Bear's Den: Five Essential Fleetwood Mac Songs
Andrew Davie and Kev Jones of Bear's Den (photo by Andrew Whitton, PR)
The panoramic, stirring songs of Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac inspired Andrew Davie and Kev Jones of Bear's Den when they were writing and recording their second album, Red Earth & Pouring Rain.
Davie and Jones aimed to write a late-night driving album and they succeeded. The pair's long, drowsy journeys on their tour bus, as they traveled city to city and watched America pass by, is reflected in the wistful grandeur of songs like "Red Earth & Pouring Rain," "Emeralds" and "Love Can't Stand Alone."
Davie and Jones, who did an FUV Live session last fall, are especially fond of solo Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. They've even covered "The Chain" on the radio. As Jones observes in his "Five Essential Fleetwood Mac Songs" for FUV Essentials, the beauty and simplicity of tracks like "Dreams" and "Everywhere" are estimable qualities that Bear's Den seek in their own songwriting:
"Dreams," Rumours (1977)
Stevie Nicks banger! This is one of the songs that our sound engineer Scott checks the PA with before each show so we literally listen to this song once a day at full volume! Such a beautifully simple song.
"Rhiannon," Fleetwood Mac (1975)
We love this song. It’s about a goddess/witch from Welsh folklore. We’ve always said Fleetwood Mac would be a straight-up folk band under a different guise.
"The Chain," Rumours (1977)
This is one of our favourite songs to cover. It’s totally hypnotic and the harmonies are out of this world. And the ending is totally brilliant; such an amazing epilogue.
"Never Going Back Again," Rumours (1977)
Lindsey Buckingham at his best. Our tour manager Benny Curnow is a fantastic guitar player and can play this beautiful guitar part. It's a proper pickin' style tune and just sounds amazing.
"Everywhere," Tango in the Night (1987)
Strangely, the intro to this song is something we have obsessed about in Bear’s Den. There’s something totally unique about, we’re still not sure exactly what instrumentation is being used, but the shimmery texture is something that provided a lot of inspiration for the sonic landscapes we tried to create on Red Earth & Pouring Rain.
- Kev Jones of Bear's Den
February 2017
