Tag: Peter Green

Peter Green – In The Skies

I like to post on the weekends because I get to expand my musical palette so to speak. I love finding new/old music that I missed in real time. Peter Green’s solo work is new to me. I will continue to go through his albums. I listened to this album this week, but not like I usually do because of time or the lack of. I listened and took the two that stood out. The instrumental Slabo Day and the title cut of the album In The Skies. His guitar tone is beautiful and clear on these songs. 

This is not the Peter Green of Oh Well or The Green Manalishi here. No unhinged guitar howls or walls of feedback. In the Skies is mellow, reflective, and fluid. Peter released 6 solo albums from 1970 to 1983. In The Skies was released in 1979. After what he went through, it’s a miracle we have anything from him. When I listen to it, I get the feeling he wasn’t trying to make a hit; he just wanted to play and record again after 9 years. 

Green had all but disappeared from the public eye after the early ’70s, battling mental health issues and withdrawing from rock and roll entirely. So when In the Skies was released in 79, his first studio album in nearly a decade, it was a re-introduction of him, if anything.

I liked the title cut because there’s an almost spiritual quality there, something you’d expect from someone who went through what he did. I did listen to his next album Little Dreamer. It’s a bit more focused to me and not as free flowing as this one, but I like this one as well. He was getting back into the game with this one and was loose. 

The album peaked at #32 in the UK and #12 in New Zealand in 1979. 

In The Skies

Oh, there’s a way to keep the dark from the lightAnd there’s a way to take the cold out of the nightAnd when I see its glowThe sun and moon are shadowedBy the everlasting day

When I reach up my handTo the loving son of manThe bread of life will keep my soul alive

There’s a place where rivers flow in the streetWhere fruit and healing leaves are seen on a treeWhere emerald walls shine clearAnd golden streets run far and nearBehind the gates where his angels names appear

When I reach up my handTo the loving son of manThe bread of life will keep my soul alive

And he will wipe away the tears from our eyesAs we watch this old world fade when it diesAnd a new one shall comeAnd it will be heavenAnd it’s waiting for us there in the skies

In the skiesIn the skiesIn the skiesIn the skies

…

Fleetwood Mac – Man of the World

And there’s no one I’d rather beBut I just wish that I’d never been born

I have to thank obbverse and CB for their enthusiasm for this version of the band. It really made me look back into their catalog more and find these great songs. This song in particular, really hit me hard lyrically and musically. Incredibly haunting and beautiful.  After a couple of listens, it has stuck with me ever since. 

The more I hear this early stuff by Fleetwood Mac, the more I like it. I knew about it from friends growing up who had these albums, but never really explored them until around 5-6 years ago. This song really shows how much soul Peter Green had in him. This song was part song, part confession, and so genuine. The song peaked at #2 in the UK in 1968. This version of the band was rooted in British blues and driven by the Green.

He wrote this song during a time he was getting wary of the fame, wealth, and the music business. A song that someone who appears to have everything but is lost. Green was battling depression and had begun experimenting heavily with LSD. Within a year, he would walk away from Fleetwood Mac entirely, unable to cope with the spotlight and pressure. What followed was a long period of mental health struggles, hospitalization, and silence for many years.

This song was released as a standalone single in April 1969. It marks one of Green’s most poignant personal songs, a ballad that stands apart from the blues-heavy sound the band was known for during its early years.

Peter Green quit Fleetwood Mac a year after this was released and gave all his money away to charity. He played some with Fleetwood Mac in 1971 but vanished. In 1977, Mick Fleetwood arranged a record deal for Green, but it fell through when Peter refused to sign the contract.

Mick Fleetwood: “It’s a sad song. Had we known what Peter was saying… What’s that line? ‘How I wish that I’d never been born.’ You know, whoa. It’s pregnant with passion, it’s a prayer, it’s a crying out.”

Ian Anderson has a nice cover of this song as well.

