Peter Green - On Repeat, Please

So - here’s what I’ve learned about British blues rock musician Peter Green. He came to prominence in 1967 when he replaced Eric Clapton as lead guitar in John Mayall’s Blues Breakers. He only recorded one album with Mayall (A Hard Road) before leaving to form Fleetwood Mac with ex-Mayall bass player John McVie and ex-Mayall drummer Mick Fleetwood. And as I noted in my last post, it’s ‘this’ Fleetwood Mac that first performed the song written by Peter Green, and made famous by Carlos Santana, ‘Black Magic Woman’. In fact, the title song, In The Skies, sounds a bit like Black Magic Woman.

In the early 1970’s, Peter Green was diagnosed with schizophrenia and, as a result of his mental illness, disappeared from the music scene for several years. And that is a shame!

This 1979 release was supposed to be his comeback album. It was released on a small record label and never got the promotion it deserved, so it’s not very well known. While ‘the experts’ would say it suffered due to a lack of promotion, I would say this album would have had a tough time up against it’s 1979 competition. Not because it wasn’t good enough, but because ‘popular taste’ in music at that time was more about a hook and a catchy tune - Think ‘My Sharona’ by The Knack, ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’ by Rod Stewart, ‘YMCA’ by the Village People, etc. All catchy tunes but none are songs I want to put on and listen to over and over again.

Unlike this album, which makes me want to sit back and sink into it…grateful my record player has repeat.

Peter Green is not very well known today. But here’s the thing, Green has some serious credibility as a blues guitarist, and song writer. If you’re not familiar with Green’s work, this album will give you a good indication of his talent. However, while all the songs were written by Green and he performed on each song, still not trusting his ‘guitar solo’ abilities during this period of mental health recovery, several experienced session musicians, including Snowy White, who went on to work with Pink Floyd, contributed some lead guitar work.

If you like Peter Green’s song writing , including listening to smooth electric guitar solos, you will like this album. There are no weak tracks!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :).