From: akp1@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Adam K. Powers)
Subject: Re: Peter Green / Fleetwood Mac
Reply-To: akp1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 21:57:28 GMT

I posted this a while back, but I guess the circulation was limited or screwed
up somehow, 'cause I never heard back about it.  _Blues Jam_ is a loose but
very pleasant set of jams with Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, and other Chess
Records regulars.  It was recorded at Chess studios just a few months before
the studio closed down, and the album includes a lot of the on-set chatter
between takes.  Green split with the band when he decided that the rock-n-roll
lifestyle was too wasteful for his tastes, as he had become increasingly
disturbed by the state of the world and the suffering of poor people.  Mick
Fleetwood says in his biography of the band that this 'change' occurred during
the height of the band's acid-daze in late '69 and early '70.  Green began to
play nothing but unstructured, improvisational jams (_End of the Game_), and
jammed with Santana occasionally.  When Jeremy Spencer abandoned ship mid-tour,
Green rejoined briefly, but demanded that the set consist of "Black Magic
Woman" followed by 90 minutes worth of improvisation...

Green took up various odd jobs in England during the 70's, as a gravedigger for
a while, and as a hospital orderly - Fleetwood says that Green never really got
over his spiritual problems tho', and he relates seeing Green after a show on
the '76 tour - Green had become a dissheveled-looking, burned-out relic of his
former self.  When Green decided that he would return to music in '77, he
refused a contract with Warner Brothers (which Mick Fleetwood had set up for
him), and recorded for a British indie that his brother, Mick Green, was a
promoter for (Mick Green co-wrote many of Peter's solo songs).  The new Peter
Green albums were intentionally low-key and a  bit worn-out sounding, but
tastefully done.  I think Green made a short tour through Eurpoe in '82, but by
the mid 80's he droppen out of sight again.  Mick Fleetwood said that he had
heard that Green was living as a vagrant in London by 1990.

I don't have a complete Peter Green discography, but here's a start.  

Peter Green w/ John Mayall:
Title				Label		Comments
-----				-----		--------
A Hard Road (1967)		London		roots of Fleetwood Mac
Looking Back (1969)		London		collection - some cuts w/ Green
Thru the Years (1970)		London		collection - some cuts w/ Green

Green also guests on  _Blues from Laurel Canyon_

Peter Green w/ Fleetwood Mac:
Title				Label		Comments
-----				-----		--------
Peter Green's... (1967)		Blue Horiz.	most traditional of Mac blues
Mr. Wonderful (1968)		Blue Horiz.	more Spencer than Green
English Rose (1968)		Epic		great album! contains Albatross
Pious Bird of Good Omen (1969)	Blue Horiz.	stuff from 2nd & 3rd + singles
Then Play On (1969)		Reprise		Mac moves beyond blues: Oh Well
In Chicago (1970)		Blue Horiz.	jam session at Chess studios
Greatest Hits (1971)		CBS?		contains Green Manalishi
Vintage Years (1975)		Sire		collection of early stuff
The Original... (1977)		Sire		collection of early stuff
Jumping at Shadows (1985)	Varrick		live Boston '69
The Early Years (1986)		Pair		more live Boston '69
Live (1986)			Commander		"
Rattlesnake Shake (1986)	Commander		"
The Blues Collection (?)	?		4 CD set of 60's albums
London Live '68 (1992)		?		audience tape of an Apr.68 show
Live at the Marquee (1992)	?		audience tape of Mac's 2nd gig

One studio cut, World in Harmony, on an old WB sampler, _Middle of the Road_
Green also guests on _Penguin_ (Nightwatch), and on Mick's _The Visitor_

Peter Green post-Mac solo albums that I know about:
Title				Label		Comments
-----				-----		--------
End of the Game (1970)		Reprise		formless jams, burned-out stuff
In the Skies (1979)		Sail		probably his best solo album
Little Dreamer (1980)		Sail		decent, back to blues-rock
White Skies (1981?)		?		haven't heard it
Kolors	 (1982?)		?		haven't heard it
Blue Guitar (1983?)		?		haven't heard it
Legend (1988)			Creole		so-so collection of early 80's
Last Train to San Antone (1991)	Creole		outtakes from _In the Skies_

Green also guests on a weird album called _Two Greens Make a Blues_ (1986)

Please add on if you know of more material!
						-Adam K. Powers
						akp1@midway.uchicago.edu