YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Classic Rock / Playlist - Feb 16, 2006
A Hard Road - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Another Kinda Love - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Someday After A While (You'll Be Sorry) - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Looking Back - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
So Many Roads - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
The Stumble - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Please Don't Tell - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Double Trouble - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Curly - The Bluesbreakers
Rubber Duck - The Bluesbreakers
Greeny - The Bluesbreakers
Fleetwood Mac - The Bluesbreakers
Searching For Madge - Fleetwood Mac
Fighting For Madge - Fleetwood Mac
Merry-go-round - Fleetwood Mac
Black Magic Woman (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 1]
Sandy Mary (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 3]
Like It This Way (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 1]
Only You (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 1]
Stranger Blues (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 2]
Rattlesnake Shake (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 2]
Tutti Frutti (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 3]
Keep A-Knockin' (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 2]
Jenny Jenny (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 2]
Great Balls Of Fire (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 3]
The Green Manalishi (Live) - Fleetwood Mac [Boston Tea Party, Vol. 1]
Notes: I have a rather clear recollection of leaving Roberts Hall after the finish of my two-part Green God radio special, and starting down the long outdoor stairway overlooking the building I lived in, and thinking to myself, "I have just completed my life's greatest accomplishment." Only time will tell whether I was right or wrong, but my Bloomfield special two months later was, at the very least, a comparable accomplishment (everything since then, however...).
My first huge multiple-show-spanning radio special was the Guitar Gods special of fall '03, and it's sequel in spring '04. Both of these specials were overshadowed by the colossal Roots of Led Zeppelin special that closed the spring '05 semester. For the spring of '06, I needed something new. My first idea was the Bloomfield special, as he was a musician I was heavily getting into around the time of early 2006. But before I got really involved in that project, I sort of stumbled upon the brilliance and magnificence of Peter Green. And so I ended up with two incredible radio specials for my final semester on the air.
Peter Green was involved in less bands than Bloomfield was, so his music was easier to track down and get a hold of. I read the great biography by Martin Celmins, than I grabbed a hold of all the relevant John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and early Fleetwood Mac material I could manage, and also a couple of Green's solo albums from the 70's. The real star of the show, in terms of recordings, was the three-disc Boston Tea Party live album from 1970 that I was able to track down. It's a shame that album wasn't released as planned, because if it had been, I believe it could have solidified Fleetwood Mac's reputation as a late 60's blues rock band at least as much as a late 70's lite rock band. As it is now, most people know Fleetwood Mac as the latter, and few know them as the former...
I really like the way I set up this radio special. It wasn't strictly chronological, although it was generally so. I knew it was gonna be in two parts, so what I did was, I made the first part Peter Green's rise to rock stardom, and the second part his descent into madness. I split the tracks I had into two columns. On the one hand, you had the uplifting, energetic rock, blues, and jam songs. Those went into the first part. On the other hand, you had the hauntingly beautiful melancholic and tormented blues songs. Those went into the second part. And so the first week was the 'rise', and the second week was the 'fall'.
With excerpts from the biography littered throughout the show, to weave the story of Peter Green's life and give even more depth to his music, the Rise portion of the special opened with Green's career-starting work with John Mayall as Eric Clapton's replacement in the Bluesbreakers. The best tracks from A Hard Road, Mayall's album with Green, are included along with the single they recorded together. Following that are a few jams that Peter Green recorded without John Mayall present, and the one jam that named Peter Green's band-to-be. Mick Fleetwood and John McVie were both also in the Bluesbreakers at the time, and with Green, they recorded the instrumental jam which came to be titled Fleetwood Mac. Soon after, the three of them left John Mayall to pursue their own musical project as the band Fleetwood Mac, enlisting second guitarist Jeremy Spencer and, later, third guitarist Danny Kirwan.
A couple jam and blues numbers from Green's days with Fleetwood Mac lead into the phenomenal Boston Tea Party material. Included is: some of Green's best compositions (Black Magic Woman, Sandy Mary); some excellent Kirwan material (Like It This Way, Only You); the outstanding extended jam on Rattlesnake Shake; a bunch of live jamming; and to finish, the last song Peter Green recorded with Fleetwood Mac. The Green Manalishi, heavy but paranoid, was the perfect bridge between the two sections of the Green God special.