Peter Green covers and tributes
 

Peter Green songs have been covered by quite a few artists along the years with varying degrees of success. From memory I immediately recall:

Santana: Black Magic Woman
Judas Priest: The Green Manalishi
Aerosmith: Rattlesnake Shake
Jimmy Page & Black Crowes: Oh Well

We also had some entire albums dedicated to him, like those here:

Gary Moore – Blues for Greeny:
http://www.amazon.com/Blues-Greeny-G.../dp/B000000W94

Bernie Marsden – Green and Blues:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Blues-.../dp/B000024KBH

Various artists – Rattlesnake Guitar: The Music f Peter Green:
http://www.amazon.com/Rattlesnake-Gu.../dp/B000003TQC

What are your favorite covers and tributes? Do you know others that deserve mention?

I will add my own commentaries later.

The Melvins' version of "Green Manalishi" is pretty spectacular.

It's too bad ZZ Top's version of "Rattlesnake Shake" (that they performed back in the late 70s during their "World Wide Texas Tour") never made it to LP or disc. I recall hearing a broadcast of one of their shows that tour and their take on it was quite good. (superior to Aerosmith's, I thought at the time)

I was surprised by Joe Jackson covering "Oh Well" back in the late '80s.


Of all the bootlegged Fleetwood Mac recordings since Buckingham & Nicks joined, I really shocked that there's not one that has a circa 1975 version of "Rattlesnake Shake". It was performed quite often during those early days of Lindsey & Stevie's tenure with the band.

I would have to vote for Rory Gallagher's cover of 'Show-Biz Blues' on the "Rattlesnake Guitar" tribute collection -
He takes an extremely personal number and manages to put his own spin on it without in any way undermining the original -
His performance is a true tour-de-force and worth the price of the collection alone

under the covers
 

That Rory Gallagher cover of "how Biz Blues for Rattlesnake Guitar was quite good. Rory was a great slide Player. Peter Green even remarked at the time that he would love playing with him. Unfortunately that tribute was shortly before Rory's death. Show Biz Blues,indeed.

Not mentioned so far was the recent cover of "Oh Well" by Tom Petty on his recent tours. I believe it is on his last live album.
Aerosmith covered other Peter Green tunes as well, Stop Messing Round comes to mind. I'm not a big fan of Aerosmith but they were greatly influenced by Fleetwood Mac when they were a bar band in Boston, having witnessed those Tea Party gigs first hand.

vinnie c

Dirty Mac
 

In all the talk about The Beatles being influenced in the later times by Fleetwood Mac, "Yer Blues" , I think, would never have been done if it were not for FMs success in Europe. Not that this is a masterpiece or anything but it is certainly entertaining to watch in "Rock And Roll Circus"

better link
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewwAojoza5M

the previous one got spliced into a really dirty mac by some rapper
it really pays to watch something before you post a video

With all due respect I have no interest in covers. None match the power of Green in his various phases.

Hear, hear. :thumbsup:

Perhaps listening to a poor imitation makes you appreciate the value of the original!

I realy like Yer Blues! Perhaps it is the only sraight blues the Beatles ever did ? (any experts out there ?)and they make a good job of it I think I particularly like the time signature changes ( typical Lennon) when it does the "Tacet "bit (vocals only with music only on first beat of the bar) , It has broken into an implied blues shuffle and you think its going to continue that way but, despite your expectations, it reverts to the original beat( 6/8 I think ) It's,a,big tease ! So when in the end it does break into a shuffle it sall the more exciting .I d compare this to Rollin' Man by Fleetwood Mac the excitement when it breaks out of the swamp bossa nova (or whatever you'd call it)into a full steam blues shuffle(and nobody did that better than PG Fm )and I notice Peter, in the live recordings will delay this transition for verse after verse to build the expectation. making them very long live versions.

Incdentally I have to admit being a bit dense ,for years I never knew what the" Yer" of Yer Blues meant,and therefore why Lennon gave the track this title !

Snowy White also did "I loved Another Woman".....
Mario.

I like to hear other musicians takes on Peter music. The Santana BMW is classic. But sure, it's difficult, if not impossible, to match the originals.

Well, I bought this one by Jim King a while ago:
http://www.guitar9.com/guitarmusic9/...saregreen.html
Im not very fond of it, but it's OK.
:)

Could you enlighten us with regard to this? What does it mean and why Lennon gave the track this title?

I always loved Yer Blues. The White Album was my first ever LP. Got it for christmas in 1969 when I was 13 years old, and I have been hooked on english music ever since (I think I was before actually, but this seems like "the milestone").

Ms Moose

Well Ms Moose , " Yer" Means" your" !

A Liverpudlian, and even more so ,a London Cockney ,would pronounce the word your as yer, as in:

Q What sort of music is this?

A Well, it's yer blues mate!

(when you say it, the,main stress is on the word Blues ,the weak stress is on yer for years I went around saying it with the stress on yer , as if yer was some village near Liverpool or something !(As in Stateboro'Blues)

So Lennon, in his sarcastic way ,is saying the Beatles are not just a pop band so what were going to play now is a bit different -were going to play yer actual Blues

I'm ashamed to say, even as a Londoner, for years I didn't sus this obvious thing out !

