Tag Archives: Peter Green

205. oh well [parts 1+2]

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Wherein Peter Green, main guitar man for the early Fleetwood Mac, lays down a blueprint for a blues rock that aims to move so far beyond the bounds of either blues or rock that a new name will probably be required – something that contains the fierce grit of the Mississippi Delta circa 1930, waters rising, levees about to overflow, but also the majestic sweep of a Ennio Morricone Spaghetti western soundtrack, that scene where the cold eyed killer looks into the mirror and sees something monstrous looking back. Which sadly, is what happened to Peter Green, sort of.  He got swallowed by the monster – the Green Manalishi he called it in another song. Some say it was just money, greed. Others that it was the devil himself. Either way, Mr. Green disappeared down his own nasty psychedelic wormhole, went mad for a while, got lost. As for Fleetwood Mac, they did what any proper blues outfit would do. They played on.

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337. albatross

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The melody’s nice here but it’s more the overall mournful mood that sets Albatross free. But, of course, the early Fleetwood Mac being a blues band, it’s not really that kind of albatross, is it? It’s the kind that you carry as a curse, hanging around your neck, weighing you down, reminding you and all the world that you blew it, you killed a beautiful thing for no damned reason. Which is sort of what happened to Peter Green, the man who wrote Albatross, his career pretty much over within the year, psychedelic drugs and mental illness finding each other in yet another brutal implosion of tortured genius.

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440. searching for Madge

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The Fleetwood Mac story is long and confusing if nothing else. We all know the stuff that made them mega-rich and cocaine famous, but there’s an entire decade that precedes all that, and deep it goes, often with completely different singers and players working entirely different worlds and angles. Except the rhythm section, Mr. Fleetwood and Mr. Mac. You might even say the original line-up isn’t just the best Mac, they’re one of the best damned bands EVER, with guitarist Peter Green spearheading things, taking the old school blues, amplifying and psychedelicizing them, giving us stuff that barreled along at least neck and neck with what guys like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page were doing at the time. 1969’s Then Play On is the key album, capturing not just the breadth Mr. Green’s genius, but also hints of the psychosis that would soon tear him apart. Beautiful and gone, lost to ozone whilst Searching for Madge.

696. lonesome and a long way from home

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“Speaking of ear worms, this Eric Clapton track is definitely one of mine, always just lurking there, ready to slip into my consciousness if I’m feeling sorry for myself or whatever. Not that I’ve ever been a huge Clapton fan (Jimi Hendrix was always better, and Jimmy Page, Steve Howe, Neil Young, Duane Allman, Peter Green, Pete Townsend even). Nor have I been perpetually lonely, and where the hell is home anyway? “It’s back there somewhere,” as my friend Steve used to say, thumb pointed over his shoulder and far away, “Always in the rear view.” (Philip Random)

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29. Solid Time of Change

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Installment #29 of the Solid Time of Change aired on Saturday February-18-2016 (c/o CiTR.FM.101.9).

Podcast (Solid Time begins a few minutes in). Youtube playlist (somewhat inaccurate).

The Solid Time of Change is our overlong yet incomplete history of the so-called Prog Rock era – 661 selections from 1965 through 1979 with which we hope to do justice to a strange and ambitious time indeed, musically speaking.

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Part Twenty-Nine of the journey went as follows:

  1. Buffalo Springfield – broken arrow
  2. Electric Light Orchestra – Shangri-La
  3. Aphrodite’s Child – the system
  4. Aphrodite’s Child- seven trumpets
  5. Aphrodite’s Child – Altamont
  6. Tommy James + the Shondells – crimson and clover
  7. Barclay James Harvest – suicide
  8. Barclay James Harvest – hymn
  9. Gentle Giant – the runaway
  10. King Crimson – cat food
  11. King Crimson – groon
  12. Fleetwood Mac – oh well
  13. Genesis – ripples
  14. Genesis – in the rapids
  15. Genesis – it
  16. Genesis – watcher of the skies [live]

Fresh episodes air pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook page.

20. The Solid Time Of Change

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Part twenty of the Solid Time of Change aired Saturday November-5-2016 c/o CiTR.FM.101.9.

Podcast (Solid Time starts a few minutes in). Youtube playlist (incomplete and not entirely accurate).

This continues to be Randophonic’s main focus, our overlong yet incomplete history of the so-called Prog Rock era (presented in countdown form) – 661 selections from 1965 through 1979 with which we hope to do justice to a strange and ambitious time indeed, musically speaking.

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Part twenty of the journey went as follows:

  1. T-Rex – once upon the seas of Abyssinia
  2. T-Rex – king of the rumbling spires
  3. Electric Light Orchestra – new world rising + king of the universe
  4. Strawbs – starshine angel wine
  5. Triumvirat – illusions on a double dimple
  6. Yes- time and word
  7. Yes – then
  8. Banco del Mutuo Soccorso – miserere alla storia
  9. Fleetwood Mac – albatross
  10. Fleetwood Mac – hypnotized
  11. Genesis – I know what I like [in your wardrobe]
  12. Genesis – los endos
  13. Caravan – nine feet underground

Fresh episodes air pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook.