Peter Green: Founder of Fleetwood Mac

by Martin Celmins

Revised and updated, this is the second edition of Celmins' much acclaimed biography, charting the re-emergence of perhaps the greatest white blues guitarist ever.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An underrated (when looking at the relative fame of those such as Clapton, Santana and George Harrison) extremely sensitive, blues ridden musical icon, Peter Green is a true inspiration to me. The Biography is far from overly flattering and seems hard to get a hold of but outlines the basic features of his life. There are interviews with the man himself (though of course he is far from together in his mind now) and all of the old Fleetwood Mac. If you have never heard of the man then i do urge you to read this book which is interesting as a tie-in to the 'Man Of The World: The Peter Green Story' DVD Biopic. B.B. King once said that he was 'the only man who could send shivers down my spine', this is a man who plays the blues from his soul. His song writing is almost as soul shattering as his singing and guitar playing and such songs as 'I loved another woman, Man of the World, and the Green Manalishi' left me speechless.
I would recommend this book for any fan of the late 60's blues revival and anyone who thinks Eric Clapton is the best white blues guitarist ever...they may wish to change their minds.

[William (Bill) · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some parts that were difficult to read. The lack of credible mental health services in England at this time are probably more responsible for the deterioration in Peter's mental faculties than the legends of LSD use. It os nice to get the back story of the galaxy of stars that Peter shone so brightly in. He is still my favorite guitarist of all time.

[Alasdair MacCaluim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very comprehensive account of Peter Green's life in music from his earliest days until his untimely death in 2020. It gives you the inside story of his time with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, and solo recordings all the way through to his final stage appearances.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It is well researched, comprehensive and based on extensive interviews with Green himself and his closest family, friends and musical collaborators.

If I have one complaint, it is that the book didn't give me a good feeling as to what Peter Green was actually like as a person. It tells you a fair amount about what Green did and what happened to him in his life, but you don't really get an understanding why or how it felt. There isn't much about Green's childhood for example, and relatively little too about his life outside music or his wilderness years before returning to music.

What there is about Green's life is fascinating though - from his desire to become a zookeeper, his work as a gravedigger and his stay on a kibbutz in Israel!

A great book but maybe more about the man's music than the man himself - if indeed the two things can be separated!

Fellow Thin Lizzy fans may be interested to know that Snowy White is features many times in the book and that Green was a big fan of Thin Lizzy's classic Chinatown LP!

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not as famous as he should be, Peter Green was one of the original founding members of Fleetwood Mac. This is the story of his life as a musician and a lot of the difficulties that he faced. A well done biography with quite a few portions of interview of Green and many of the people that he knew and worked with.

[Markku · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably one of the best on the subject, but I was irritated by the supposition that his story is so well known that the author can jump forwards at will and not explain the chronology properly. The result is a bit confused story which has its merits but is also a bit toothless, trying to understand the erratic guitarist if any way possible.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having met Peter Green some years back, he is certainly an enigma, as well as a superb guitarist. The story of the road to blues, through acid hell, to recluse and back. Shall I tell you about my life?

[John Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant biography of Peter Green from childhood until 1998, when this edition of the book came out. Provides information about Peter that is hard or impossible to find elsewhere. It also includes many quotes, both from Peter himself, and from many friends and others in the music business. It is obvious that Peter loved playing guitar but became disillusioned with the music industry. It has been widely reported that LSD was the cause of Peter's problems. This is not completely verified or dismissed by this biography. Apparently, a mescaline experience acted as the catalyst for him to give away large sums of money to starving children in Biafra. Peter says that giving away his money was the main reason he was put into hospital. Perhaps it is rather simplistic to entirely blame drugs on his mental problems. Maybe they exacerbated them, maybe they caused them. I don't think we will ever know. An interesting quote from Peter concerning mescaline: "I took it at first to see if I was strong enough to resist all these things, but I wasn't. I was taking it, and yet in the distance I could see someone - the strong person - who thought he could get through it." It is not clear to me what "all these things" were. Was it his experiences on mescaline and LSD that altered his thinking? Did he initially think he could have these experiences without them affecting him afterwards? Did he think, "he could get through it", but found he had been permanently altered? So many questions and no definitive answers. Humans are very complex and everything we do must affect us to some lesser or greater degree. Perhaps the drugs affected Peter to a greater degree. What is clearly a shame is that Peter stopped playing for many years during the 1970s and really suffered while in a psychiatric hospital, particularly from electro-convulsive treatment (ECT). Did the treatment actually make him worse? Certainly, it is plain that the tranquillisers he was on turned him into an almost zombie like state for many hours of the day. Did he ever need them? Maybe, but when he eventually got off them, he started to return to a more active and fulfilling life. This biography ends around 1998, so his later years until his death in 2020 are not covered. I have dwelled here on Peter's mental state and the drugs he took, which fascinate me, but there is much, much more to him and this book. There are lots of interesting incidents and details of musical influences.
The book is thoroughly recommended. Getting a copy did prove hard though!

[Lucas-Kane Mutti · Rating 2 out of 5]

boooringgg, author let it down

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a fan of Peter Green, as I am, then you may already know that this is the only half-decent biography of the man. And sadly, it's only half-decent. It's not especially well written, and the content is little better than rudimentary. Oh Well.

Green was a key figure among blues guitarists in Britain. Some say if there is a Mount Rushmore of British blues guitar, the people depicted should be Clapton, Beck, Page and Green. For my money, Green, during his heyday with John Mayall and then as the founder of Fleetwood Mac, and up until about 1970, was the best of the lot.

This particular edition is long out of print and bizarrely expensive, but I managed to find a good, fairly priced copy at Powell's Books online.

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad to be reading a biography that deals with delicate aspects of life itself, not a success story, not a gossip book, but trying to tune into the dynamics of talent, how people treat that, success, vanity, selfdoubt, egolessness, spirituality. A good read.