed (uncredited) to ''Kiln House'', singing backup vocals and playing keyboards. She also drew the album cover.<ref name="kilnhouse">{{cite AV media notes|others= Fleetwood Mac |title= Kiln House |title-link= Kiln House |type= CD booklet notes |year= 1970 |publisher= Reprise }}</ref> After ''Kiln House'', Fleetwood Mac were progressing and developing a new sound, and she was invited to join the band to help fill in the rhythm section.<ref name="Fleetwood2014" /> The first time she had played live with the band had been a guest appearance at [[Bristol University]], England, in May 1969, just as she was leaving Chicken Shack,<ref name="Larkin-20110527">{{cite book |author=Colin Larkin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC&pg=PA2112 |date=27 May 2011 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8 |pages=2112– |access-date=17 September 2022 |archive-date=8 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208234058/https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC&pg=PA2112 |url-status=live}}</ref> while her first gig as an official member of the band was on 1 August 1970 in [[New Orleans]], Louisiana.<ref>The Warehouse Concerts List 1970–1982, www.blackstrat.net</ref> In early 1971, the band released a non-album single, Danny Kirwan's "[[Dragonfly (Fleetwood Mac song)|Dragonfly]]" b/w "The Purple Dancer" in the UK and certain European countries, but despite good notices in the press, it was not a success. In 1971, [[Columbia Records|CBS Records]], which now owned Fleetwood Mac's original record company Blue Horizon (except in the US and Canada), released the band's third compilation album, ''[[The Original Fleetwood Mac]]'', containing previously unreleased material from 1967 and 1968.

While on a US tour in February 1971, Jeremy Spencer said he was going out to "get a magazine" but never returned. After several days of frantic searching, the band discovered that Spencer had joined a religious group, the [[Children of God (cult)|Children of God]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Fong-Torres|first1=Ben|title=Fleetwood Mac Stolen Away:Guitarist Jeremy Spencer leaves the band mysteriously just before their American tour|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/fleetwood-mac-stolen-away-19710318|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=18 March 1971|access-date=14 February 2017|archive-date=15 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215124210/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/fleetwood-mac-stolen-away-19710318|url-status=live}}</ref> The band were liable for the remaining shows on the tour and asked Peter Green to step in as a replacement. Green brought along his friend [[Nigel Watson]], who played the [[congas]] (twenty-five years later Green and Watson collaborated again to form the [[Peter Green Splinter Group]]), and insisted on playing only new material and none he had written. Green and Watson played the last week of the tour, with a show in San Bernardino on 20 February 1971 being recorded. Green did not want to re-join the band permanently and a search for a guitarist to replace Spencer began after the tour was completed.<ref>SPL 1046 Stony Plain Records LP "White Skies" 1981 liner notes</ref>

In the summer of 1971, the band held auditions for a replacement guitarist at their large country home, "Benifold", which they had jointly bought with their manager Davis for £23,000 ({{Inflation|UK|23000|1970|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}{{Inflation-fn|UK}}) prior to the ''Kiln House'' tour.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/benifold.htm|title=Benifold|website=fleetwoodmac.net|access-date=8 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927041715/http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/benifold.htm|archive-date=27 September 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> A friend of the band, Judy Wong, recommended her high school friend [[Bob Welch (musician)|Bob Welch]], who was living in Paris, France, at the time. The band held a few meetings with Welch and decided to hire him, without actually playing with him, after they heard a tape of his songs.<ref name="Brunning, B 1998 p37">Brunning, B (1998): Fleetwood Mac – The First 30 Years. London: Omnibus Press p37</ref>

In September 1971, the band released their fifth studio album, ''[[Future Games]]''. As a result of Welch's arrival and Spencer's departure, the album was different from anything they had done previously, with the band moving further away from their blues rock roots towards a more melodic rock style, and vocal harmonies starting to become a key part of their sound. While it became the band's first studio album to miss the charts in the UK, it helped to expand the band's appeal in the United States. In Europe, CBS released Fleetwood Mac's first ''[[Greatest Hits (1971 Fleetwood Mac album)|Greatest Hits]]'' album in late 1971.

In 1972, six months after the release of ''Future Games'', the band released their sixth studio album, ''[[Bare Trees]]''. Mostly composed by Kirwan, ''Bare Trees'' featured the Welch-penned single "[[Sentimental Lady]]", which would be a much bigger hit for Welch five years later when he re-recorded it for his solo album ''[[French Kiss (Bob Welch album)|French Kiss]]'', backed by Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie. ''Bare Trees'' also featured "Spare Me a Little of Your Love", a Christine McVie song that became a staple of the band's live act throughout the early to mid-1970s.

