''Flee'' is an 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 ...

musician

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 ...

credited as "The Jeremy Spencer Band" with particularly strong input from Michael Fogarty. Spencer had been a member of

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 ...

from 1967–71, and this 1979 release was Spencer's third album apart from Fleetwood Mac, and his second recorded while a member of the Children of God.

Background

Spencer was living in Italy in 1977, and had begun to write new songs and work towards forming a new band. He was joined there by Michael Fogarty, whom Spencer considered the perfect partner for his new musical venture, the two having met in the UK in 1975. Fogarty was born in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 1951, and had spent the previous ten years playing in a number of

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

groups.Atlantic Records Publicity Biography – The Jeremy Spencer Band, 1979 This was Spencer's first recorded work in seven years, and was musically far removed from his previous work. It showed his continuing preference for parodying other bands; in this case the songs on side two bear a strong resemblance to the contemporary sound of Fleetwood Mac, i.e. a Californian rock style with female vocalists, and a solid drum sound reminiscent of Mick Fleetwood. Spencer and Fogarty sang on several tracks, but for the hit single "Cool Breeze", the lead vocal was taken by Jeanne Hendricks. Hendricks performed on a number of tracks, and was featured in the album photographs, but was not credited as a vocalist. She also sang with Spencer on the follow-up single, "Travellin'". The album features a heavy disco production treatment given to the songs on side one, which Spencer was very unhappy with.

interviewed by Martin Celmins, Classic Rock magazine, March 2006. "Sunshine" was a reworking of "When I Looked to See the Sunshine" from the Jeremy Spencer and the Children album of 1972. "Cool Breeze" and "Travellin'" were issued as singles in various territories, and "Cool Breeze" charted at Number 21 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary Charts, although the album was not a commercial success. "Flee" was reworked by Spencer as "Refugees" for his 2012 album '' Bend in the Road''.

Track listing

Side one: #"Deeper" (David Rugely) #"Sunshine" (

) #"Love Our Way Outta Here" (Michael Fogarty) Side two: #"Flee" (Spencer, Fogarty) #"Cool Breeze" (Fogarty, Spencer) #"You've Got the Right" (Fogarty, Spencer) #"Travellin'" (Fogarty, Spencer)

Personnel

The Jeremy Spencer Band *Jeremy Spencer –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

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 ...

*Michael Fogarty –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, vocals *Jeanne Hendricks – vocals on side 2, lead vocal on "Cool Breeze" *Jeff Schoen – keyboards * Neil Jason –

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 ...

*Al Izzo –

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 ...

*Buzz Buchanan – drums *Victor "Coco" Salazar –

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 ...

*"The Songbirds" – backing vocals on side 1

Production

*Produced by Jeremy Spencer and Michael Fogarty *Executive producer – Ahmet Ertegün *Tracks 1–3 produced in association with Silvio Tancredi and Israel Sanchez, mixed with the use of the Aphex Aural Exciter *Tracks 1–3 arranged by Armando Noriega with vocal concepts by Phil Anastasi *Tracks 4–7 arranged by Jeremy Spencer and Michael Fogarty

References

Other reference material

Classic Rock magazine interview
(by Martin Celmins), March 2006 (hosted by xFamily.org) {{Authority control Jeremy Spencer albums 1979 albums Atlantic Records albums