Thank you THD, of course! I know what you mean. I lived in Liverpool for four years, and I didn't sus this obvious thing out either :lol: I even think I used to pronounce it the same way as you did, with the stress on "Yer" :o

A pity Beatles didn't play more blues. "Don' t let me down" has a bluesy feeling, until the waltzy bit ruins it all....

Ms Moose

Thanks for the tip. :thumbsup:

I've met Jim King. In fact, even played with him one night at a blues jam at the San Juan Capistrano (California) Train Depot Bar about 11 or 12 years ago. I seem to recall us doing "Stop Messin' Round", "I Loved Another Woman" (which I sang) & "Love That Burns". Hearing that the "Peter Green" tone was his thing, I went into as much of "Danny Kirwan" mode as I could come up with (despite Danny not ever playing on the original recordings of those three songs)...I'd only had my Turner Model 1 for a short time and was still getting used to its workings...and had just sold my Les Paul about a week earlier.

Jim was/is a nice guy...we talked "all things Peter" for about an hour after we got done. Our paths have not crossed since, unfortunately.

Then, of course, (well, not all Peter green) the Mick Fleetwood Bluesband featuring Rick Vito with the album "Blue Again", 2009.
:wavey:

That's nice, Chili. I'd have loved to see you perform there, since I Loved Another Woman was the song that hooked me on the Mac (and furthermore: blues in general, especially the old masters). I used to try to sing that too, and on some ocasions I actually did.:sorry:

But.... it's far better to leave the singing to others....That's all you'll get from me on that topic:laugh:

Some covers ...
 

Some legally free Peter-Green-era FM covers collected over the years: http://www.geonius.com/music/covers/greeny.html (some are no long available, such as those from the original MP3.com). Most or probably all of the "Black Magic Woman" covers are Santana-style.

I don't think "Yer Blues" had anything to do with Fleetwood Mac - IIRC, in fact, it was a parody of British blues solos playing the same note over and over again - definitely not Peter Green! "Sun King" was supposedly inspired by "Albatross". Other blues songs by the Beatles, off the top of my head, include "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" and "For You Blue" and, of course, "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

The Rudy Rotta Band and Peter Green recorded a version of "Black Magic Woman", which has been discussed in past years on The Ledge. A Dutch band, John the Revelator at http://www.johntherevelator.nl/, recorded some FM covers (not originals though) on their Bluesproof album.

Probably my favorite cover/non-cover was an original by John Edmonds and his son, Andrew: "Can't Change the Past". First recorded by the father's Essex Blues Band (and can be heard at http://www.mp3.com.au/EssexBluesband/Music), it is loosely based on "If You Be My Baby", complete with Peter Green-style guitar. I believe his son re-recorded a better version on his own later.

Black Magic Woman by Green Mac
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMGc2m1njFk
British band Green Mac plays a lot of Greeny's tunes :-)
Regards

Another one
 

Just realised I have this one this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Man-World-Refl.../dp/B00008XRVH
Various well-known artists doing Peter Green stuff. It's probably similar to the before mentioned "Ratelsnake Guitar". :shrug:

:wavey: So what do you think about it, worth buying?

Judge for yourself, see my dropbox folder
:thumbsup:

Well, actually I just listened again. Forget this one if you're a real PG fan. Loads of rubbish.:distress:

you are right I do feel that the best Greeny related cd is "Green And Blues" from B.Marsden....;)
Mario.

Thanks Wouter, In you I trust .... :-)

Oh Well and erm Oh Well
 

Kenny Wayne Shephard covered Oh Well on his 'Live On' album. Not bad.
Better though was Stan Webb's version in the middle of a rendition of his own 'Poor Boy' from 'Stan the Man Live'. Slightly altered lyrics but enjoyable to listen to with a nice little spoken tribute to Greeny just before he plays it.
BBM also did an electric version of The World Keeps on Turning on the expanded issue of 'Around the Next Dream'. Quite a long version with Gary Moore's (RIP) usual Greeny Lite playing but worth a listen. Moore also covered Stop Messin' Around amongst others, aside from the Blues for Greeny album, and Jumping at Shadows, although not a Greeny original of course.
Ian Parker added his version of Green Manalishi to the end of 'Almost Cut My Hair' from his live album 'Whilst the Wind'. Slightly different take on it. I like it.
As far as my favourite cover goes, I'm afraid I would have to go for the obvious and say Santana's Black Magic Woman. It's probably the only Greeny cover that I listen to fairly regularly. As has already been said, most of the covers don't live up to the originals such was his talent as a musician.
Oh for him to rediscover the art of writing again...

Personal taste re KWS' version of "Oh Well" (actually the only cover of the song I just despise; but then I'm not a fan of KWS' in the first place).

My favorite live version: a toss up between the Black Crowes with Jimmy Page...or the 1988 incarnation of Fleetwood Mac (w/Billy Burnette singing and Rick Vito on guitar)

Favorite studio cover: Bob Welch's from His Fleetwood Mac Years & Beyond volume 1, followed closely by Billy Sheehan's version. The only two covers I've found so far that include Part 2.

Other versions I like...a lot are by:
Joe Jackson (studio)
The Rockets (studio)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (live)

For me, though, nothing tops the original version on Then Play On.

The late reggae star Dennis Brown did a really cool Rasta version of "Black Magic Woman". I really like it.