The original Fleetwood Mac.

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Bill Walker

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Is there any fans of the original Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green as the leader.
They were one of my favourite bands when I was the young bloke, very clever songs that Peter wrote like Man of the World, The Green Manalishi, Albatross and Oh Well to name a few.

Peter of course was a fabulous guitar player and singer but the very young Danny Kirwan had an amazing vibrato, you can hear it on this live recording of Oh Well.

Sadly Peter became a schizophrenic in the early 70s, gave all his money away to charity and became a very strange hermit.
Due they say to too much LSD.

 
The original FM were excellent.
I saw Peter Green with the Splinter Band at The Ritz about 20-25 years ago and then a few months (?) later supporting BB King at the Arena.
 
First saw the embryo in Bluesbreakers, then the new band several times. Peter was, to my mind, just the best. Mick Fleetwood said:
"When Peter was on form, he could break your heart". Listen to the solo on "Need your love so Bad" to see what he meant. (Pick the right version on line, too many are truncated).
Half the band went off the rails in some way.
Danny Kirwan became an alcoholic and homeless, Jeremy Spencer quit and joined a religious cult, and, of course, Peter had a long stretch of mental illness.
Peter's comeback was ok, but he was half the player.
Kirwan died in a home for alcoholics in 2018.
 
I've seen Peter Green play live, in two rather contrasting situations:

Once was in a pub back in around 1980/81, not long after his "in the skies" album came out! For some bizarre reason he'd decided to play a gig in a pub on the end of the Fulham Road in London, which I was fortunate enough to hear about and went along.

And the other was at the Albert Hall where he was guesting with Santana. Brilliant musician!
 
Chippy_boy said:
I've seen Peter Green play live, in two rather contrasting situations:

Once was in a pub back in around 1980/81, not long after his "in the skies" album came out! For some bizarre reason he'd decided to play a gig in a pub on the end of the Fulham Road in London, which I was fortunate enough to hear about and went along.

And the other was at the Albert Hall where he was guesting with Santana. Brilliant musician!
Click to expand...
Santana best known to the general public for "Black Magic Woman", written by Peter G.
 
Excellent musician though he was, it seems to me that Kirwan was not part of what I would call the original Fleetwood Mac. One of the first albums I bought with my own money was that one with the dog and the dustbin on the cover. You know it. A brilliant blues album. Better than anything that Mayall did, with the single exception of The Turning Point. In my humble opinion. God but I was mad about blues in those years.
Kirwan was, I think, brought on board for Then Play On (which I also bought and greatly enjoyed). And now here's a piece of useless information. I bought that album (i.e. Then Play On), along with Led Zep II, and Ten Years After Ssssshhh, at a record shop that was at the top of the parade leading up to Piccadilly Station. (A huge outlay for me to buy three LPs at one go, at the time). I wonder what happened to that shop…
People who'd seen them told me that FM with Jeremy Spencer and Peter Green were the best thing live they'd ever seen.
FM Mark 2 — that is, the Lindsay Buckingham/Stevie Nicks incarnation of the 70s — was an excellent pop group, but nothing much to do with Mark 1.
 
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Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Excellent musician though he was, it seems to me that Kirwan was not part of what I would call the original Fleetwood Mac. One of the first albums I bought with my own money was that one with the dog and the dustbin on the cover. You know it. A brilliant blues album. Better than anything that Mayall did, with the single exception of The Turning Point. In my humble opinion. God but I was mad about blues in those years.
Kirwan was, I think, brought on board for Then Play On (which I also bought and greatly enjoyed). And now here's a piece of useless information. I bought that album (i.e. Then Play On), along with Led Zep II, and Ten Years After Ssssshhh, at a record shop that was at the top of the parade leading up to Piccadilly Station. (A huge outlay for me to buy three LPs at one go, at the time). I wonder what happened to that shop…
People who'd seen them told me that FM with Jeremy Spencer and Peter Green were the best thing live they'd ever seen.
FM Mark 2 — that is, the Lindsay Buckingham/Stevie Nicks incarnation of the 70s — was an excellent pop group, but nothing much to do with Mark 1.
Click to expand...
I like the Turning Point but my favourite Mayall album by a mile is Bare Wires.
 
Ain't it great everything you can get off Youtube, now? It truly is astonishing. I don't like the fact that they track me, but I suppose you've got to make sacrifices a bit (and I don't know how to turn it off, frankly).
There's clips of stuff I hadn't seen since I first saw it on telly round about 1965.
 
Got a greatest hits CD (Peter Green period) Man of The World is such a beautiful song.
 
There was a very good feature on Peter Green in one of the music mags a couple of months ago, think it was uncut but might have been mojo. The piece was centred around a benefit gig they were putting on for him but not expecting him to turn up to, some good interviews in it and it might be available online.

Im not all that familiar with Fleetwood Mac but think Man of the world is an awesome track.
 
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