In the man of the world Doc Peter says himself he played a 2nd bass (together with Mc Vie )on the recording of Albatross ,so he knew what he wanted in that composition bass wise It was also implied ,by Mick I think ,that For Green Manalishi he was telling each member how he wanted each part played (always a risky thing to do in a band !) this is by far his most sophisticated song with the guitar and bass fills after each verse which get more complex each time . I would almost say it becomes orchestral .
The best concert I ever saw them do was a the Lyceum ball room in April 1970 (I think )by this time the set involved a section with just Mick and Peter on stage , Peter playing vituoso bass - I think I may have been a 5 or 6 string , and my recollection is that part of the time he was using a wah wah pedal (stangely though, I don't think he used a wah wah in any other song that night !)I think some how one of the songs had morphed into a jam typical of the period ,and then Peter was handed the bass ,whilst the others continued , and then Danny and John left the stage so the music never stopped ! he and Mick then played for at least ten minutes ,and it was great stuff Mick is always very modest about his drumming abilities, but it was fantastic the way he kept the hi =hat going and would then throw in a sort of unexpected off beat with his bass drum which would surprise you- much more difficult to do than a continuous bass drum beat against the hi hat rhythm I think there is some of this on the Boston tea party recordings and I'm sure the casual listener assumes John Mc Vie is doing the bass playing !
For those interested in the music theory side :
Playing bass gives you an interesting perspective on the music because you are essentialy creating inversions (or not ,if youre playing the root note ) of the chords you are playing against In blues these inversions are against a continuing chord eg your boogie type bass -Mc Vie's playing on Shake your Money Maker would be an example Compare this to Mc Cartney's style on say Hello Goodbye where each note descends the scale and there is a different chord against each note producing an iversion To me ,this is one of the essential differences between blues and other music the bass plays patterns starting on the root note the patterns follow the chord changes Peter's knowledge of bass playing meant that he woulsd be more aware of the overall sound of a blues record and how to achieve it . He wouldnt just be listenig to what BB King was doing he'd be listening to what the bass player was doing (similary with the Shadows, previously, I should imagine !)
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