Peter Green - The Anthology (4CDs Deluxe Box Set, 2008) RE-UP

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Peter Green - The Anthology (4CDs Deluxe Box Set, 2008) RE-UP

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Peter Green - The Anthology (4CDs Deluxe Box Set, 2008) RE-UP

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His career riddled by drug abuse and paranoia, Peter Green is still regarded by some fans as the greatest white blues guitarist ever, Eric Clapton notwithstanding. As he grew up in London's working-class East End, Green's early musical influences were Hank B. Marvin of the Shadows, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Freddie King, and traditional Jewish music.

Born Peter Greenbaum but calling himself Peter Green by age 15, he played bass before being invited in 1966 by keyboardist Peter Bardens to play lead in the Peter B's, whose drummer was a lanky chap named Mick Fleetwood. The 19-year-old Green was with Bardens just three months before joining John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, whose rapidly shifting personnel included bassist John McVie and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. A keen fan of Clapton, Green badgered Mayall to give him a chance when the Bluesbreakers guitarist split for an indefinite vacation in Greece. Green sounded great and, as Mayall recalls, was not amused when Clapton returned after a handful of gigs, and Green was out.

When Clapton left the band for good six months later to form Cream, Mayall cajoled Green back. Fans were openly hostile because Green was not God, although they appreciated Clapton's replacement in time. Producer Mike Vernon was aghast when the Bluesbreakers showed up without Clapton to record the album A Hard Road in late 1966, but was won over by Green's playing. On many tracks you'd be hard-pressed to tell it wasn't Clapton playing. With an eerie Green instrumental called "The Supernatural," he demonstrated the beginning of his trademark fluid, haunting style so reminiscent of B.B. King.

When Green left Mayall in 1967, he took McVie and Fleetwood to found Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan shortly afterward gave Fleetwood Mac an unusual three-guitar front line. Green was at his peak for the albums Mr. Wonderful, English Rose, Then Play On, and a live Boston Tea Party recording. His instrumental "Albatross" was the band's first British number one single and "Black Magic Woman" was later a huge hit for Carlos Santana. But Green had been experimenting with acid and his behavior became increasingly irrational, especially after he disappeared for three days of rampant drug use in Munich. He became very religious, appearing on-stage wearing crucifixes and flowing robes. His bandmates resisted Green's suggestion to donate most of their money to charity, and he left in mid-1970 after writing a harrowing biographical tune called "The Green Manalishi."

After a bitter, rambling solo album called The End of the Game, Green saddened fans when he hung up his guitar, except for helping the Mac complete a tour when Spencer suddenly joined the Children of God in Los Angeles and quit the band. Green's chaotic odyssey of almost a decade included rumors that he was a gravedigger, a bartender in Cornwall, a hospital orderly, and a member of an Israeli commune. When an accountant sent him an unwanted royalty check, Green confronted his tormentor with a gun, although it was unloaded. Green went to jail briefly before being transferred to an asylum.

Green emerged in the late '70s and early '80s with albums In the Skies, Little Dreamer, White Sky, and Kolors, featuring at times Bardens, Robin Trower drummer Reg Isidore, and Fairport Convention drummer Dave Mattacks. He reprised the Then Play On Mac standard "Rattlesnake Shake" on Fleetwood's solo 1981 album, The Visitor. British author Martin Celmins wrote Green's biography in 1995. Psychologically troubled, on medication, and hardly playing the guitar for most of the '90s, the reclusive Green resumed sporadic recording in the second half of the decade. He surfaces unexpectedly from time to time, most prominently January 12, 1998, when Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In a rare, perfect moment, Green jammed with fellow inductee Santana on "Black Magic Woman."

allmusic.com biography by Mark Allan

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Peter Green - The Anthology (4CDs Deluxe Box Set, 2008) RE-UP

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Some Peter Green fans might be put off by this 64-song/four-CD collection, owing to the fact that they are likely to already own a significant chunk of what's here (especially the Fleetwood Mac material). (And in fairness, there apparently isn't a lot of – or any – unreleased material to draw on from Green's classic period with the band). But this reviewer had to spring for this four-and-a-half hour showcase of his work, and for one major reason – vitality. Green's virtuosity is a given, and his taste and his insights into blues and what can be done with it – while still leaving it as blues – are well known to anyone who's heard his work. But what the makers have done here is to truly assemble his finest, most energetic and inspired work across over 35 years and well over four hours' listening time, into a collection that's greater than the sum of its parts – in that regard, this set rivals the Eric Clapton Crossroads retrospective, except that doing this set took a bit more courage, as Green hasn't gotten nearly the publicity for his musicianship that Clapton has for his across the last four decades. The first two discs and the first half of the third contain a track list that, distilled slightly more, could be a strong contender for a "best of Fleetwood Mac" in their pre-pop incarnation, 23 tracks that, thanks to some ambitious cross-licensing, combine the group's Blue Horizon and Reprise catalog material into a comprehensive whole, and the makers have even included one cut off of Green's post-Mac End of the Game solo album. Green's earlier work with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers is represented, if not quite so thoroughly, and his two distinct periods working with Pete Bardens, under his own name and earlier as part of Peter B's Looners, is offered, along with material done with Duster Bennett and Otis Spann. The quality of the playing (and singing) speaks for itself, but the producers have also assembled the material in not quite strict chronological order – "Soul Dressing" with Peter B's Looners is right in the middle of a disc that includes work with Mayall, Duster Bennett, Otis Spann, and early Fleetwood Mac – so that there's a lot of variety in the listening. The sounds range from Mississippi Delta and electric Chicago blues to prog rock-ish and psychedelic pieces, and into R&B-based material, acoustic tracks placed just right in the middle of electric sides, and all manner of variation. The fourth disc covers the highlights of Green's solo career, and while the tendency of some would be to dismiss it or, at least, regard it as more of an appendix to his classic years, it turns out to be as vital as the rest of the set – whatever personal demons Green had to overcome to get to the point represented here, it will be plain to anyone that he brought as much energy and finely tuned musical insights to his post-1971 career as he did to his work with his early bands. In other words, for anyone who truly loves the blues, Green's solo work with the Splinter Group (and some other contexts), represented on Disc Four, is every bit as worthwhile as his early stuff. And that – and the killer sound, and the excellent annotation – more than makes up for any repetition that might be entailed in buying this set. For longtime fans it's still essential, and for anyone who's ever wondered what the big deal was about Peter Green, or the "other" Fleetwood Mac, or even British blues, it's a great place to start, and might just be a revelation. (And it will also be a good introduction to the work of Pete Bardens, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Zoot Money, et al.).

allmusic.com review by Bruce Eder