Man of the World – Reflections on Peter Green (SACD)
Music: B+ PCM CD: B+ DSD Stereo: A- DSD
Multi-Channel: N/A Extras: C-
It might be somewhat fair
to label Peter Green as the bastard child of the rock/blues movement. While his influence was great, his name
never lived on like his songs. Even
when you see modern ‘greatest guitar players of all time’ lists, Green’s name
is seldom listed, even though some regard him as the greatest white blues
guitar player of all time. Perhaps to
some that may be true, even though I would put Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray
Vaughan, and Jimmy Page a mark above him.
Green’s career started out
playing in bands with drummers such as Mick Fleetwood and they would eventually
be called Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, which had a three-guitarist front. Green was a fan of Clapton, who at the time
was forming his supergroup known as Cream, so Britain was being supplied with
many groups that were forming and reforming with material coming about from all
over. The 1960’s gave birth to so much
dimension in Rock, even incorporating a lot of blues material. It was during the later portion of the 60’s
that Green recorded Black Magic Woman, which of course became a bigger hit when
Carlos Santana released his rendition a few years later.
Eventually Fleetwood Mac
went a different direction adding Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham to the
lineup. Green only recorded two records
in the 70’s those being The End of the Game (1970) and In the Skies
(1979). The 80’s showed more promise as
the guitarist was putting out more blues-fueled material, but nothing that
really stuck. He would also do some
material from other guitarists including his 1998 release The Robert Johnson
Songbook. There is no doubt about
Peter Green’s ability as a player, but his life was plagued by drug abuse and
even paranoia.
Brought to the SACD format
from Audio Fidelity, Man of the World Reflections on Peter Green makes
for an interesting sit through. Since
friends and/or musicians influenced by Peter Green perform the material this
particular recording acts like a tribute.
The problem with this is similar to wearing designer imposter cologne,
when you have the real stuff too. While
the songs sound good, they are not quite like the original and while the thought
was nice, it might be a better idea to get more familiar with Green’s material
by hearing him, not those who emulate him.
Track Listing
Oh Well – Billy Sheehan
Showbiz Blues – Rory Gallagher
The Green Manalishi – Arthur Brown
Looking For Somebody – Snowy White
Love that Burns – “Lonesome” Dave Peverett
Rattlesnake Shake – Vince Converse
Ramblin’ Pony – Harvey Mandel
If You Be My Baby –“Lonesome” Dave Peverett
Baby When the Sun Goes
down – Southside Johnny
Black Magic Woman – Larry McCray
Crying Won’t Bring You
Back – Luther Grosvenor
Stop Messin’ Roud – Savoy Brown
Albatross – Paul Jones
Leaving Town Blues – Rory Gallagher
Man Of The World – Ian Anderson
Certain tracks stand out
more than others such as Billy Sheehan on Oh Well, which is a nice
rendition. It’s a powerful bluesy song
strongly held by its repeating main riff and even Kenny Wayne Shephard did a
version for his third album. Then there
is Vince Converse (virtually an unknown) doing Rattlesnake Shake, one of
Green’s most known pieces. It’s an
average version, but fails to impress.
Then Larry McCray doing Black Magic Woman is another nice
highlight, despite not having the energy of the original and certainly not like
Santana’s version. Ian Anderson of
Jethro Tull finishes this release up quite well with Man of the World. Anderson is a delightful addition for this;
unfortunately the best musicians only contributed one song each.
Available as a Hybrid
SACD, Man of the World plays on both regular CD players and SACD
players. It functions in DSD Stereo,
and even the CD tracks sound nice and defined.
A notch above is the DSD track, which is strong, but lacks some
creativity. The sound is certainly solid,
but has no imagination that would have made this release somewhat more enjoyable
since the selections and performers are average on a whole. The liner notes are brief making this entire
package sought after, even if its target audience is minuscule.
- Nate Goss
