Peter Green in his heyday [Archive]

pcutt

10-10-2008, 09:43 PM

I read a biography of Fleetwood Mac in which it said that in the late 60s (or very early 70s, I don't recall which) they were the 2nd biggest band in Great Britain. That's huge! When you consider the other obvious bands like the Beatles, Stones, Who and maybe Zeppelin, it's easy to put in perspective. That's some serious stardom to contend with!

james russell

10-10-2008, 10:03 PM

Thanks for the link. I watched every video.

I had a double album called Fleetwood Mac in Chicago/Blues Jam when I was in high school in '69 or '70. As I recall, it was a double album with several tunes done with just acoustic guitar and Peter's vocals. Man, that was great stuff. His vocals can be just haunting. Great talent.

James

shngn7

10-10-2008, 11:28 PM

Awesome link! Those videos are great. I just got into the Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac recently and can't believe what I have been missing out on. I love his tone and feel. So raw and expressive. Great voice too.

KBR

10-11-2008, 12:47 AM

One of the Best, No Question...I like His Tone, maybe the Best,
(sorry Jimi & Stevie)

Caretaker

10-11-2008, 01:23 AM

One of the Best, No Question...I like His Tone, maybe the Best,
(sorry Jimi & Stevie)
One of the few guitar players with a tone you know instantly that there are no (thankfully) blatant clones of. Bloomfield and Kossoff also in this catagory. Truly amazing and original.

dead mike

10-11-2008, 01:46 AM

he couldnt handle the acid, not the spotlight. too bad, i also think he had the best tone

paraedolia

10-11-2008, 03:18 AM

Very cool. Boy could sure play...he had a little resurgence recently too, got himself together and was gigging and recording...anyone know what happened?
He sure doesn't look healthy in that last clip on that page...kinda weird hearing the glib and vacuous BBC announcer (Jimmy Saville if you care) introducing him.

Poppa Stoppa

10-11-2008, 04:46 AM

AlChuck, thank you very much for posting this thread - I have loved Greeny's playing and of course the early Mac band since I was a teenager in the sixties. I thought I'd heard pretty much every track out there but as a result of clicking onto the link you provided I found a cut I'd never heard before - what appears to be a wonderful bootleg recording of Greeny & the band in their prime. Audio plus band photos on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgY9eEFiYM

Peter Green & Fleetwood Mac
'I've Got A Mind To Give Up Living / All Over Again'
Live In The Warehouse, New Orleans, LA 01/31/70

Incredible tone, great playing! I'd love to find that whole show!

Poppa Stoppa

10-11-2008, 05:13 AM

Here's another relative rarity - the first half of this is 'Greeny', an instrumental track he cut with Fleetwood & Mac while still with John Mayall. It was on the 1969 Decca sampler album 'The World of Blues Power':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTp10hzfswk&feature=related

winkofaneye

10-11-2008, 05:45 AM

He made a comeback in the 90's,recorded a few albums.I went to see him in concert,and I have to say it was sad to watch.He had another player with him,Nigel Watson I think his name was,and he played 99% of the solos,which were note for note Peter Green solos from the original tracks.Peter also sang very quietly,and unintelligably.I am a fan,but alot of the audience shouted things derogatory in his direction,and I think were disgruntled at paying what was a very high ticket price at the time.One heckler screamed 'I'm not paying for your therapy Peter,just play' which was unduly harsh.He just didnt seem with it at all.I dont know what he's doing now,I know he released quite a good Robert Johnson covers album,and there was a documentary on his recovery,which showed Clapton meeting up with him.Incidently,his band that evening was Cozy Powell,drums;Neil Murray(Whitesnake/Sabbath),bass;Nigel Watson,gtr/vocals;and Peter.I cant remember if they had a keyboard player.This was shortly before Cozy was killed in a car crash.I know Peter fell out with Nigel,and the band broke up.Here's a wiki link-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Green_Splinter_Group

so the keyboard player was Spike Edney.

Gasp100

10-11-2008, 05:59 AM

I remember seeing a cool documentary on Fleetwood Mac where they did spend some decent time on the Peter Green years. That story of the whole acid thing is just crazy. Didn't he and another guy go to this after party and get served some type of LSD cocktail and then never came out of it normal again? Scary sh*t (unfortunately in my younger <stupid> years I recall an incident where I didn't think thing were going to be "normal" again one night
:barf1)

skydog

10-11-2008, 09:26 AM

fenderball

10-11-2008, 09:33 AM

i loved that album! i remember it as fleetwood mac in chicago
lots of great pics inside album cover, etc...

Thanks for the link. I watched every video.