While the band was doing well in the studio, their tours started to be problematic. By 1972, Kirwan had developed an alcohol dependency and was becoming alienated from Welch and the McVies. In August 1972, before a concert on a US tour, Kirwan smashed his Gibson [[Les Paul Custom]] guitar and refused to go on stage. The band played the show as a quartet, after which Kirwan criticised their performance, and he was subsequently fired from the band.<ref name="brunning">{{cite book | author-link=Bob Brunning | first=Bob | last=Brunning | title=Fleetwood Mac: Behind the Masks | publisher=New English Library | year=1990 | location=London | isbn=0-450-53116-3 | oclc=22242160}}</ref> Fleetwood said later that the pressure had become too much for Kirwan, and he had suffered a breakdown.<ref name="Farber">{{cite web |last1=Farber |first1=Jim |title=Fleetwood Mac's Forgotten Hero |url=https://web.musicaficionado.com/main.html#!/article/fleetwood_macs_forgotten_hero_by_jimfarber |website=Music Aficionado |access-date=5 December 2018 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170805005553/https://web.musicaficionado.com/main.html%23!/collection/alexlifeson-1457922214322#!/article/fleetwood_macs_forgotten_hero_by_jimfarber |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following Kirwan's departure, the band recruited guitarist [[Bob Weston (guitarist)|Bob Weston]] and vocalist [[Dave Walker]], the latter formerly of [[Savoy Brown]] and [[The Idle Race|Idle Race]].<ref name="Music Legends">{{cite web|publisher=Music Legends|url=http://musiclegends.ca/interviews/dave-walker-interview-black-sabbath/|title=Dave Walker Interview|access-date=6 May 2013|date=30 December 2011|last=Saulnier|first=Jason|archive-date=6 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006223626/http://musiclegends.ca/interviews/dave-walker-interview-black-sabbath/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bob Weston was well known as a slide guitarist and had known the band from his touring period with [[Long John Baldry]]. Fleetwood Mac also hired Savoy Brown's road manager, John Courage. Fleetwood, the McVies, Welch, Weston and Walker recorded the band's seventh studio album, ''[[Penguin (album)|Penguin]]'', which was released in January 1973. After the subsequent tour the band fired Walker because they felt his vocal and performance style did not fit well with the rest of the band.<ref>{{cite web|title=Happy 45th: Fleetwood Mac, Penguin|url=https://www.rhino.com/article/happy-45th-fleetwood-mac-penguin|website=Rhino|access-date=12 April 2019|archive-date=12 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412185548/https://www.rhino.com/article/happy-45th-fleetwood-mac-penguin|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:mysteryband2.jpg|thumb|Fleetwood Mac in 1973 with [[Christine McVie]], Mick Fleetwood, [[Bob Weston (guitarist)|Bob Weston]], John McVie and [[Bob Welch (musician)|Bob Welch]].]]
The remaining five members carried on and recorded the band's eighth studio album, ''[[Mystery to Me]]'', six months later. This album contained Welch's song "[[Hypnotized (Fleetwood Mac song)|Hypnotized]]", which received airplay on the radio. While ''Mystery to Me'' eventually received a Gold certification from the [[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]], personal problems within the band emerged. The McVies' marriage was under a lot of stress, which was aggravated by their constant working with each other and by John McVie's considerable [[alcohol abuse]].<ref>{{cite web|title="McVie, John." Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 4th ed.|url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/epm/18632|website=Oxford Music Online|access-date=20 July 2014}}</ref>

In 1973, Weston had an affair with Fleetwood's wife [[Jenny Boyd]], sister of [[George Harrison]]'s first wife [[Pattie Boyd]]. Fleetwood found out two weeks into a US tour. His devastation led to the band firing Weston and cancelling the remaining 26 dates of the tour.<ref name="Brunning, B 1998 pp52-54">Brunning, B (1998): Fleetwood Mac – The First 30 Years. London: Omnibus Press pp52-54</ref> The last date played was [[Lincoln, Nebraska]], on 20 October 1973.<ref name="Brunning, B 1998 p54">Brunning, B (1998): Fleetwood Mac – The First 30 Years. London: Omnibus Press p54</ref> In a late-night meeting after that show, the band told their sound engineer that the tour was over and Fleetwood Mac was splitting up.<ref name="Brunning, B 1998 pp54-55">Brunning, B (1998): Fleetwood Mac – The First 30 Years. London: Omnibus Press pp54-55</ref>