Buried Treasure: Peter Green - In The Skies (1979)
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| The American LP cover on Sail Records |
After leaving the band in 1970 Green spent most of the decade either in jail
or in hospitals due to mental illness that was heavily fueled by his
unfortunate usage of LSD. If you want to read all of the sordid details about
the personal problems that still haunt him today you can find them in
Wikipedia
and
All Music.
Regardless, Green was considered one of the premier blues-rock guitarists of
the classic rock era and many considered him the equal of Eric Clapton, the
man he replaced in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
Green released one poorly received solo album, The End of the Game, not
long after he left the Mac but it took another nine years until he issued
In the Skies, quite possibly the best work he's done outside of his famous band.
Green sang lead on the LP's only four songs with vocals. The rest are
instrumentals. He wrote or co-wrote all nine tracks and shared lead guitar
with Snowy White, another renowned, English blues-rocker who was a member of both Thin Lizzy
and the 90s version of Pink Floyd. White's lead fretwork is featured on the
title tune and on the instrumental "Slabo Day."
In the Skies is not a blues album in the truest sense. The songs are
solid, straight ahead rock but they remain outside the mainstream because of
the unique work of both axemen. Every note is crisp, tasteful, and inspiring.
The highlight of the record is a slow, smoldering blues, "A Fool No More,"
that proved Green could still knock listeners' socks off when the world was
going well for him.
In the Skies was widely released in Great Britain but in America it was
issued on a very small label, Sail Records, after Green rejected a
multi-million dollar contract from a major company.
The album isn't vintage, early Fleetwood Mac but it definitely is a joy to
listen to. One spin on your turntable and you'll realize how great of a career
Green could have had if his circumstances had turned out differently.
You know, I was going to submit a review of "Then Play On" for Forgotten Music, but work and my son's after school activities got in the way of that plan. Peter Green is one hell of a soulful cat. I was listening to The Robert Johnson Songbook the other day and just marveling at how smooth the guy is after all this time (and what he had been through). It's a damn shame that he didn't get to do more in his prime, but that window of time has passed. Great write up on a record that should have been heard by a much wider audience.
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