Sure the Fleetwood Mac with Buckingham/Nicks had the most sales but it still is the Peter Green Led Mac that hardcore Mac fans remember the best. Early Fleetwood Mac albums were on Epic (tho Sire Records cherry picked the best of that era to a decent overview) and more hardcore blues, but each album Green was eventually beginning to get bored of the blues and playing more introspective songs to which would come all together on their Reprise debut Then Play On. Quite moody and isolated were the songs Closing My Eyes and Show Biz Blues, to which the US version had afterwards. The UK version jumbles the songs to which is missing that ebb and flow that made the US album better. However, The Green Maharishi is on the UK version. Nevertheless, Oh Well pretty much sums up what Green was feeling at that time, Part 1, some of the more hardest rocking grooves they ever did and part 2 which sounds like A spaghetti western and the feeling about being out in the desert for a long long time.
I remember buying Then Play On after meeting Amy at Showbiz Pizza and she wasn't getting along with her boyfriend at that time. While she was calling in the middle of the night, pissing off my mom, Then Play On was in the background. I basically knew that what we had was not going to last and so this became my go to album when things weren't going well for the both of us. History did showed that Amy would eventually get back together. And I would be a useless footnote in her life.
Peter Green started out playing in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers band and played on A Hard Road. And then joined up with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie to start the Mac with Jeremy Spencer, a hard core Elmore James fan. However, Green did come up with the stunning Black Magic Woman, the sheer beauty of Albatross and the brooding Man Of The World. And Of course, Then Play On, however with that, a concert to which a bunch of hippies overtook Green and sent him into a whole different world. Green would issued End Of The Game and would be silent for eight years.
I never did hear much of his Splinter group albums that brought him back into the music spotlight. It just wasn't the same anymore, but Green did lead a pretty good music life before passing away in his sleep friday night at age 73. He has finally found God and peace in his world.
Annie Ross passing:
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/22/894112242/annie-ross-mid-century-jazz-icon-dead-at-89
One hell of a woman who lived a full life. The Marianne Faithful of jazz.
2 comments:
Big fan of PG's "Oh Well" and "The Green Manalishi." Haven't heard enough of the rest of Mac's blues period to really comment knowledgably.
I posted an update at TAD's Back-Up Plan on July 26th. If anybody notices, I may come back to write about music and books here at Blogger. Getting pretty sick of the BS, stupidity and negativity at Facebook.
Hope you are well. Take care of yourself!
Fleetwood Mac's blues albums have some merit, tho Jeremy Spencer's recycling Elmore James's riff gets a bit tiring after a while. They had to expand their horizons so to speak. I still think Then Play On, is the best of the Peter Green years.
With Beaker Street back again on radio, Record World has come alive. I still get a kick out of trying to see what I can come up for 45 finds, I really haven't return on a regular basis. Facebook has become a farce and to be honest, none of the blogs I write over there people read all that much. Somehow this month, I'm a hit in Turkmenistan, 1417 hits in that region, more so than the US. Go figure.
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