Peter Green – The End of the Game

This is the album that changed my life and the way I thought about music. It is also the inspiration for the title of this website. So now you know. Peter Green was a blues guitarist and had a very interesting history – in the 60s when Eric Clapton had cemented his guitar skills with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Peter Green would watch them perform, hoping to score a chance to share the stage with Clapton. During one of their gigs Clapton hadn’t showed up and so Green asked if he could cover for him, insisting that he knew all the songs. John Mayall reluctantly let him on stage but was very impressed with the young guitarist’s abilities. Shortly after Clapton left the group to form Cream and John Mayall immediately called up Peter Green and gave him a spot in the band, which resulted in the album Hard Road
The album contains many highlights such as ‘The Stumble’, which was a nod to Clapton’s cover of Freddie King’s ‘Hideaway’ (arguably contains Clapton’s finest playing to date). Despite the high standard set by Eric, Peter Green’s attempt at this style of blues in many ways trumps Clapton. Another great song on the album was ‘The Supernatural’, which not only demonstrated Peter Green’s unique approach to blues guitar, but also his electrifying reverb soaked tone and his out of this world vibrato, which he could sustain for ungodly lengths of time! This song hints at the dormant fire within Peter Green which was eventually unleashed on the recording of ‘The End of the Game’.

After recording ‘A Hard Road’, Peter Green also left John Mayall’s band to start his own: Fleetwood Mac. No this wasn’t the Fleetwood Mac that you’re thinking of, this was Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and it was originally a blues rock band. Fans started calling Peter Green ‘the Green God’, as a tribute to Clapton being called ‘God’ before him. He eventually bombed out on acid and developed schizophrenia, much like Syd Barret of Pink Floyd had. He was reported to at one stage to hold a shotgun to his accountants face because he felt that money was evil and wanted his accountant to stop managing it for him. Under the spell of LSD unlocked psychosis Peter Green had enough of the music ‘game’ and made one last album before he hung his guitar up.

Green got together with a few random jazz musicians (they were recording their own album in the studio) and jammed with them for about an hour. All in one improvised take. The result was ‘End of the Game’ – 6 instrumental portions of that jam. Contained in these 6 tracks is pure magic; the rhythm section painted a lush canvas for Peter Green to splatter his guitar phrases on. Green effortlessly utilises the wah wah pedal in one of the finest examples of how it should be used. Click on the album cover above to hear one of the songs and see for yourself. If Miles Davis had’ve heard ‘The End of the Game’ before recording Bitches Brew I’m sure he would’ve wanted Peter Green over John McLaughlin for his new ‘jazz fusion’ sound. The music is free-form and exciting, it is sparking with creativity and unlike anything before it. End of the Game is not to be missed, it is required listening for anyone with a passion for blues music or electric guitar.

TRACK LISTING:

1. Bottoms Up – 9:06
2. Timeless Time – 2:37
3. Descending Scale – 8:18
4. Burnt Foot – 5:16
5. Hidden Depth – 4:55
6. The End of the Game – 5:09

Fucking enjoy!

DOWNLOAD
Alternatively, if you want to support Peter Green, or if you simply want to physically own this fine album, you can buy it here; obviously, the choice is yours to make.