''Kiln House'' is the fourth studio album by British

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

band

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

, released on 18 September 1970 by

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

. This is the first album after the departure of founder Peter Green, and their last album to feature guitarist

Jeremy Spencer Jeremy Cedric Spencer (born 4 July 1948) is a British musician, best known for playing slide guitar and piano in the original line-up of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. A member since Fleetwood Mac's inception in July 1967, he remained with the ...

. Christine McVie was present at the recording sessions and contributed backing vocals, keyboards and cover art, although she was not a full member of the band until shortly after the album's completion.

Background

The album title is taken from the name of a converted

oast house An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. They can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas and are often good examples of vernacular architecture. Many re ...

in Truncheaunts Lane, near

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland *Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

in Hampshire. The house was leased by the band, who lived there communally with their families for a six-month period in 1970. Mick Fleetwood married

Jenny Boyd Helen Mary "Jenny" Boyd (born 8 November 1947) is an English former model, the younger sister of 1960s model and photographer Pattie Boyd (first wife of George Harrison). She quit her modelling career in the 1960s after discovering Transcenden ...

at the house on 20 June 1970. Spencer, who played on only one track during the recording of the previous album, ''

Then Play On ''Then Play On'' is the third studio album by the British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 September 1969. It was the first of their original albums to feature Danny Kirwan (although he is also listed on two tracks on the earlier co ...

'', played a much more active role during the ''Kiln House'' sessions. His retro 1950s homages and parodies dominate the album, although Danny Kirwan's songs are almost equally prominent. "Buddy's Song" is a partial cover of " Peggy Sue Got Married" with new lyrics listing a number of

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

song titles. The song is credited to Buddy Holly's mother, who received the writing credit after Buddy's funeral from the original composer,

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

. An early version of Kirwan's instrumental "Earl Gray", entitled "Farewell", was later released on the compilation ''

The Vaudeville Years ''The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac 1968 to 1970'' (or just ''The Vaudeville Years'') is an album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1998. It was a compilation of outtakes and unreleased tracks from the band's early line ...

''. The album reached 69, on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart on 7 November 1970, and No. 67 in Canada's

RPM Magazine ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''R ...

, December 19, 1970.

Track listing

Hi Ho Silver "Hi Ho Silver" is a song by Scottish singer/songwriter Jim Diamond. It is best known for being the theme song for the British television series ''Boon''. The song was from Diamond's second solo studio album '' Desire for Freedom'', and it reached ...

" (a.k.a. " Honey Hush") incorrectly credited to

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

and

Ed Kirkeby Wallace Theodore "Ed" Kirkeby (October 10, 1891 – June 12, 1978) was an American bandleader, vocalist, manager, and salesman, best remembered as the manager of Fats Waller. He was one of the first recording managers at Columbia Records to ...

, in confusion with another song (Waller died ten years before this song was written). *"Purple Dancer" is referred to as such only on the 2020 remastered album; on all prior releases it is titled "The Purple Dancer".

Personnel

Fleetwood Mac *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, vocals * Danny Kirwan – guitar, vocals * John McVie –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Mick Fleetwood –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Additional personnel * Christine McVie –

Wurlitzer 200A The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

, backing vocals (uncredited) Production *Producer – Fleetwood Mac *Engineer – Martin Birch *Cover drawing – Christine McVie

Charts

References

{{Authority control Fleetwood Mac albums 1970 albums Reprise Records albums Albums produced by John McVie Albums produced by Jeremy Spencer Albums produced by Danny Kirwan Albums produced by Mick Fleetwood