A second Peter Green solo album in the early 1970s
 

Apparently he was going to make a second solo album after The End of the Game, but it never came to fruition. It was supposed to contain vocal based material, unlike his prior album. The only song that was projected to appear as far as I know was "Sandy Mary", which was released a few years ago by Fleetwood Mac, but I don't think it was an official studio recording. I think there was a BBC recording and a live recording (correct me if I'm wrong).

But anyways, was there any other material that was considered? And why was it never recorded?

I think "Heavy Heart" is a cool tune, and "Beasts of Burden" is great song in my opinion, and if the album would have went along those lines it would have been a great addition to Peter's body of work. But alas, it didn't happen, although I wish we could get those two songs, along with their b-sides, on a legal CD.

Anyways, the 1971-1978 era of Peter Green really intrigues me. Does anybody have any info on his early seventies work or any photos of him from this era? I'd be really appreciative to see/hear anything!

did you ever read celmins book?

i think peter was going to record his second solo album in 71 when fleetwood mac needed him to finish the us-tour, so the recording session was cancelled.

i seem to remember that peter was recording in a studio in 1970 with little free rock and a group of african musicians, but the material was never released.

also, a few years ago, some obscure record label was going to release a album with peter green songs recorded in the ealy 70's. it was supposed to be great material, but it never got released.
it was recorded in chicago i think.

all these memories are old, so i could be wrong. someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

and yeah, beasts of burden was a great song. it should be re-released somehow.

The two singles with Nigel Watson are noted here as being recorded January 1971 (if I'm reading it right). Not sure if that's accurate. That seems to me after the tour he was called in for?

http://discog.fleetwoodmac.net/discog.php?pid=986

http://discog.fleetwoodmac.net/discog.php?pid=987

I like End Of The Game quite a bit but then I was into soundtrack and background/lounge/exotica type albums sometimes. It's very out there but evocative. A more traditional album would no doubt have restored his standing with the critics who hated the Game LP.

Whether cited or not, the discography in Celmins bio has long been the main source of information for those attempting to document Green’s recording history, leading to the wide acceptance of the idea that ‘Beasts of Burden’ and ‘Uganda Woman’ were recorded during the same January session(s) which produced ‘Heavy Heart’.
Celmins’ text however, specifically places the recording of those two songs in June of 1971, after the sessions for B.B. King’s “In London” LP.
He first quotes Watson as saying that the inspiration for ‘Beasts of Burden’ came from the time that he and Green had spent with the moccasin maker at his cabin in Nevada, but an editing error in the text then thoroughly confuses the situation as Celmins parenthetically adds that the song was “recorded and (emphasis mine) released in mid-1972”.
One can only assume that the sentence should have been broken up to read that it was recorded in “mid- 1971”, and released in “mid-1972”.
I am fully aware that the second half of that statement would still be incorrect; the single was released in January of 1972, which the discography correctly states, but the incorrect statement would at least then be consistent with Celmins second reference to the session and the release of the record a few pages later.
After writing of the guest session with King, Celmins writes, “Following that, Peter found time to record ‘Beasts of Burden’ b/w ‘Uganda Woman’ with Nigel Watson…” but again, the timelines become tangled as he concludes by saying, “…although it would be almost a year before the record was released as a single.”
If Celmins was under the impression that the record was released in “mid-1972” the statement makes perfect sense, and I would argue that that was the case here, that he believed at the time that the record was released in “mid-1972”.

If these tracks were also from the January session(s), then one possible inference is that Green was considering releasing an album with vocals, but that either Watson would be doing all of the singing, or that he was going to be sharing the vocal duties with Watson, much as he did on the Fleetwood Mac albums, with each writer singing their own material. Extrapolating on that idea, Green may have been considering splitting the LP with Watson, as he did “Then Play On” with Kirwan, relieving him of the responsibility of writing an entire album’s worth of material.
Or, maybe Green was simply doing Watson a favor at the time allowing him to cut a couple of tracks during the studio time that he had booked to record his LP, similar to the situation with the first two Clifford Davis numbers, done while the band was working on the tracks for “Then Play On”.

In June 1973 the music press released this story as follows:-

Peter Green is recording again.
Peter Green, former Fleetwood Mac lead guitarist and writer of much of their early material including "Albatross" is to record again after a lengthy period of inactivity. This follows the signing last week of a new contract between Green and Clifford Davis Productions-the company run by the Fleetwood Mac manager-stipulating six albums over the next three years. Release is expected to be on Warner Brothers.
The first album release, scheduled for late summer,will be the only one not to feature newly-recorded material. Titled "Out Of Reach", it is a collection of tracks recorded by Green after he left Fleetwood Mac in May 1970. All the material- consisting mainly of live recordings with some studio tracks- is previously unreleased.
Green, who this week flew to America for a holiday, will start recording new material on his return to this country. He will choose his own session men as necessary. At the moment, he has no plans to form a working band or to play live concerts.

What if.......and What only..... come to my mind on re-reading this story!

Blue Horizon

He was called in sometime in Feb or March of '71 to finish the tour. It was after the Feb '71 Sylmar (N of Los Angeles) earthquake (according to Mick's autobio) when they were booked to play in LA.

Excellent, thank you! I thought I was probably wrong. The Madison Blues set would've set me right likely too.

So that would fit in well with a January recording date being interrupted. But for that call to join the tour there could well have been a second solo LP for the early '70s with the four single sides with Nigel Watson as part of it?

I don't think "Sandy Mary" was intended for a Peter Green solo album. I think that was to be on the Then Play On follow-up 2lp live album (tentatively titled Cerulean had Peter NOT left the band. (since it was performed at the Boston Tea Party weekend and made it onto the tapes recorded during that series of shows. ) You know, the age-old trick of putting some new songs on a live album then MAYBE issuing a studio version later down the road. (I think Danny's "Only You" also fell into that category.)

Thank you so much for posting this! :) Never read it before. And yes, the "what ifs" come to mind... By the way, 6 albums in 3 years seem pretty heavy, even back then. Clifford Davies reputation as the "Big Bad Manager" isn't really improving... :shrug:

Yes, this has also been my impression. (I even used to put up compilations of how I imagined "Sandy Mary" to be) :o

Celmins is all over the place; that book could have done with a thorough proof reading before publication.

The release date of Heavy Heart is June 11, 1971. They mimed it on Top of The Tops barely a week later on June 17.

The release date of Beasts Of Burden is January 21, 1972.