[snoot]

Originally Posted by dansven

Mister, you're talking contradictions here!
You're suddenly saying it easy to identify Peter's playing, and especially onstage, because it's unique and everything. Wouldn't it be right to assume that Peter could do even better in the studio than onstage? After all, you emphasized how his concerts were ups and downs. In the studio on the other hand, he would have the chance to do several takes to get the best results. And didn't have to deal with the "stage fright" part of it.

Identification as such is always easier with visual enhancements to serve as guideposts. No way around that. Peter, in his modern, less than energized form, could employ lots of synthetic "tricks" to make up for certain deficits if he cared to, but he has never been into that kind of scene. Besides, it would be far more efficient for his handlers and production people to utilize others to carry part of the missing muscle. This kind of thing has gone on for as long as there have been recorded productions, when and as needed. It's what often goes on behind the scenes - and behind those sometimes missing credits - that comprises the unwritten story (just ask Jimmy "sessions" Page, before he hit the "big time"). Principals and producers alike know it's what can make or break a project, and sometimes their budgets.

Agreed!
Regarding the instrumental project, I have a clipping of an NME interview with Peter from '69-'70. He said that it would be an album of instrumentals, and that he already had 6 songs ready. I'm not sure if he meant written or recorded. I'm sure it would have been a classic album.

Indeed, indeed. I remember way-back-when pondering what might come of it. And waiting. And what did we ultimately get? Kiln House. LOL [not that I regretted it in the long run, I'm actually quite a fan of that production]

Peter "slipping"??? Now what is your definition of "slipping"? I'm sure he was having some mental issues (guilt, money etc...) during his last days with FMac. But his guitar playing didn't change ... didn't lose any energy... until after "The End Of The Game".

No sorry my friend. His guitar prowess had taken a hit well into '69, due to his mental state. Not when he was on, but when he wasn't in burn or drive mode. His mind was already beginning to fray at the edges by TPO. It was his consistency, and the discipline to push hard and forward, that were now becoming erratic, to say the least. By 1970, it was a real concern for the whole band. His substance indulgences led to the Munich incident, that incident wasn't created out of a vacuum, and didn't begin the downward spiral (accelerated it perhaps, compounded things no doubt, but it wasn't the genesis of his troubles, regardless of what you read from certain sources). Still, he had his moments, both on stage and in the studio, but never with the consistency of before.

Listen to his contributions to Memphis Slim and Toe Fat, which were recorded after he left FMac. Danny could never do that kind of stuff.

It would be unwise to underestimate what young Kirwan could do. There was a reason Peter Green chose him to be his right hand man and partner in crime (er, battle). In that regard, Greenie was no fool.

Peter's schizophrenia really manifested after The End Of The Game, with mental institutions etc. That's when I'd say Peter was "slipping".

No, by then it was full bore and the game was up, or more accurately (a la the man himself), it became the end of the game. There was also a reason Jeremy increasingly sought sanctuary away from the fold, beyond any star-power doubts he may have had. With what he had experienced, and what he saw going on around them, the COD must have looked like the perfect escape to much of the craziness that ultimately brought Green to his knees.

Do you have have any live bootleg recordings from '69-'70?

Don't need to rely on them. Used to see some of the concerts first hand back then. Glimpsed some other insider knowledge back in the day to boot.

Danny "carried the TPO project." How can you say something like that???
Give me some proof!
Really, to me this sound like a rash statement of a Kirwan fan.

Kirwan fan I am, but then I'm a Green fan, a Spencer fan, a Welch fan and a Westy fan. All were part of the great Mac attack guitar front. But the majority of what you hear on TPO is by the lad himself. Peter was counting on him, needed him to step up and cover the bases, and he delivered. Where Peter excelled, perhaps like never before, was in the stunning compositions he put together at that time, often born of outright pain and anguish. That, more than anything else, makes that production his shining star, arguably his apex. Beyond that, he counted on Danny to carry a huge amount of the studio weight. There's no shortage of PG interlaced throughout though, so there's little point in kicking up camp dust over this.

Your admiration for Danny is the big issue, isn't it? Let me again say that I really admire Danny, and not as a foil for Green.
However, if Danny had what Peter had, and according to you was rocketing and carrying the TPO project... then why didn't the guitar playing on Kiln House, Future Games and Bare Trees have that same magic as Then Play On?

Rocketing as a fully lit package, something Peter already was, and had been for some time. Both on the guitar end, and, as importantly, on the compositional front. Those two were destined for bigger and better things together, but they never quite got there when things went into a blackened orbit. I've said it before, when Peter went down, he took part of Danny with him (possibly a piece of Jeremy as well). That bittersweet synthesis was tied together in damn near cosmic ways, and thus the parallels with even their respective demises.

There's plenty of sweet licks from DK on the subsequent projects, it's just he had less fuel in his tank - less desire in driving things over the top - when PG was out of the loop. Who was there to rev him up, or keep his feet planted when his own insecurities kicked in? As good as Spencer and Welch were, and as well as they worked with him in crafting those mid era releases, they weren't Green in Kirwan's eyes, the one who motivated him like none other (even if it bordered on a love-hate relationship at times).

Sure I can!! But why don't you give me YOUR percentage first??? Instead of telling me I haven't got a clue.

Are you saying your ears might deceive you? You wouldn't be alone.