I had a double album called Fleetwood Mac in Chicago/Blues Jam when I was in high school in '69 or '70. As I recall, it was a double album with several tunes done with just acoustic guitar and Peter's vocals. Man, that was great stuff. His vocals can be just haunting. Great talent.

James

straticus

10-11-2008, 09:33 AM

Saw this today:

http://tinyurl.com/4nxu39

I'd never seen Greenie perform before, and was amazed at how magnetic he was. Check these out...

I get an error?

fenderball

10-11-2008, 09:50 AM

good stuff..no doubt....

Saw this today:

http://tinyurl.com/4nxu39

I'd never seen Greenie perform before, and was amazed at how magnetic he was. Check these out...

fenderball

10-11-2008, 09:51 AM

gotta read the instructions on the error..it says type a. before the rest of the url...then it works

I get an error?

daddyo

10-11-2008, 10:17 AM

On AlChucks's link, listen to I Need Your Love So Bad. I think Green is the only Brit who truly could play blues convincingly. All the others were great but they created a new style, blues rock, which was a little different.

Green had a nice voice too. The Mac was a great band, too. I guess it was inevitable the Fleetwood and McVie would have mega success a decade later.

Syd Barrett was another casualty of LSD.

AlexF

10-11-2008, 10:20 AM

Not to start a war, but here's Mike Bloomfield's version and he tears it up.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/toolbar/#topic=Blues%20music&url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Fwatch%2 53Fv%253DJToxDFwSqCw

I couldnt see the original clips above, but if it was this one from the Warehouse New Orleans
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgY9eEFiYM
sorry, but the bloomfield version doesnt come close in any respect to my ears... Perhaps its good we all like different things?
Al

straticus

10-11-2008, 10:30 AM

gotta read the instructions on the error..it says type a. before the rest of the url...then it works

Sweet!

jeffhef

10-11-2008, 07:43 PM

There's a DVD of Fleetwood Mac with PG, Danny Kirwan & Jeremy Spencer that's pretty decent.

http://www.musictap.net/Reviews/PeterGreenFMacBBCDVDA.html

I had it and either loaned it out or lost it. Need to pick it up again.

I love the old FM stuff with PG. One of my favorites if you can find it is Live at the Boston Tea Party. Took me 3 years to find all 3 CD's. The Live at the BBC is pretty good too.

I try to get anything from those days I can find. I've had 3 of his recent CD's and was pretty disappointed. Although...I am glad he's able to play again. What a great player.

Just a note of interest...the guy who bought his Les Paul from gary Moore is in Charlotte about 30 minutes from me. There was some controversy but the word is he paid 1 Million to Gary for it.

All of these guys are still alive. This is the reunion I'D LIKE TO SEE!!!!

jeffhef

57special

10-11-2008, 08:48 PM

Poppa Stoppa,
I'd never heard Greeny before, Amazing! Interesting how he still had his trademark tone, even with a strat.

wombat66

10-11-2008, 09:24 PM

not in his heyday, in fact just a few months ago,

but this version of Albatross still sounds great and you can actually see how plays it.

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2008/10/peter_green_plays_for_you_1.html

Delboy

10-12-2008, 02:42 AM

I just signed up here and started browsing and within a matter of seconds came across 2 posts about one of my favourite guitar players of all time! Wonderful stuff!!

There's no doubt that, had bad acid not taken its toll along with his mistrust of everything to do with stardom, Peter Green would have been as big a name as Clapton, Page, Beck, etc. That was one fated band - but such a talented bunch that it was almost inevitable that it would end in tears.

I've got loads of the early Mac material and even their out-takes are fantastic to listen to. I also have a dvd of the Peter Green Splinter Group and although it's interesting and Peter still can play, it's quite sad to see the condition he was in then - his singing was very weak (which is so sad cos he had a great voice back in the 60's).

As an aside, I always thought that it was disappointing that he wasn't included in the lineup for John Mayall's 70th birthday concert which had Clapton and Mick Taylor featured. Peter was notable for his absence. I wonder why?

Red Suede

10-12-2008, 10:55 AM

I've always preferred the british regurgitation of the blues. The tones always were better for me.

karmadave

10-12-2008, 11:11 AM

Here's a couple of recent PG video clips:

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2008/10/peter_green_plays_for_you_1.html

Definitely not the Peter Green of old, but he certainly can still play. Albatross is haunting.

Also, there is much miss-information regarding Peter's decent into madness. It seems that while psychedelic drugs, like LSD, were a factor, Peter suffers from Schizophrenia. To suggest that Peter's problems are solely due to acid is a mistake. His mental illness is the reason he left Fleetwood Mac and was institutionalized.

I have a copy of the New Orleans boot. It's outstanding. PM me if you'd like a copy...

