Fleetwood Mac, "Kiln House" (Reprise, 1970)

The story of Fleetwood Mac actually is the story of several different bands that share a common name and an ever-present rhythm section, for close to 40 years.

Coincidentally (or not), the bass player, John McVie, and drummer, Mick Fleetwood, are the two fellows for whom the band was named way back in 1967.

At that time, Fleetwood Mac was fronted by Peter Green, who had replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers before deciding to form his own group. The basic trio of British bluesmen later was augmented by guitarists Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan, and the result was an aggregation that pushed the bounds of the blues to new levels, especially on the band's third album, "Then Play On" (1969), which featured the epic "Oh Well."

But Green, one of the most highly regarded guitarists of the day, left the band in mid-1970. Fleetwood Mac soldiered on as a quartet, and the results are captured on just one recording.

"Kiln House," which features a charming cover painted by Christine Perfect (more about her later), usually is glossed over by Fleetwood Mac enthusiasts as an anomaly between the Green era and the tenure of American guitarist Bob Welch.

The album draws quite a bit of inspiration from '50s-era rock 'n' roll, especially the work of Buddy Holly. The opening track, Spencer's "This Is the Rock," sounds like a lost work from the Holly songbook. And the first tune on the original LP's second side, "Buddy's Song," includes many of the legend's song titles within its lyrics and actually is credited to his mother, Ella Holly.

Other tracks also reflect a previous era, especially "Hi Ho Silver" (actually Big Joe Turner's "Honey Hush") and "Mission Bell," a feel-good set-closer that features backing vocals by Miss Perfect, who previously sang with another British blues band, Chicken Shack.

By the time of Fleetwood Mac's next album, "Future Games" (1971), Christine was a full-fledged member of the band, known by her married name, McVie. And Spencer was gone by that time, supplanted by Welch.

Of course, Welch eventually was replaced by a couple of folks named Buckingham and Nicks, but that's another story. This tale dwells on the sole Spencer-Kirwan collaboration, one that's usually ignored - unjustly - in the long history of a legendary rock band.