Some Days, I Just Can't Help Myself
Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac Revisited
The Best Of The Boston Tea Party Tapes
Friday, July 23, 2010
Several people remarked last month about not only the quality of the playing, but also the fidelity of the recordings on the remastered 'Live In Boston' set that was captured during Fleetwood Mac's incredible three night run at the city's Boston Tea Party in early February of 1970. The tapes were intended for a live recording to captialize on the band's rising popularity here in the States, but were shelved when their leader, Peter Green left the band shortly after they were recorded. Subsequently, the masters sat in the vaults for years until a truncated version was officially released in 1985, and then remastered and re-released in their entirety in 2003.
Of course the Boston Tea Party recordings were widely bootlegged prior to any official release, and with noticably inferior sound. Today however, these recordings stand as the absolute best of the very few live recordings available from Peter Green's Original Fleetwood Mac. I have noted however that Wolfgang's Vault has a few Peter Green era shows available for streaming, but I've yet to hear them for a quality comparison.
As of 2010, the Boston Tea Party tapes have now been issued and reissued under a host of names, most of them variations on 'Boston Tea Party,' or 'Live In Boston.' And now there's one more, 'Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac Revisited: The Best Of The Boston Tea Party Tapes.' This one you won't find in stores, or from traders. It's only available here because it was I who edited and condensed the three volume set down to one extraordinary 92 minute set. "But that's already been done," you might say. "And where's the 'Encore Jam' with Joe Walsh and Eric Clapton?" Well, the answer to the first question is, "Yes, it has been done. 'Boston Blues' is it's name." Here's that recordings track sequence:
1) Black Magic Woman
2) Like It This Way
3) Oh Well
4) Jumping At Shadows
5) Stranger Blues
6) Oh Baby
7) Got To Move
8) Rattlesnake Shake
9) World In Harmony
10) Sandy Mary
11) Loving Kind
12) Red Hot Mama
13) I Can't Hold Out
14) The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
15) Encore Jam
And now here's mine:
1) World In Harmony
2) Jumping At Shadows
3) Like It This Way
4) Only You
5) Loving Kind
6) Sandy Mary
7) Rattlesnake Shake
8) Stranger Blues
9) Oh Well
10) Madison Blues
11) Coming Your Way
12) Black Magic Woman
13) The Sun Is Shining
15) The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged-Crown)
Most of the same material, but a different running order. A set much like the one that is 'Boston Blues.' That is to say, one that never really transpired, at least not in these particular sequences. Through the magic of editing, a performance is rearranged so as to appear authentically correct. But if you weren't there to remember it (and who really would unless you were sitting there taking notes, at which point you'd immediately be singled out a possible Narcotics Agent and then shunned for the remainder of the evening, not to mention putting everyone around you uptight), then you'd never know the difference.
So getting back to the questions, my answer to the second would be, "Like 'blooze' and 'boogie,' jams are largely irrelavent, typically memorable only in the moment, but rarely thereafter." With regard to the aforementioned 'all-star' jam, imagine this if you will. After a smoldering set, Peter and the band are brought back on stage for an encore. In tow are Joe Walsh and Eric Clapton, a guitar players wet dream. The crowd goes ape ****. The excitement is palpable. Then picture the sound of vomit as played by one bass player, one drummer, and no less that five guitarists. That's the 'Encore Jam.' It's kinda' like that whole Y2K thing ten years ago. Everyone thought it would be armageddon and the world would end. But when the clock struck midnight, it all turned out to be a whole lotta' nothing. The ocean's didn't rise, the Earth didn't go off it's obit, bibles didn't need to be rewritten. It was just another day. That is the 'Encore Jam.' Trust me on this one, O.K.? You're not missing anything.
"So why bother redoing what's already been done," you ask? Good point. All I can say is simply because, "No.#1) I like Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, No.#2) I enjoy audio editing, and No.#3) I thought I could possibly do a better job than on 'Boston Blues,'" plain and simple. And I hope I'm right on that last one. You see, I figure if it were my band, I'd start out with a few low-key numbers just to get warmed up. You know, something to loosen up a bit to get rid of the opening night jitters. Sort of like putting the pot on the stovetop and bringing things to a slow simmer. Then I'd turn up the heat a little with some Danny Kirwan numbers before slipping into the heavy stuff where the juices are starting to flow and you're finally cooking on all four burners. That's why I reshuffled the set list and if I hadn't mentioned it to you, you'd likely accept it as a factual document. Sue me.
Since I'm bound to ruffle the feathers of a few purists out there, I've sweetened the deal by also including Fleetwood Mac's, 'Shrine '69,' recorded a year earlier at Santa Monica's Shrine Auditorium. It should make for a good comparison to the Boston Tea Party performances, although it too can stand on its own as a great document of the band's power during the Peter Green era. That's the deal. Take it, or leave it. But either way, enjoy it.
The Best Of The Boston Tea Party Tapes
1) World In Harmony
(from Volume Two)
2) Jumping At Shadows
(from Volume One)
3) Like It This Way
(from Volume One)
4) Only You
(from Volume One)
5) Loving Kind
(from Volume Three)
6) Sandy Mary
(from Volume Three)
7) Rattlesnake Shake
(from Volume Two)*
8) Stranger Blues
(from Volume Two)
9) Oh Well
(from Volume Two)
10) Madison Blues
(from Volume Three)
11) Coming Your Way
(from Volume Three)
12) Black Magic Woman
(from Volume One)
13) The Sun Is Shining
(from Volume Three)
14) The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
(from Volume One)
*The rendition of 'Rattlesnake Snake' on Volume One is actually a better performance, but it's faded out on the official recording. On the other hand, Volume Two's version is a complete one, thus it's inclusion here despite being the lesser performance of the two. I originally attempted merging the best of both into one giant Frankenstein track, but after seven unsuccessful tries, I decided that it wasn't worth reinventing the wheel. However, I've already done that, haven't I? Oh well.
Shrine '69
1) Tune Up
2) If You Be My Baby
3) Something Inside Of Me
4) My Sweet Baby
5) Albatross
6) Before The Beginning
7) Rollin' Man
8) Lemon Squeezer
9) Need Your Love So Bad
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