Happy 2008 Video Birthday to Bob Welch, Guitarist and Songwriter Extraordinaire

by Robert Wilkinson

Though many people have never heard of singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bob Welch, millions have heard his instantly identifiable haunting, melodic songs. Whether ballads or rockers, this is the guitar slinger who fronted Fleetwood Mac in the years between the original 60s neo-psychedelic blues group founded by Peter Green and the mega-hit making machine of the mid-70s featuring Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham. Today I have a few excellent videos of this extraordinary talent.

He was guitarist on Fleetwood Mac albums "Future Games" (1971), "Bare Trees" (1972), "Penguin" (1973), "Mystery to Me" (1973), and "Heroes are Hard to Find" (1974). This phenomenally talented Leo wrote such masterpieces as "Sentimental Lady," "Hypnotized," "Ebony Eyes," "Future Games," "Lay It All Down," and "Emerald Eyes." I could only find a few post-Fleetwood Mac videos, but they're well worth the watch.

So for your mid-Summer birthday concert by stellar Leo Bob Welch, here are:

Ebony Eyes Live at Cal Jam 2 in 1978 (with Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood!)

Ebony Eyes Music video.

Hypnotized Performance.

Sentimental Lady Music video. (Getting this to play through from start to finish is a bit of a hassle. You probably want to put it on pause for about 3-4 minutes when it first begins, since the stream will halt from time to time if you just try to play it through. I did this, then clicked back to the beginning when it was about 2/3 done, allowing me to view it uninterruptedly the second time through.)

It's What You Don't Say Performance.

Two To Do Performance

I'll Dance Alone Music video.

Happy Birthday, Bob. You've written some amazing songs that people will listen to forever.

© Copyright 2008 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Dennis]

Robert,
It's really a pleasure to find out you know about the pre-1975 Fleetwood Mac(s) and especially about Bob Welch, and how important he was to keeping FM afloat during the early 70s. My two favorite songs of his are on the otherwise not-so-hot Penguin album: Bright Fire and Night Watch. Happy birthday to Bob Welch!
Dennis