Man of the World

Shall I tell you about my lifeThey say I’m a man of the worldI’ve flown across every tideAnd I’ve seen lots of pretty girls

I guess I’ve got everything I needI wouldn’t ask for moreAnd there’s no one I’d rather beBut I just wish that I’d never been born

And I need a good womanTo make me feel like a good man shouldI don’t say I’m a good manOh, but I would be if I could

I could tell you about my lifeAnd keep you amused I’m sureAbout all the times I’ve criedAnd how I don’t want to be sad anymoreAnd how I wish I was in love

Fleetwood Mac – Albatross

Albatross is an instrumental from Fleetwood Mac…the 60’s version of the band with the great guitar player Peter Green. I first heard about the song in a book. The Beatles were recording Abbey Road and they played this song constantly through the sessions. You can hear the reverb effect used on Sun King by Lennon that resembles Albatross. 

When this song was released, Fleetwood Mac was six years away from their pop conversion of the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham era. The lineup on this track was Peter Green (vocals, guitar), John McVie (bass), Danny Kirwan (guitar), and Mick Fleetwood (drums). The song was released on November 22, 1968, with ‘Jigsaw Puzzle Blues’ (written by the band’s James Kirwan) on the B-side.

It remains one of the band’s most recognizable songs from their early blues- period. The song peaked at #1 on the UK Charts, #45 in Canada, and #4 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 Charts (per Wiki) in 1969. Peter Green wrote this song. Albatross was re-released in 1973 peaking at #2 on the UK Charts. In 1989, it was released again and peaked at #96 on the UK Charts…and in 2020-2023 it was released yet again and peaked at #8 on the UK Singles Charts. The song keeps on giving. 

Funny enough…this song remains their only #1 UK song! That surprises me with the later commercial success they had. Few bands could evolve like they did. Genesis is one and David Bowie is another one that pulled off different sounds but remained popular. 

The title came from a bird called The Albatross, which sailors regarded as a sign of bad luck. That is where the saying “like an Albatross around your neck” came from. Green was also influenced by the Santo and Johnny song Sleep Walk…which you can hear that sound in this. Green also said some of it came from notes that Clapton would play with the John Mayall Bluesbreakers on the song The Last Meal but just slowed down. Peter Green would replace Eric in that band. 

Peter Green remains one of my favorite guitar players. My admiration for him has grown through the years. Sleep Walk from Santo and Johnny remains one of my favorite instrumentals and I can hear it in this clearly…makes me like it more. 

Danny Kirwan: Well, that was Monsieur Peter Green – I called him Monsieur, you know – and I played with him. On “Albatross” he told me what to do, all the bits I had to play.

George Harrison: “So we said, ‘Let’s be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross, just to get going.’ It never really sounded like Fleetwood Mac… but that was the point of origin.”

Peter Green talking about LSD and Albatross

Santana – Black Magic Woman ….Under The Covers Tuesday

This song was not written by guitarist Carlos Santana but by the great guitarist for Fleetwood Mac. No not Lindsey Buckingham or Bob Welch…but the great blues guitarist Peter Green. I have to admit I like both versions about the same. Two legendary guitar players make this song come alive. I always thought Santana wrote it until a few years ago.

This song was Santana’s first single from their second album Abraxas. The album was released in 1970. It was a year after their acclaimed appearance at Woodstock. That performance launched Santana into national fame. When Carlos Santana played Woodstock, he had yet not released an album.  He was one of the most unknown artists.  Basically, his manager, Bill Graham, forced the band’s way onto the bill.  A couple of weeks later, riding the great press from his Woodstock performance, Santana released “Black Magic Woman” and the rest is history.

Peter Green made friends with an occult group that dabbled in black magic. In turn, they turned Green on to acid which untimely destroyed him. He left Fleetwood Mac a couple of years after that. Green was probably happy that Santana covered this song. Green was convinced to give all of his money away. The royalties from this song helped him later on to live. He ended up taking jobs wherever he could find work, including one as a grave digger.

