I Miss Nigel Watson
 

There I've said the unthinkable - I actually miss Nigel and the Splinter Group. I know that a lot of PG fans don't really like him or compare him negatively to Peter, but really I do enjoy his work (was just listening to a Splinter Group cd)

Other than his time with Peter on Heavy Heart and Beasts of Burden and touring as a conga player with FM what else has Nigel actually done? Did he feature on any other albums?

It is amazing how little I actually know about him...

He had a band called 'Stretch' in the late 70's I believe. I do not own any of their recordings but I think they cut an album or two.

After that Nigel may well have drifted away from the music industry as he was working as a builder when he and Peter became reacquainted in the 90's.

Honestly I've never really been certain if Nigel was trying genuinely to help his friend or to use Peter to increase his own profile in the industry. Nigel's recording and gigging career had dried up and the PGSG certainly gave him a chance to raise his profile.

However I do think his friendship, at least at the beginning, was genuine. It was supposedly Nigel who Peter longingly watched playing guitar and Nigel who gently coaxed him back to playing.

As for PGSG albums, the only ones I do not like much are the studio albums of new material. Hot Foot Powder remains really fantastic, even the songs where Nigel is taking lead guitar and vocal...Blues Don't Change is great...the live albums are good...the RJ Songbook remains an object exercise in how to produce a record without messing with the sound. There's some good stuff on the studio albums but not much...Nigel's writing isn't great but its rarely actually bad.

But something went wrong...they did stagnate in the last couple of years...no progress was being made, they were treading water....in my view. Peter seems far happier with Friends.

I am mindful of something Mick Fleetwood said back in 1995..."Peter's actually back in the studio doing what God put him on this earth to do. He's playing. I don't think you'll see him back in the showbiz sense of the word but he's back"

Peter Green never wanted to be a star. He was uncomfortable with stardom in 1970 and doesn't want it again now. Perhaps PGSG was in danger of becoming too big? Or Nigel was pushing Peter too close to the spotlight? As Mick said, not in the showbiz sense.....

In the BBC documentary 'A Hard Road' which documents PGGSG's gestation and first two gigs, Peter says "I love playing, I love appearing....it's really great, you know". But clearly he changed his mind - at least as far as the PGSG went. Lest we forget, he almost instantly re-appeared with Dick Heckstall-Smith's "British Blues All Stars"...but sadly Dick passed away. Peter's not actually been away long, so I think he does love appearing...but "not in the showbiz sense"

I think just the idea of seeing some one play and sing Peter Green parts infront of Peter Green absent of the soul and talent Peter Green had is a pill many are unwilling to swallow and I think that it turned into negativity towards Nigel, who in his own write is quite talented.

but there is only one Peter Green.

I disagree. Peter's playing was growing leaps & bounds between the first PGSG album and ...Cold 100. He was taking chances instead of playing it safe, he was actually sounding confident and assertive on that last album, as well. Compare that to Destiny Road where he was seemingly very much just along for the ride. And, as a band, I think they were growing as well...Peter was the only one not contributing original material, but Roger Cotton, Peter Stroud, Larry Tolfree besides Nigel were also lifting heavy loads of the songwriting. I think what happened was that the band just got too busy...for about three or four years, they were either in the studio or on the road...wasn't much downtime. I think Peter just got burnt out with that scheduling push.

Personally I think their best albums were their later ones - Cold 100 and Time Traders.

Although to be honest I can't fault a single album out of the 8 they released (8? I'll have to go back and count)

Yep, 8:

PGSG (the "blue" album)
Robert Johnson Songbook
Destiny Road
Hot Foot Powder
Soho Sessions
Time Traders
Blues Don't Change
Reaching The Cold 100

plus the "The Peter Green Splinter Group-In Concert" DVD (from 2003)

plus a live bootleg from a 1997 show called "Cells Alive"

I always forget Blues Don't Change - I was counting through them in my head and going "I can only think of 7 but I'm sure there was one more". Actually if I remember rightly wasn't Blues Don't Change for sale through the Penguin - I seem to remember I bought my version through here.

I seem to recall it was for a short time...maybe during one of the Q&A's ?? (Peter's was earlier than that, so maybe Jet Celmins'?)

I know that for a while, you could only get them at a PGSG show, then when the US tour was over, they were available for a short time on the official PGSG site (moment of silence, RIP).

Ah yes the official site, I'd almost forgotten about that. :(

Blues Don't Change was originally available at gigs, later on the official PGSG site. And it is one of their best efforts. Note that Nigel Watson stated that he believed Peter was looking forward to Blues Don't Change 2 and was surprised that he left PGSG.

I guess I am just generally underwhelmed by the studio albums of original material. I don't feel that they progressed in terms of the material or the playing. Whereas the other records present me with much to enjoy.

Blues Don't Change was originally available at gigs, later on the official PGSG site. And it is one of their best efforts. Note that Nigel Watson stated that he believed Peter was looking forward to Blues Don't Change 2 and was surprised that he left PGSG.

I guess I am just generally underwhelmed by the studio albums of original material. I don't feel that they progressed in terms of the material or the playing. Whereas the other records present me with much to enjoy.

I do buy the idea that PGSG became too big for Peter. He never wanted to be a star and still doesn't. He's consistently said he just wants to be like 'one of the boys in the band'....not pushed as Peter Green, the Green God, Ex-FM superstar, writer of hits, bender of strings etc.

I don't know why the friendship with Nigel apparently broke down so irrevocably...there's more than we will likely ever know. On that DVD from 2003 Peter really looks uncomfortable in the interviews, Nigel by that time was always with him when he was interviewed and did seem to be pushing him....and that's in the material which was published.

don't know why the friendship with Nigel apparently broke down so irrevocably...there's more than we will likely ever know. On that DVD from 2003 Peter really looks uncomfortable in the interviews, Nigel by that time was always with him when he was interviewed and did seem to be pushing him....and that's in the material which was published....

Yes, there 's more than we will ever know,,, but the past is the past...it can re-emerge sometime, but if this happens too often it's because you are not happy with the present...Peter now is happy, so be happy with him.....!

Mario.

Mario has a point, we should rejoice that Peter is both happy and playing again.

Sorry for the multiple posts, I had a major internet connection issue.

We have Nigel to thank for getting Peter to pick up a guitar again, and if you watch Nigel in the DVD you will see how much he really loves the music he is playing.

I can imagine that (as their are two sides to every story) it would be incredibly difficult dealing with someone of Peter's state of mind - as the Fleetwood Mac guys found out many years before.

It wouldn't be far fetched to assume that one day he got up and said "I don't want to do this anymore" in the middle of recording an album or a tour, and Nigel got upset about this (physically perhaps, who knows?).

Then there is also:
Can You See Me (Recordings made by Cozy Powell, likely before the first official album. Bootleg?)
BTW, Cells Alive is taken from a German TV show (Ohne Filter) and was recorded june 28, 1998.