Australian singles chart:
Albatross entered the Kent charts on 22 February 1969 and peaked at #12. The record was #74 on the Top 100 of 1969.
Songwriter:
Peter Green
Producer:
Mike Vernon
Record label of Australian release:
CBS
Wikipedia:
Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk (1959) reportedly inspired Peter Green for his instrumental Albatross. In Green’s biography, an early inspiration for Albatross was said to have been “a group of notes from an Eric Clapton solo, played slower.”
The composition and its arrangement suggest a relaxing sea setting, with cymbals imitating the sound of waves. Mick Fleetwood played his drum kit using timpani mallets to give a muted sound and Green’s guitar provided a dreamy solo.
The instrumental was recorded by the original line-up of Fleetwood Mac: Peter Green (guitar), Danny Kirwan (guitar), John McVie (bass) and Mick Fleetwood (drums).
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatross_(instrumental)
Songfacts:
An albatross is a bird that sailors believed brought bad luck, hence the expression “An albatross around your neck.” The albatross appears in the poem The Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge. Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green read the poem as a child, which gave him the idea for the song.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/fleetwood-mac/albatross
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