Fleetwood Mac’s version peaked at #37 in the UK charts in 1968. It was a non-album single. It later appeared on the band’s 1969 compilation album, The Pious Bird of Good Omen. Fleetwood Mac played the song on their last tour with Stevie Nicks singing it from a woman’s point of view. It just didn’t have the power that the original band did.

Santana’s version peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100 and #4 in Canada in 1970-71.

Christine McVie: “Something snapped in him, he dropped this fatal tab of acid and withdrew. He still has this amazing power, but it’s negative. You don’t want him around. We’ve all cried a lot of tears over Peter. We’ve all spent so much time and energy talking him into more positive channels. He’ll just sit there and laugh. ‘FUCK IT . . .’”

Santana: “I used to go to see the original Fleetwood Mac, and they used to kill me, just knock me out, to me, they were the best blues band.”

Mick Fleetwood: “Three minutes of sustain/reverb guitar with two exquisite solos from Peter.”

Santana AND Green

Black Magic Woman

Got a black magic woman
Got a black magic woman
I’ve got a black magic woman
Got me so blind I can’t see
That she’s a black magic woman
She’s trying to make a devil out of me

Don’t turn your back on me, baby
Don’t turn your back on me, baby
Yes, don’t turn your back on me, baby
Stop messing ’round with your tricks
Don’t turn your back on me, baby
You just might pick up my magic sticks

You got your spell on me, baby
You got your spell on me, baby
Yes, you got your spell on me, baby
Turnin’ my heart into stone
I need you so bad
Magic woman I can’t leave you alone

Robert Johnson – Come On In My Kitchen

This is an old Robert Johnson song that I’ve always liked. I learned about this song from a bootleg of Leon Russell, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton many years ago. Eric wasn’t in the best of shape when this was recorded during the Bangladesh rehearsals. George takes the solo in this blues song and makes it fit really well. I added this version along with Johnson at the bottom of the post.

Robert Johnson recorded it on November 23, 1936, at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas and it was produced by Don Law. Johnson only recorded 29 songs in total with 13 surviving outtakes.  In one hotel room, Johnson performed and in a second adjoining room, the recording equipment was housed.

In 1990 the compilation album The Complete Recordings was released and peaked at #80 in the Billboard Album Charts. It also won a Grammy Award in 1991 for “Best Historical Album. This song has had over 100 known cover versions by other artists.

Robert Johnson was a huge influence on guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Page, Peter Green, Brian Jones, and many more. He sounded different than his peers at the time which could have contributed to him not being better known in the 1930s. His style was ahead of his time and it took til the 1960s for him to catch on. In 1961, King of the Delta Blues Singers was released with 16 of his songs on the album…a generation of musicians was influenced.

Johnson died in 1938 at the age of 27. Some say Johnson had been flirting with a married woman at a dance, and she gave him a bottle of whiskey poisoned by her husband…he died two days after drinking it. That is not known for sure but we will probably never know.

Eric Clapton – His music is like my oldest friend, always in the back of my head and on the horizon. It’s the finest music I’ve ever heard.  I’ve always trusted its purity. And I always will.’ I don’t know what more you could say….”

Bob Dylan: If I hadn’t heard the Robert Johnson record when I did, there probably would have been hundreds of lines of mine that would have been shut down—that I wouldn’t have felt free enough or upraised enough to write.

Come On In My Kitchen

You better come on in my kitchenWell, it’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoorsAh, the woman I love, took from my best friendSome joker got lucky, stole her back againYou better come on in my kitchenIt’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoors

Oh, she’s gone, I know she won’t come backI’ve taken the last nickel out of her nation sackYou better come on in my kitchenIt’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoorsOh, can’t you hear that wind howl?Oh, can’t you hear that wind would howl?You better come on in my kitchenWell, it’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoors

When a woman gets in trouble, everybody throws her down

Lookin’ for her good friend, none can be foundYou better come on in my kitchen

Babe, it’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoorsWintertime’s comin’, it’s gon’ be slowYou can’t make the winter, babe, that’s dry, long, soYou better come on in my kitchen, ’cause it’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoors

Peter Green (1946-2020)

Peter Green has passed away at age 73. I’ve been listening to that version of Fleetwood Mac a lot lately and he was a great guitar player and songwriter.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/fleetwood-mac-co-founder-peter-green-died-2715066

Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green has died at the age of 73.

