A Peter Green Primer

 As a guitarist and avid blues fan, I like to use Peter Green as my litmus test for how well other musicians really know the blues. Everyone has heard of B. B. King, and the man is undoubtedly a god in his own right. But only one man, he once said, can send shivers down his spine while playing the guitar, and that man is Peter Green. An unfortunate life plagued with mental illness quickly snuffed him from the public sphere, just as he was beginning to make a name for himself. As a result, he’s become largely forgotten. I’d like to offer a Peter Green primer for anyone interested in this post today.

Green’s story begins with the departure of another great, and much better known, guitarist from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, a band famous for discovering talent. In the mid 60s, Eric Clapton left the band, and John Mayall held auditions for his replacement. The young Peter Green stood out above the rest—so much so that Mayall proclaimed him to be “someone better” than Clapton himself. At first, nobody believed it was possible; Clapton was the guitar god everyone was talking about in England. But as soon as anyone heard him play, they agreed he was indeed an uncommon craftsman.

With the Bluesbreakers, Green recorded only one album, A Hard Road, but it secured his success as a guitarist. He especially shined with such tracks as “The Stumble” and “The Super-Natural,” both of which were instrumental powerhouses foreshadowing Green’s future.

He became friends with the band’s rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass, ultimately leading to their spending some time together in the studio working on a short instrumental piece as a trio. This song Peter titled “Fleetwood Mac” as a humble nod to his two friends. Before long, the three broke away and added guitarist and song-writer Jeremy Spencer to their ensemble to form one of rock and roll’s most famous bands. When it came time to name the band, Green famously insisted his name not be a part of it, as he knew he’d eventually leave. Instead, he wanted the rhythm section to have a name to carry with it. Sure enough, through four decades of personnel changes, Fleetwood Mac’s rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie has been the only constant.

With Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green recorded a mere four studio albums in just over two years: Fleetwood Mac (often referred to as the “Dog and Dustbin” album), Mr. Wonderful, The Pious Bird of Good Omen (released as English Rose in the US with a slightly different track listing), and Then Play On. Growing increasingly disillusioned with his fame and fortune while simultaneously experimenting with heavy drug use, Peter Green was already becoming a controversial member of the band, which had expanded its lineup to five members with the addition of brilliant young guitarist Danny Kirwan. He began wearing his hair and beard long and donning long, loose robes, striking an unmistakable resemblance to Jesus. When he began demanding the band give away all its money to charity and embark on relief missions to help starving children, the band suspected he was losing interest in music all together.

In a now infamous incident in Munich in 1970, Fleetwood Mac went to a bizarre party at an enormous, secluded home. Multiple witnesses have suspected it was the home base for a cult of some fashion, although it remains shrouded in mystery. What is certain is that Peter Green and Danny Kirwan were both given a powerful, LSD-based drug. When the band’s manager found Peter playing bizarre music in the basement in a disturbing mindset, he insisted on getting the band out of the scene as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Within months, Green would announce his departure from the band he made famous.

Eventually, Green formed a new band and released his first solo album, the controversial End of the Game album released under his own name. The entire work is an unstructured jam session, heavily percussive, and lacking the masterful feeling once present in Green’s guitar playing. He was losing touch with reality, it was later discovered, due to the onset of schizophrenia.

Over the next decade, Green moved back in with his parents and went in and out of mental hospitals, regularly receiving electro-shock therapy. During one particularly famous bout of instability, he threatened to kill his accountant, supposedly because he did not want to receive royalty checks any longer. He grew his nails out, let his hair and beard turn into a wild, unkempt mane, and apparently would at times get on all fours and howl like a dog.

Today, Peter Green is somewhat more mentally stable, but still clearly fragile and a bit difficult to follow at times in conversations. He plays with his long-time friend Nigel Watson in the Splinter Group, a prolific blues band. But his medication saps his energy and makes it difficult to concentrate, leaving him with little interest in playing guitar at times.

Peter Green’s fame rests almost entirely with his output with Fleetwood Mac. From the very beginning, his songs demonstrated a tormented mind wrought with anxiety, evident in his solo number, “The World Keep on Turning,” from their first album. His clear, saturated voice and explosive guitar playing combine to make the song a haunting listen.

 

 "The World Keep on Turning" would be the precursor to other, similar songs of mental anguish, such as the beautiful “Man of the World,” in which he proclaims “There’s no one I’d rather be; I just wish I had never been born.” The gentle guitar playing of this piece and the powerful melodic structure paired with some of his finest lyrics produce a piece not easily forgotten. 

The final song he recorded with Fleetwood Mac, “The Green Manalishi,” finishes the evolution from straight-forward blues guitarist to poignant, experimental genius. The song documents his hatred of money and greed, which he felt haunted his every move. It is a clear precursor of the punk rock and heavy metal that would begin developing throughout the decade and is often cited as his masterpiece.

For straightforward blues, too, Green was able to deliver a powerful punch. His “I Loved Another Woman” is a brilliant example of economical use of notes and thoughtful bending, offering a unique sound to a standard chord progression. 

“Stop Messin’ Round,” meanwhile, is a standard, feel-good blues-rock number with his unmistakable sound infusing the genre with unprecedented life. 

Today, the three songs he is best known for are Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hit ever, the instrumental “Albatross;” a song Santana would make famous, “Black Magic Woman;” and arguably one of the greatest blues-rock songs ever recorded, “Oh Well.” All three capture the essence of the blues without sticking to the typical blues sound. “Albatross” is one of the most gentle, simple songs ever recorded, yet it is a complex listening experience that communicates between the notes at an almost primal level. 

“Black Magic Woman” adds a supernatural feeling to a standard blues sound with shrill tone and a thumping rhythm, producing a piece of surprising sophistication.

And “Oh Well” is a sort of spiritual Bildungsroman in song, contrasting the starkness of Green’s voice with the sharp edge of his guitar.

If you like what you've heard here, I strongly recommend getting your hands on some early Fleetwood Mac recordings to see the full spectrum of what Peter Green had to offer. His fall from fame is a tragic story, a sort of musical cautionary tale, as there is little question that he was in 1970 just starting to demonstrate his genius.