[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by bretonbanquet

Fleetwood Mac did require Peter Green, of course. But Peter Green required Fleetwood Mac. Without them, particularly Danny, I don't think he would have been particularly successful once the brief initial blues-only period was over and Peter was tired of it.

Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that it was Peter Green who was getting all of the attention with other rock royalty, not Danny or Jeremy. It was Peter who had all of the hits, not Jeremy or Danny. Don't get me wrong, I think Danny was probably the most important guitarist the Mac ever had. Peter Green was one of the most noteable guitarists in the music biz for a few years. I think many musicians would quickly volunteer to work with Pete. If Peter had been so inclined, Fleetwood Mac could easily have been a trio.

Originally Posted by bretonbanquet

He said himself that 'Albatross' wouldn't have happened without Danny, although I accept that the crowds and record-buying public would not have realised that.

I've also read an interview where Peter said he was annoyed at some of the things Danny did on "Albatross." Also, he has said that he and Danny really didn't have any chemistry, at least not compared to the "Rumours" band.

Originally Posted by bretonbanquet

I am as certain as I can be that Peter required first Jeremy and later Danny in order to achieve what he wanted with the band.

I don't think he so much required Jeremy, just that he didn't want to be the sole frontman of Fleetwood Mac. Peter has said many times that he didn't want to be the guitar hero. As for Danny, that was Mick's call. I think they were able to work some magic, but I'm still not convinced that it had to be Danny. Now, I think Danny was crucial in taking the Mac out of the blues and out of improv and into more mainstream pop, but that happened after Peter left.

Originally Posted by bretonbanquet

I don't believe any of the other musicians you mentioned, talented as they were / are, could have inspired Peter like Danny did.

Again, from all I've read, I don't think Danny was as big an inspiration on Peter as you seem to think. I think having a second guitarist in general helped Peter (since Jeremy didn't play on Peter's stuff) explore more options. It was just luck that it was Danny.

Originally Posted by bretonbanquet

People may well have gone to see Mac with those musicians involved, but I really don't think songs like 'Albatross' and 'Green Manalishi' would have happened, in which case you have to wonder how long the band would have lasted anyway. If you think about what would have happened after 'Mr Wonderful' had Danny not joined, how do you imagine it?

Well, there are a million "what ifs" that we could do with Fleetwood Mac. When Peter was coming up with "Albatross" he had Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk" going through his head, so maybe it could have happened. As for "Manalishi," it might not have happened, but I would rather have never heard that one song in favor of Peter still being a part of Fleetwood Mac, never having left in the first place.

Originally Posted by bretonbanquet

As much as Mac went under without Peter, he went under without them. That is to say, once he had outgrown the inspiration offered to him by Danny and had started moving in a new musical direction (the free form stuff and the improvisational jamming etc) he found himself on his own musically. I think this contributed to his obvious problems in other areas and is often overlooked. Without the musical support of anyone else, he sank like a stone and disappeared for 6 years. Maybe with a new muse to bounce off, maybe things could have been different.

I'm not sure I totally agree. Peter's "going under" had little to do with music and more to do with mental illness. I'm POSITIVE Peter Green could have gotten an A-list group together, had he so chosen, and gone further than Fleetwood Mac. But, Peter wanted to be obscure. Notice that his picture is nowhere to be found on "End Of The Game."

No, I still contend that it was mental illness. As pretty much everybody BUT Peter seems to have noticed, he changed significantly after that trip to Germany. Whenever McVie is asked about it, he still gets very, VERY angry. I'm sure that the Mac wasn't able to musically go where he wanted to go, but I honestly believe that THAT was a very small part of it.

Originally Posted by bretonbanquet

I suppose what I mean by all this is that the composition of the band surrounding Peter was a lot more important than is often realised. They helped him to be who we all saw as Peter Green. It's hypothetical, but I don't believe anyone else could have done that.

In that way I think the early line-up is similar to how you viewed the later line-ups, i.e. the band is bigger than the constituent members, but with Peter's line-up it looked on the surface like he was standing up more or less on his own.

Again, I don't think people would have cared had Jeremy or Danny not been there. I don't think people would feel the same about the band today without Lindsey.