-KD

AlexF

10-12-2008, 12:25 PM

johan

10-12-2008, 01:36 PM

I think he's back in England now after living nearby here in Sweden for a couple of years.
I caught him on his tour with Nigel Watson and although it was 95% NW, suddenly PG "woke up" and it was amazing. The rest of the time he was shy and didn't know where to start on the fretboard

jeffhef

10-12-2008, 07:32 PM

becomes chicken and egg.
Al

This is very true!! LSD when someone is already pyschologically questionable is definitely enough to put them into a bad state.

-jeffhef

bluesjunior

10-12-2008, 11:47 PM

karmadave, yes the new orleans boot is awesome, perhaps the best boot i've ever heard, reputedly an owsley soundboard recording. regarding the contribution of drugs to peter's personal problems - if you read the books it would seem he was pretty much instantly changed after a drug fuelled encounter with some german people he met. if true, that would sound like a pretty significant contribution to me. the schizophrenia therefore becomes chicken and egg.
Al

In the BBC documentary on Fleetwod Mac a few years back both Mcvie and Fleetwood mention the fact that on a tour in Germany someone gave PG some acid which did something to him and that after the fact he was never the same again and started wanting to give all the bands money away etc etc. Truly a shame as he was undoubtedly much more than a blues guitarist Greeny. In the words of B.B.King no less," Peter Green is the only guitar player who ever gave me goosebumps."

bluesjunior

10-12-2008, 11:58 PM

playon

10-13-2008, 12:32 AM

Yeah man - at that time there was no one more electric or as expressive as him - on vocals or guitar.

Except for maybe Otis Rush... ;)

:mob

OK, I just had to get that off my chest, sorry guys. That modern version of "Albatross" is great. Just goes to show you, when it comes to gear, it's more about the guy that's driving the boat. He makes that Epiphone sound great...

Lightningrt

10-13-2008, 05:23 AM

Bin a fan for years and years, have the [original] vinyl Blues Jam at Chess and numerous CDs - which have been re-issued with numerous out-takes/bonus tracks.

Loved that link to Mojo magazine too. If you listen to the early stuff - Blues Breakers, for example, Peter's BB King influences are quite strong. His tone - the use of the Les Paul into a Fender amp -contrast with the tones that Clapton, Page, Beck and Townshend were pioneering at a similar time. They were going for overdriven Marshalls or using Treble Boosters, Peters tone was just Les Paul into Fender - more American really. Plus we know about the reverse out of phase thingy don't we?

I think that out of the three Bluesbreaker guitarists of the era - Clapton, Taylor and Green, Peter's tone and style developed more after he left than the others. He was quite un-developed during his time with John Mayall, but by the time he left Mac he was a true master.

wildschwein

10-13-2008, 05:31 AM

Bit of biographical stuff here: http://www.fmlegacy.com/Bios/biopeter.html
and http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004218/Peter-Green.html

AlexF

10-13-2008, 11:22 AM

Peter Green and Otis Rush, wow it doesnt come much better than those two names...
Al

miketv

10-13-2008, 02:35 PM

Peter Green's thoughts on 'the Munich incident',
" I was down in the cellar of this country house playing music with some other people. I had taken LSD and was playing my guitar through a wah-wah pedal...it felt like I was breaking through the blues notation I'd been playing for years into something new. The drummer was playing a rhythm which was very different to any blues rhythm. The people I stayed with gave me a tape of some of my playing that day and I kept listening to it from time to time afterwards. I wish I could hear it again today but I accidently left it in America a few years later."
He also came across as being tired with the whole blues/ keep-the-hits-coming world that he found himself in at the time, and expressed a desire to pursue other musical directions more in the style of the song 'Underway' from "Then Play On".
He also had this to say on the 'Chess sessions', "I was looking forward to meeting Willie Dixon especially, but we just didn't click- not musically or in any other way". A fairly despondent Peter Green.
These days, he apparently divides his time between music, fishing and drawing.
He spends a few weeks a year visiting friends in Spain for a week solid of playing and practice solely based around friendship and music. Open-ended. Zero-pressure.

THebert

10-13-2008, 05:36 PM

Thanks for the link. Peter Green gave a sense of vulnerability on stage that many either don't have or would not reveal on stage.

JDW3

10-16-2008, 03:18 PM

I found an old magazine in which Peter said he had taken some strong mescaline. He then saw a vision of an angel. A baby then appeared in the angels arm. The angel asked Peter to give all his money away to charity. Mick disagreed with this, so Peter quit the band. Something to that effect.

I seen PG in late '90s (Splinter Group)and he was actually very good. He sang loud and strong. Played every guitar solo. The funny thing was, when he would hit a single note, sometimes he would look to the ceiling to his left, as if the note was being beamed in. Pretty wild.