Peter Green - In The Skies (1979)

Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist, best known for founding Fleetwood Mac in 1967.

Peter Green had formed and led blues-rock group Fleetwood Mac from 1967 to 1970, becoming known as one of Britain's best blues guitarists in the process. He had famously left the band at the height of their success as he began to suffer from mental illness, reportedly triggered by some particularly potent LSD. He released a strange, uncommercial solo album (1970's The End Of The Game) and a couple of similiar singles, but he obviously had no plans for a solo career at that time. He briefly returned to Fleetwood Mac to fill in for Jeremy Spencer in 1971, but after that he was not heard of for a long time. As his illness led to him spending a lot of time in psychiatric hosptials, he faded into obscurity.

However he did eventually reappear at the end of the decade. With the help and encouragement of his brother Michael Green, he made a return to the music business. The album In The Skies came out in 1979, a modest, unambitious yet solid collection of blues-rock tunes and instrumentals. Backing Green was guitarist Snowy White, keyboardist Peter Bardens, bassist Kuma Harada, percussionist Lennox Langton and drummers Reg Isidore and Godfrey Maclean. He shared many of the lead guitar duties with Snowy White, as he was obviously still unsure of himself, but he could clearly still play and had not lost his unique touch.

The End Of The Game (1970) <|> Little Dreamer (1980)
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Peter Green - The End Of The Game (1970)

Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist, best known for founding Fleetwood Mac in 1967.
 

Peter Green first rose to fame as a guitarist thanks to John Mayall. When Mayall's star player Eric Clapton disappeared for three months in 1965, a young Green got the chance to fill in for him for some gigs, though it did not last long as Clapton soon returned. However Mayall did not forget him, and when Clapton left for good in 1966, Peter Green was offered the job as lead guitarist of The Bluesbreakers. He subsequently appeared on 1967's A Hard Road, and quickly proved his skill as a blues musician.
Green then left Mayall's band, taking with him bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood. Together with second guitarist Jeremy Spencer, they became Fleetwood Mac, one of the best British blues groups of the 1960s. From 1967 to 1970 Green led the band to new artistic heights, with great chart success. He became one of Britain's most distinctive blues-rock guitarists, with his delicate touch and unmistakeable tone. He also penned such classic songs as "Black Magic Woman", "Man Of The World", "Oh Well" and "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown)".
However it was then that his troubles began to arise, as his mental health appeared to be deteriorating (reportedly due to being spiked with some particularly potent LSD). He wanted the band to give all their money to charity, and unsurprisingly the others did not agree. He left Fleetwood Mac in 1970, disillusioned with the trappings of fame.
That same year he released his first solo album. The End Of The Game was a very strange record, and to fans of his music with Fleetwood Mac it must have appeared very worrying, and sure proof that he had gone off the rails. It did not feature any songs, but rather six loose improvised jams, dark and unpredictable in character, and defiantly uncommercial. Starting a solo career with such an experimental release was always going to be risky, but it seems he did not have any plans for continuing his career. The next year he released two singles in a similar style, and then seemed to completely retire from the music business. He did not release another album until 1979.

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