In 1970, Peter Green, then lead singer and guitarist for the Fleetwood Mac, was considered to be one of the best guitar players in the world. Nobody (not even Clapton, Page or Hendrix) was better - all you could say is that they were all equal but different. Green's version of the electric blues was usually sweeter than that of the aforementioned players - if you've never heard him, imagine a mix of Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana (It's no coincidence that Green's "Black Magic Woman" became Santana's signature tune). Fleetwood Mac's latest LP "Then Play On", was their most varied and well-realized collection thus far and they were out promoting it with concerts throughout Europe. After one such concert in Munich, Green was approached by members of a cult-ish commune and invited to a party where he was given a big amount of LSD. It's not as if they tricked him, he had dropped acid before and took it willingly. It was nevertheless the moment that derailed his life forever. Although other band members described the atmosphere at the party as nightmarish, he had some sort of epiphany and declared that the commune was where he belonged and would never leave it again. Soon his drug use escalated and his head was filled with voices. To escape the voices he gave away the money he earned from music and his guitars (one to Gary Moore, who later thanked him by recording a heartfelt tribute called Blues for Greeny) and he tried to disappear, getting odd jobs like grave digging. In his absence, the Fleetwood Mac who had in the meanwhile had several style and personnel changes, became one of the world's most successful acts. And every time they played his music royalties would accumulate, dredging up his past and causing the voices to resurface - so he decided to pay a visit to the accountant, point a gun at him, and demand that he never again sends him money. Crazy, you say? The doctors diagnosed him with drug-induced schizophrenia and ordered his release from jail (where he had finally found some quiet) and incarceration in a mental hospital where he was treated with repeated rounds of electroshock therapy. He was subsequently released to the care of his family and even made a comeback in the 90's. I was surprised then by how completely different his playing had become. Now that I read about the shock therapy, I wonder it had something to do with it: It is known to erase whole portions of one's brain, maybe his guitar playing was affected. In any case, we've still got his records - and "Then Play On" is certainly a delight! Danny Kirwan, his young protégé whom he had employed as a third guitarist when he was just 17, had turned into a formidable player and songwriter in his own right. He contributes 5 songs here, of which the haunting ballad "Closing My Eyes" is an absolute highlight: romantic lyrics, sensitive vocal, lightly strummed guitar and a slowed-down waltz tempo point to the soft-rock style that would make the Mac pop stars in the ensuing years. Opener "Coming Your Way" features Green's famous guitar licks over excellent African-style drumming by Mick Fleetwood. "Fighting For Madge" is a blues-rock instrumental, "When You Say" another folk-ish ballad by Kirwan and "Show-Biz Blues" is the first blues song in the record, with stellar slide guitar that reminds me of Rory Gallagher (not surprisingly, Rory chose this song to cover for a Peter Green tribute album in the 90's). "Under Way" and "My Dream" are instrumentals aiming probably to duplicate the success of "Albatross" but the guitar isn't all that memorable and drums are a bit more intrusive. Green's further contributions include the atmospheric blues of "Before The Beginning" and bluesy hard rock of "One Sunny Day" and "Rattlesnake Shake" - all excellent. Kirwan's songs are slightly less impressive but undeniably beautiful, presaging the soft rock direction the band was to take soon: "Although The Sun Is Shining" is a sensitive, fragile ballad while "Without You" and "Like Crying" are slow blues with intricate solos. "Searching For Madge" is a psychedelic jam that rounds up the original U.K. pressing. The U.S. version omitted a few tracks to include the band's latest hit: both sides of the single "Oh Well - Pt.1" and "Pt.2" were joined in a single 9-minute piece, starting off with Pt.1's monster riff (I can't get enough of it, I've even chosen it for my ringtone), with the acoustic Pt.2 stuck to its end. "Oh Well" may be the definitive statement by early Mac, but we had to wait for 30+ years until the latest CD reissue separated the piece again to give it back its original form. And that's not all the good news: it includes another seminal hard rocker, "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)". I have no idea what the hell that means but who cares when it sounds that cool? It became a staple of Judas Priest's live show and is consequently more familiar to metal fans than those of Fleetwood Mac. The CD closes with another bonus track, "World In Harmony", a beautiful instrumental with nice interplay between the two guitarists. Despite everything that happened to Green after finishing the album, The Mac continued to make great music, true to the title of this record which they knicked from none other than the bard himself: "If music be the food of love, then play on" (Twelfth Night, 1602)
***** for Coming Your Way, Closing My Eyes, Rattlesnake Shake, Oh Well - Pt. 1, The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)
**** for Show-Biz Blues, One Sunny Day, Although The Sun Is Shining, Like Crying, Before The Beginning, Oh Well - Pt. 2
*** for Fighting For Madge, When You Say, Without You, Searching For Madge, My Dream, World In Harmony
** for Under Way
No comments:
Post a Comment