Green in 1981 vs. 2004

[greenfire]

Just wanting to ask for some thoughts when pinpointing these two differing times in Peter Greens career (1981 and 2004). When you think about any original songs released from these periods did Peter write any lyrics or were his last lyrics with Fleetwood Mac in 1969? The material from 1981 was from Whatcha Gonna Do album and the 2004 PG Splinter Group is material from Reaching the Cold 100. It looks like 1981 is more influenced by Peter's brother Mike and 2004 is his friend Nigel Watson. From what I've read all those Splinter Group albums are well received and I don't hear as much about the Peter Green's bands from the early 1980s. Can that 1981 band compare with what he was doing in 2004? Do fans admire one period more or is the Splinter Group hands down the preferred of these two time periods? It would be cool to get some thought on this from fans who know both periods well.

[WalkAThinLine.]

I only have Green's first two albums (The End of the Game and In the Skies, so my knowledge on his solo career is rather limited. On those first two albums, Green is credited as writer or co-writer on most tracks, although his debut his entirely jam based. In terms of commercial success, some of Greens' early 80s albums actually did chart in certain European countries, including Germany and Norway.

Like you said, much of Green's 1980s material was influenced by his brother Mike (he has nearly all of the writing credits starting with Little Dreamer and ending with Kolors. During the Splinter Group era, most of the album tracks are cover songs of existing material, so there are very few, if any, new Peter Green compositions from that era. With the exception of In the Skies (1979), none of his solo albums possess a higher rating than three stars out of five. His foray into blues-funk during the 80s is intriguing, but the songs are often marred by Green's vocals. With the Splinter Group, however, Nigel Watson handles a share of the vocals, and he does a decent enough job on the songs I've listened to.