Song suggestions

[Tom]

I'm looking for some song titles from some of you well schooled Greeny fans. Since I'm still in the phase of exploring ALL of his work, I haven't heard it all yet. I just love to hear the man play guitar (and sing too). What are the tunes that he just stands out on - maybe more than others. I was just listening to "Stumble" from the Mayall CD. Now THAT'S a virtual orgy of lead guitar from our boy. I still ahve to get to picking out between Peter, and Danny on a lot of stuff. Like on , "Oh Well", is it Danny starting the riff and then Peter coming in just after him? I'd love to read some thoughts on this stuff. Thanks.

[chiliD]

The solo(s) on "Oh Well" are Danny. Peter starts the riff on a Dobro (or National Steel Standard...one of those resonator guitars...its the same guitar pictured on the cover of the Splinter Group's Robert Johnson Songbook album), then Danny (& John) come in.

Ok, here are my suggestions, just off the top of my head:

W/John Mayall:
The Supernatural
You Don't Love Me
The Same Way

w/Fleetwood Mac:
Albatross
I Loved Another Woman
The World Keeps On Turning
Lazy Poker Blues
Rollin' Man
Need Your Love So Bad
Black Magic Woman
Underway
Rattlesnake Shake (live in Boston, 1970)
Green Manalishi

solo:
the entire End Of The Game album
Little Dreamer
The Apostle
One Woman Love
In The Skies
Just For You
Born Under A Bad Sign

PGSG albums:
1st album (which I call, "the blue album") Great live version of "The Stumble".
Destiny Road ("Hiding In Shadows", "Tribal Dance", "Big Change Is Gonna Come")
Time Traders (especially "Real World" & "Wild Dogs")

And of course, Hot Foot Powder and the aforementioned Robert Johnson Songbook are great in their entirety.

Reaching the Cold 100 doesn't sound as good to me NOW as it did when it first came out.

[mzero]

tom- these are the ones that resonate with me for whatever reason

fleetwood mac era

love that burns
watch out (both original fleetwood mac and in chicago versions)
drifting (original fleetwood mac)
jumping at shadows
homework

solo pre splinter group:

funky chunk (in the skies- the most under-rated pg performance ever-strange elastic style- sublime)
slabo day (in the skies)
a fool no more (in the skies)

splinter group:
hitch-hiking woman (this is impossibly slow. peter alone on slide acoustic. should have made a whole record like this)
it takes time (version from the first splinter group cd, here he plays the lead fills and sings at the same time, live)
goin down (version from the first splinter group cd)

rambling on my mind (robert johnson songbook- this sounds like nothing else on this or any other splinter group record. were it not for the voice this sounds as if it were recorded by peter in the 1960's)


zero

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by mzero

love that burns
watch out (both original fleetwood mac and in chicago versions)

Good calls on these...they slipped my mind.

[sharksfan2000]

Some excellent suggestions so far - hard to go wrong listening to Greeny. There are so many great tracks to choose from, but here are a a couple more, plus some comments on a couple already mentioned.

Mayall period:
"Out Of Reach" (got to be his earliest recorded vocals, and they're far from his best - but his guitar playing, from one of his first studio recordings, is stunning)

Fleetwood Mac period:
"Jumping At Shadows" (one of my favorites, very emotional singing and playing - I love both the BBC version and the live 2/70 Boston version that's on Show Biz Blues Vol. 2 as well as Jumping At Shadows: The Blues Years)

"Rattlesnake Shake / Underway" (BBC session 4/70, on Show Biz Blues Vol. 2, the "Underway" portion in particular is sensational)

"The Green Manalishi" (the guitar work toward the end of the studio version still gives me goosebumps, don't know that I've ever heard anything quite like it)

Some of Mac's best early work turns up on live bootlegs. A couple of tracks in particular are on boots that are relatively easy to track down and also have excellent sound quality:
"Worried Dream" (from the Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco 6/68)
"Got A Mind To Give Up Living" (from the Fillmore West, San Francisco, 1/70)

Don't overlook some great session work with other artists, particularly some of his playing on Otis Spann's The Biggest Thing Since Colossus.

Of his post-Mac work, my favorite track remains "A Fool No More" from In The Skies.

