Precious Little

Amazon.com Jeremy Spencer was part of the creative heart of the original, pre-Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac--a talented songwriter and slide guitar foil to the estimable Peter Green, blessed with the sweet, high voice of a teen idol. Thirty-five years after his departure from the band to find God, and twenty-seven since his last solo recording, Spencer still has that angelic voice and a touch on slide guitar that makes Precious Little the comeback blues album of 2006. A few songs do misfire. "Bitter Lemon" has a clichéd premise, but Spencer's buttery ease on the slide resonator is spellbinding. And "Psychic Waste," which lays humanity's sorry state at the feet of the entertainment industry, is flatly delusional. Yet his "Trouble and Woe" is remarkable: a deep song about wanting and loneliness with twined guitar and harmonica melodies that moan out the tune's sad emotional core. Elmore James's "It Hurts Me Too" and "Bleeding Heart" shimmer with authenticity as Spencer slows them down to let his unhurried, dark-toned slide take command. And the title track, which recalls Mark Knopfler's post-Dire Straits work with an arrangement built around gentle electric guitar fingerpicking, is a song of faith and pilgrimage befitting the former rock star's hard-won spiritual orientation. --Ted Drozdowski Jeremy Spencer with Fleetwood Mac Product Description "Precious Little" represents a sensational comeback for Jeremy Spencer, one of the original members of Fleetwood Mac, whose signature slide guitar and vocals helped define the early sound of that legendary group. After thirty years, with his chops fully intact, Jeremy has returned with a stunning new album that easily equals any of his early triumphs. As his former bandmate, Mick Fleetwood, remarked after hearing "Precious Little", "Great! All the passion, humour, poignancy, and yes, the magic touch. Congratulations on a righteous album." Review This is pure, unadulterated blues straight from the heart of an artist whose return is so welcome, and so needed. --Jeff Johnson (Chicago Sun Times)