Fleetwood Mac’s back catalogue is famously deep, but one of its most crucial architects has long remained in the shadows. Like Crying: The Songs of Danny Kirwan, a new 23-track digital compilation released by Warner Records on 16 May 2025, finally offers overdue recognition to a guitarist and songwriter who helped shape the band’s most adventurous years.
Between 1968 and 1972, Danny Kirwan was central to Fleetwood Mac’s transformation from British blues merchants into something far more expansive and melodic. Like Crying draws from that pivotal period, collecting songs from Then Play On (1969), Kiln House (1970), Future Games (1971) and Bare Trees (1972).
A compilation that tells a story
Standout tracks like Coming Your Way, Like Crying, Woman of 1000 Years, Tell Me All the Things You Do and Bare Trees showcase Kirwan’s distinctive guitar phrasing and melancholy songwriting voice. His use of melodic lines, vibrato and open tunings gave the band a tone that was both fragile and inventive.
The compilation also includes rarities such as Dragonfly, Purple Dancer, and Trinity, now available digitally for the first time.
For Fleetwood Mac fans who dismiss the pre-Buckingham/Nicks years as “the wilderness,” Like Crying makes the case for a re-listen.
The heart of a transitional Fleetwood Mac
When Peter Green departed Fleetwood Mac in 1970, it was Kirwan who stepped up, pushing the band into a more introspective and textured direction. His songs often borrowed from poetry – Rupert Brooke and WH Davies among them. Tracks such as Child of Mine and Dust hint at personal heartbreak that, as we are told by his bandmates, Kirwan rarely spoke about.
Christine McVie once called him “a one-off… the white English blues guy,” praising his “precise, piercing vibrato” and emotional depth. Mick Fleetwood was even more emphatic:
“Danny’s true legacy will forever live on in the music he wrote and played so beautifully as a part of the foundation of Fleetwood Mac that has now endured for over fifty years.”
A career cut short; a legacy rebuilt
Kirwan’s story doesn’t end well. After a breakdown in 1972 (he smashed his guitar, refused to play, and was fired), he disappeared from music almost entirely. A failed solo career gave way to years of homelessness and mental illness. When he died in 2018, aged 68, Fleetwood Mac’s official statement was one of fondness and regret. His name rarely made it onto “Best of” lists, but his influence is deeply felt.
Like Crying doesn’t attempt to reframe Danny Kirwan as a superstar. It simply presents the work. And the work speaks for itself. In a band that went through near-constant reinvention, Kirwan was a crucial bridge from the blues past to the mega stardom of Fleetwood Mac’s future.
Full track listing
Like Crying: The Songs of Danny Kirwan
1. Coming Your Way
2. When You Say
3. One Sunny Day
4. Although the Sun Is Shining
5. Without You
6. My Dream
7. Like Crying
8. World in Harmony
9. Station Man
10. Jewel Eyed Judy
11. Earl Gray
12. Tell Me All the Things You Do
13. Dragonfly
14. Purple Dancer
15. Woman of 1000 Years
16. Sands of Time
17. Sometimes
18. Trinity
19. Child of Mine
20. Sunny Side of Heaven
21. Bare Trees
22. Danny’s Chant
23. Dust
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