[dino]

Must add my bit to this too...I'd say if you hear "Jumping at shadows" from Boston 1970, there you have all the beauty and sadness of Peter's playing. Still makes me weep, i'm embarrased to say. How many musicians can you say that of? I can only think of Hendrix and Miles Davis, Coltrane.

anyway...
by the way...Slabo Day is Snowy White playing the solos

Mayall era
SO MANY ROADS (first example of "echoey" style)
THE SUPERNATURAL
THE STUMBLE
GREENY

F. Mac Era
LOVE THAT BURNS
NEED YOUR LOVE SO BAD
BLACK MAGIC WOMAN
SUGAR MAMA
BEFORE THE BEGINNING

Boston 02/70
JUMPING AT SHADOWS
IF YOU LET ME LOVE YOU
GREEN MANALISHI

BBC 04/70
RATTLESNAKE SHAKE/UNDERWAY

"Got A Mind To Give Up Living"
- any live version

w. Peter Bardens
THE ANSWER

- end of the game
BOTTOMS UP


PVK era
FOOL NO MORE
APOSTLE
TRIBAL DANCE
LITTLE DREAMER
GOT TO SEE HER TONIGHT
TIME FOR ME TO GO
BANDIT


w. Brian Knight 1980
TROUBLE IN MIND
GOING DOWN SLOW


Splinter era
HITCH-HIKING WOMAN (BLUE ALBUM)
HOMEWORK (BLUE ALBUM)
GOIN' DOWN (BLUE ALBUM)
THE SUPERNATURAL (SOHO SESSION)
HIDING IN SHADOWS (DESTINY ROAD)
Look Out For Yourself (COLD HUNDRED)
Real World (TIME TRADERS)
Lies (TIME TRADERS)

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by dino

F. Mac Era
BEFORE THE BEGINNING

PVK era
APOSTLE
TRIBAL DANCE

Splinter era
HOMEWORK (BLUE ALBUM)
GOIN' DOWN (BLUE ALBUM)

{in a Golem-esque voice} EXCELLENT!

Although, I prefer the PGSG version of "Tribal Dance" (on Destiny Road ) to the original. And, the single version of "Apostle" to the one that is on In The Skies. Still, as sharksfan said, "its tough to go wrong with Greeny".

[Tom]

Wow, thanks for all the input. I'm familiar with some of the songs you've all mentioned, but not all.
mzero = I couldn't agree more about the tune "Drifting". That one definately "does it" for me anytime I hear it. You've got my interest in hearing
"Hitch Hiking Woman".
I have to get familiar with songs where he is/or isn't playing the leads. I keep seeing the name Snowy White, especially on the "In The Skies" album which everyone recommends. Does Peter play many leads on that CD? The same is true with him and Nigel Watson.
I just got the "Early Years" DVD today and checked some of it out. It looks pretty cool. I will watch the whole thing later. The saga of Peter Green really is engrossing. One of the bits I caught on the DVD is a live show where Danny breaks a string. Peter just handles it by stepping up and doing, "World Keep On Turning" by himself to give Danny a chance to change the string. But Greeny is so strong a presence, and so confident, and in charge. The fact that that all seemed to fly away is amazing. And the very idea of weather or not he could possibly capture a little of that again is fun to think about.
I saw the words, "tears", and "goosebumps" used in your posts to describe
what Greeny's music does to you. That really says something about the man right there. One song that gets me that way a little bit is "Man of The World". I'm a 45 year old guy - and when I hear that song I want to go find Peter and just give him a hug. I hope he realizes now, deep down, how he reached people through the music.

[mzero]

Originally Posted by Tom

I have to get familiar with songs where he is/or isn't playing the leads. I keep seeing the name Snowy White, especially on the "In The Skies" album which everyone recommends. Does Peter play many leads on that CD? The same is true with him and Nigel Watson.

tom - w/ regard to in the skies, there is some controversy as to who plays what. i believe mick at one point suggested that snowy plays all the leads! however, i think it is pretty well accepted that peter plays most of the leads on in the skies. and peter has said something to the effect of 'yes i played on in the skies; i may not have played well, but i played'

the notes to the original us vinyl release documented who plays what, and as far as i know and can tell the notes are accurate. i don't have my copy handy but i'm sure someone else does and can post. as i recall there are only 2 snowy leads.

