Then Play On is the third studio album by the British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 19 September 1969.

Although still an official band member at the time, Jeremy Spencer did not feature on the album apart from "a couple of piano things" (according to Mick Fleetwood in Q magazine in 1990).

The label would be the band's home until their self-titled 1975 album, after which they signed to Reprise's parent company Warner Records.

Fleetwood Mac's previous albums had been recorded live in the studio[9] and adhered strictly to the blues formula.

[1] Jeremy Spencer attended some of the studio sessions and attempted to record a few things for Then Play On, but none of his contributions appeared on any of the album's original tracks.

[14][15] In a 1989 interview with Musician magazine, John McVie labeled this EP as his favorite material he ever recorded with Fleetwood Mac.

[19] Green, the de facto band leader at the time, delegated half of the songwriting to bandmate Danny Kirwan.

[23] Kirwan played all of the guitar parts on "Coming Your Way", "My Dream" and "Although the Sunshine is Shining" as Green wanted him become more independent and proficient in the recording studio.

[9] Green told Gianluca Tramontana of Rolling Stone in a 2001 interview that "Underway" was a free-form composition that was created collectively by the band through jamming, adding that "it was what I used to play before I had my problems.

[14] "Before the Beginning", a Green composition, was first developed in January 1969 during the recording sessions that later produced the band's "Man of the World" single.

At the time, "Before the Beginning" was titled "Blues in B flat minor" and lacked the vocals found on the Then Play On recording.

[30] Davis had also recorded a cover of Green's "Before the Beginning" with members of Fleetwood Mac serving as his backing band.

[29][31][32] The recording was adorned with orchestral overdubs and coupled with a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Man of the World", both of which were released in October.

[25] Vernon agreed with Green's assessment and said that he felt "disappointed" with the album due to his belief that it sounded too "synthetic".

[34] The painting was featured in the February 1917 edition of The Countryside magazine, which noted that the mural was originally designed for the dining room of a London mansion.

Writing for Rolling Stone magazine, John Morthland said Fleetwood Mac had fallen "flat on their faces", and later dismissed the album as mostly "nondescript ramblings".

[38] Melody Maker praised the album, saying that it would "enhance" the Fleetwood Mac's reputation and "surprise anyone who thinks of them as a straight, bashing blues band.

The EP consisted of Spencer's parodies of doo wop ("Ricky Dee and the Angels"), Alexis Korner, country blues ("Texas Slim"), acid rock ("The Orange Electric Squares"), and John Mayall ("Man of Action").