His family have confirmed his death in a statement released by solicitors Swan Turton, who are acting on their behalf.

“It is with great sadness that the family of Peter Green announce his death this weekend, peacefully in his sleep,” the statement read. “A further statement will be provided in the coming days.”

The guitarist was born in London on October 29, 1946. He played in several bands after beginning to play professionally at the age of 15, including Bobby Dennis And The Dominoes, and The Muskrats.

In 1965, he met drummer Mick Fleetwood while a member of Peter B’s Looners, with whom he would go on to form Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac alongside guitarist Jeremy Spencer. John McVie later replaced Bob Brunning on bass and the band released their self-titled debut album in February 1968.

Fleetwood Mac – Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown)

I heard this song when I was younger. It wasn’t on the radio but a friend of mine who had some old Fleetwood Mac albums. Peter Green was/is a great guitar player and his voice fit the band perfectly.

This is among the last songs Peter Green wrote before quitting the band. A consistent riff carries the rhythm, while Green wails the lyrics. At the time, he was taking a lot of acid, but has always maintained this was about the evils of money.

The song didn’t chart in America but did peak at #10 in the UK in 1969.

Judas Priest covered this on their Hell Bent for Leather album in 1979.

Peter Green: “When I woke up I found I was writing this song. Next day I went out to the park and the words started coming. The Green Manalishi is the wad of notes, the devil is green and he was after me. Fear, inspiration is what it was, but it was that tribal ancient Hebrew thing I was going for. Ancient music.” More recently he admitted, “It took me two years to recover from that song. When I listened to it afterward there was so much power there… it exhausted me.”

From Songfacts

As Green explained in a 1996 interview with Mojo, the song is about the evils of money: the Green Manalishi was the devil manifested as a wad of cash. Green explained: “I had a dream where I woke up and I couldn’t move, literally immobile on the bed. I had to fight to get back into my body. I had this message that came to me while I was like this, saying that I was separate from people like shop assistants, and I saw a picture of a female shop assistant and a wad of pound notes, and there was this other message saying,
‘You’re not what you used to be. You think you’re better than them. You used to be an everyday person like a shop assistant, just a regular working person.’ I had been separated from it because I had too much money. So I thought, How can I change that?”

Peter Green built quite a legend by giving away most of his money. He gave most of his savings to a London-based charity called War On Want, which provided aid to developing nations, mostly in Africa. Green explained: “Last thing at night they used to put pictures on telly of starving people and I used to sit there eating a doughnut and thinking, Why have I got this big stash that I don’t need when probably I’m going to die with it and all this is going on?”

Rumors had it that “Green Manalishi” was a kind of LSD, but Peter Green insists that is was about money. It was based upon a recurrent dream he had in which he woke up unable to move while messages about money formed in his brain. Green recalls:  (from an article by Neil Slaven on Union Square Music)

In retrospect, the song seems like an obvious cry for help from Peter Green, but this wasn’t so clear to his bandmates, who say that his descent was a gradual process, and that they didn’t read so much into this song. “Peter going off the rails was not an immediate thing,” Mick Fleetwood explained. “He left Fleetwood Mac under the most controlled circumstances.”

 

Fleetwood Mac – Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown)

Now, when the day goes to sleep
And the full moon looks
The night is so black that the darkness cooks

Don’t you come creepin’ around
Makin’ me do things I don’t wanna do

Can’t believe that you need my love so bad
Come sneakin’ around tryin’ to drive me mad
Bustin’ in on my dreams
Makin’ me see things I don’t wanna see

‘Cause you’re da Green Manalishi with the two prong crown
All my tryin’ is up, all your bringin’ is down

Just takin’ my love then slippin’ away
Leavin’ me here just tryin’ to keep from followin’ you