as for nigel's contributions to splinter group cds- these are much more extensive than snowy's to in the skies. pete and nigel are very easy to tell apart once you get accustomed. but if the tone or style reminds you of fleetwood mac, it's probably nigel! peter plays lots of solos in pgsg.

i'm happy to help out with specific examples if you'd like. i've always wanted to start a who plays what on pgsg cds thread. lets do it song by song, album by album! needless to say there are lots of experienced experts on the ledge who can say who plays what on specific songs of pgsg.

zero

[chiliD]

Like you said, mzero, once one gets accustomed to their sound, Nigel & Peter are pretty easy to tell apart, ONLY IF THEY'RE PLAYING ELECTRICS, though. Acoustically, it is MUCH more difficult.


Vocally, it is refreshing to hear how much Peter grew from the first PGSG album to Cold 100...his voice really got stronger each album.

[sharksfan2000]

Originally Posted by takenbythesky

You're a very lucky man, Tom. From what I understand the DVD of "Early Years" is hard to come by and very expensive when it does surface. Congratulations!

Wow, I didn't realize the DVD version was so rare. Just checked a couple of places on the web and the cheapest I saw for a new copy was about $50 (with one place selling it for $100!). Saw a couple of used copies for less than $40. Oh well, guess my old VHS tape will have to do.

I did get a copy of the Changes DVD recently - I'm guessing this is some sort of bootleg, it doesn't look like an official release. There are a couple of very nice clips that aren't on the Early Years release, including a great one of "Rattlesnake Shake" from Swedish TV. The picture quality is not the best for the early clips, but it's great to have them at all. Too bad the camera work on the "Rattlesnake Shake" clip is so poor, way too many pointless close-ups. This DVD also has Green's post-Mac "Heavy Heart" TOTP performance, plus Welch-era and early B/N-era TV performances (I was cracking up watching Welch's glasses continually threaten to slip right off his nose on the '74 Don Kirschner's Rock Concert clips ). More info on this DVD in the "Live recordings of Greeny 1970 / 1971" thread here on the Ledge.

[mzero]

Originally Posted by chiliD

Like you said, mzero, once one gets accustomed to their sound, Nigel & Peter are pretty easy to tell apart, ONLY IF THEY'RE PLAYING ELECTRICS, though. Acoustically, it is MUCH more difficult.

yes i forgot about this. right cD, with the acoustic work much harder to tell them apart.

a fair number of the live acoustic numbers are 1 guitar (nigel) and harmonica (pete). under these circumstances you can id nigel's technique. same is true on live cuts when there are 2 acoustics one of which is slide (i think always pete, right?). gets difficult when neither acoustic is slide.

we should start a who plays what pgsg thread. best, zero

[Tom]

Originally Posted by takenbythesky

You're a very lucky man, Tom. From what I understand the DVD of "Early Years" is hard to come by and very expensive when it does surface. Congratulations!

I did get sort of lucky. I got it on an ebay auction was only a 3-day auction. I won it for $14.00. Then another one that ended about four days later went for $40.00 - Go figure.
Actually, I've seen two DVD's that I think might just be the same one. The one I got has a blue cover - and the other one I've seen a sort of 60's looking orange and yellow cover. The one I got is all over the place. It's on ebay, and also on Amazon. It should not be too tough to get. I have a feeling that this blue one is just a more recent issue of the other. They both have the title "Early Years" on it.

[RoJo]

Hi,

just 2 comments

"Early Years" DVD: I got mine from www.transcd.com for $20.-. The still have it. The site seems to be located in Russia and I am not sure how "legal" the stuff is they sell.

Who plays what on "In the Skies": According to Snowy himself (liner notes of the "Goldtop" Sampler) Snowy plays lead on "Proud Pinto" and "In the Skies" all other lead seems to be Peter.

Roland

[dino]

I'm pretty sure Peter plays the lead on Proud Pinto. Snowy plays one of the lead guitars on the title track (one is peter) and the lead guitar on Slabo day.
The rest is Green on leads, on some tracks he plays all the guitars!

I actually started figuring out who plays what on the Splinter group albums.
I'll post my recollections later. As someone said, what sounds a bit like Peter
in the Mac era is Nigel playing. The more "jazzy" parts are Peter. They are easy to tell apart with some listening experience.