What's your favourite post-Mac Peter album?

[MikeB]

What's everyone's favourite Pete album from the ''mid-period''..you know,the ones he apparently had little to do with..between 'End Of The Game' and 'Kolors'?
I'm gonna go with 'Kolors' as my fave but 'White Sky' comes pretty close for me too.

[chiliD]

With no hesitation, Little Dreamer, for me.

Loser Two Times
Born Under A Bad Sign
Baby When The Sun Goes Down
on Side One are enough of a reason; and, then comes Side Two---AWESOME:
Walkin' The Road
One Woman Love
Cryin' Won't Bring You Back
Little Dreamer

[dansven]

Of the late 70s early 80 albums, my favourite is "In The Skies".

I also love "The End Of The Game", but there is no way I can compare the two periods.

"Kolors"... that's an interesting choice. My impression is that many people don't like it very much. I have to say that it is a bit overproduced, and that Peter's guitar often drowns among the other guitarists. But I really like "Big Boy Now", "What Am I Doing Here" and "Same Old Blues". However, I'd rather have the Legend-version of "Bandit".

Daniel

[chiliD]

In The Skies & Little Dreamer are like "twin albums"...could've almost been one double album. (kind of how I think the Beatles' Rubber Soul & Revolver could've been)

It was actually tough to choose between the two, but the title cut, "Born Under A Bad Sign" & "One Woman Love" tipped the scale for me.

[BklynBlue]

I'd have to give the nod to "In The Skies". It is a shame that Green never recorded with this same group of musicians again.
Peter Bardens on keyboards and Snowy White on guitar, and especially the rhythm section of Kuma Harada on bass and Reg Isidore on drums, who would create an undulating flow that Green could wade into, rather than "rock" solid foundation.
He could float above it, let it carry him along or submerge himself completely.
Lennox Langton's percussion then dapples it all like sunlight on water.
Here are the "African" rhythms that Green tried, unsuccessfully to my mind, to capture on the 1970 singles.
Listen to "Tribal Dance" which he re-recorded with the Splinter Group on "Destiny Road", twenty years later.
The original here is slightly slower in it's pace, its rhythm more human, more closely approximating it's title. The interplay of Green's guitar, Bardens' electric piano, the bass, drums and percussion become seamless, each player complementing and supporting the others.
Compare this to "Proud Pinto". On this track with Godfrey MacLean (who worked with Green on "The End Of The Game"), replaces Isidore behind the drums. The difference is striking: though Green's, playing evokes the strength and spirit of wild horses, the drummer just keeps time, rooted in place as Green romps around him.
I do agree that "Little Dreamer" is a companion piece. To my ears, it is the last album of the that period where it sounds as if the band was playing as a unit.
Too much of the later PVK material seems to have been recorded without any input from Green and then they would bring him in to lay down his guitar parts.

[sharksfan2000]

I also prefer In the Skies, and Little Dreamer is my clear #2. In the Skies contains my favorite of Peter's post-Mac tracks, "A Fool No More". The title track of Little Dreamer is gorgeous, though, and probably my second favorite track from this period.

In general I like the songwriting better on In the Skies - except for those lyics But the lyrics are hardly exceptional on Little Dreamer either. And at least all of the melodies on In the Skies are Peter's. There are good songs on both, but I find more weak songs on Little Dreamer. And I like the overall "feel" of the music better on In the Skies as well. My opinion only, of course, YMMV.

Some of Peter's playing on In the Skies reminds me of his early-'70s playing, and I like that connection to his past work. I find this character nearly gone by Little Dreamer, and there's very little in the later albums that I like nearly as well as these two.

I guess there is still uncertainty about who played many of the guitar parts on In the Skies. Some parts are easily identifiable as Peter's playing, but many others could just as easily be Snowy White. Hard to know whether the credits for each track are accurate, and there seem to be conflicting statements in Martin Celmins' book about just how much Peter did play in the studio for that album. Anyone have any guesses about this?

[BklynBlue]

The fact that he didn't write any lyrics for his new songs I think is telling.
Martin Celmins, in the liner notes to "Vaudeville Years" quotes from an interview Peter did: “But then it got much too deep for me and I got lost. The blues ended up hurting my soul so I stopped it and started making up stories instead; all my songs after I stopped playing the blues were stories with a beginning, middle and an end.” (Guitar Magazine, Feb. ‘96)
I don't think he wanted to open those wounds again. And I don't blame him. You can only spill so much blood. It seems as if even the stories were beside the point by that time. "A Fool No More" was a beautiful, bittersweet goodbye to what he once was.
For all of their weaknesses', the lyrics on "In The Skies" at least had a thematic unity. It was like he was looking for something to hold on to. Anything, to anchor himself.
The lyrics were written by the woman who was then his wife, and they come across as spiritual odes, similar to, but not nearly as heartfelt, the way that Green sings them, IMO, as Pete Townshend's odes to Meher Baba on "Who Came First", especially "Seven Stars".
As to the guitar work, according to the notes on the jacket of the U.S. version of the LP, of the nine tracks, White only plays the lead solo on the title track and then takes the lead on "Slabo Day"; Green plays lead on the rest.

[dansven]

Originally Posted by chiliD

In The Skies & Little Dreamer are like "twin albums"...could've almost been one double album. (kind of how I think the Beatles' Rubber Soul & Revolver could've been)

I've always thought of "Little Dreamer" and "Whatcha Gonna Do" as Peter's "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver". The two are much more similar than LD and ITS. Both have the bluesy feel and same guitar playing style from Peter. In contrast "In The Skies" is very different with an entirely different band sound. The music is more funky, and Peter's playing and voice sounds very different.

[greenfire]

I have only heard the Little Dreamer album but am very impressed with Peter's singing and playing on it. I'm really looking forward to hearing the others from this early 80s period.