• A letter to a friend concerning Peter Green`s Fleetwood Mac,


  •  Thanks for bringing me in on this. Sadly, I think that you may well be in for disappointment if what your seeking is more of what Peter Green gave us with The Green Manalishi & to a lesser part, Oh Well. For sure, Green is; was, a genius, but unfortunately he was really not aware or interested in this gift & allowed mind expanding drugs to rob him of the rationale part of his senses. Meaning, that one of the main reasons for Green leaving &, in reality, ending the incarnation of what was Peter Green`s Fleetwood Mac was because the Manalishi & Oh Well were incredibly commercial successes. Albertross, Man Of The World, Need Your Love So Bad, the Little Willie John cover, were also great offerings, but not in the vein of Manalishi. Green was finding it increasingly disturbing & upsetting that Blue Horizon were releasing these, in my eyes,very fine singles. I think what is important to remember about Green was that, like Clapton, he believed in going backwards & down into the Blues, unlike much lesser UK musicians of the time & this affected his output. His heroes were the electric Bluesmen of the 1950`s; Elmore James & Muddy Waters, et al, but Green never felt as though he could give real justice to their music & so gave up trying. Just to give you some idea how revered Green was as a player, he was invited by Chess Records to record with Otis Rush ! Not the other way around. To conclude, Green was at his absolute pinnacle when he recorded The Green Manalishi & Oh Well, Pt`s 1 & 2, & it was this pinnacle that he saw as his que to leave & bail out, returning to his Father`s house in Richmond where he ended up staying for the next forty years, leaving leadership duties to Danny Kirwin & Jeremy Spencer, who, incidentally, both also left over, what can be seen today, as mental health problems. It may also be worth mentioning here that Green did actually record two extremely good solo albums in the early & mid 70`s, End Of The Game & In The Skies. But, could never be coaxed into returning to his former career in the Mac. I`m not sure, what Peter Green would say to you today if you asked him about The Green Manalishi, but in 1969 he would have probably warned you to be careful of it & not to mess around with the Devil. Manalishi was Green`s parting song to the world which is why there is nothing that stands next to it. Below, is a clip of one of the last live recordings of Green`s Mac. I`m aware that their Blues recordings are not your bag, but if you listen carefully you`ll hear glimpses of the magic your seeking. Watch out for that Manalishi though !!! 

  •  What seems to be an important crossover album in The Mac`s career is The Kiln House album. This was the next thing they created after Green`s departure. Even though its not a massively strong album there are still a couple of interesting tracks on it that may assist you in finding some of the magic. Like a kind of window into what could have been had Green stayed on. This album also saw the emergence of Christine McVie onto their scene.
  • Matthew St John Higgins

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