Flee (album)

Flee is an album by British blues rock musician Jeremy Spencer, who was a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1967-71, and "The Jeremy Spencer Band" (composed of members of the Children of God cult), with particularly strong input from Michael Fogarty. Released in 1979, this is Spencer's third album apart from Fleetwood Mac, and his second recorded while a member of the Children of God.

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 whole of Side 2 bears an astonishing resemblance to the contemporary sound of Fleetwood Mac, i.e. a breezy Californian rock style with female vocalists, and a solid thumping drum sound reminiscent of Mick Fleetwood. A coincidence seems unlikely given Spencer's past membership of that band, and the fact that his female vocalists are credited as "The Songbirds"—"Songbird" (includes singer Shelley) was a very popular Fleetwood Mac song from the Rumours album just a couple of years earlier.

The album features a heavy disco treatment given to the songs on Side 1, which Spencer was very unhappy with.

"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 but without great success, and the album was a commercial failure.

Track listing

Side One:

1. "Deeper" (Rugely)
2. "Sunshine" (Spencer)
3. "Love Our Way Outta Here" (Fogarty)

Side Two:

1. "Flee" (Spencer/Fogarty)
2. "Cool Breeze (Fogarty/Spencer)
3. "You've Got The Right" (Fogarty/Spencer)
4. "Travellin'" (Fogarty/Spencer)

Personnel

• Jeremy Spencer - vocals, guitar
• Michael Fogarty - keyboards, vocals
• Jeff Schoen - keyboards
• Neal Jason - Bass Guitar
• Al Izzo - drums
• Buz Buchanan - drums
• Victor Salazar - percussion
• "The Songbirds" - vocals
  • Shelley
  • Etc.

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)