LEADER OF THE MAC

Peter Green is, arguably, the most underrated guitarist of the British mid-60s blues boom, consistently relegated to a position somewhere below the holy triumvirate of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. He deserves better. He wrote some of the most memorable blues-based songs of the 60s, created some of the genre’s most imaginative guitar licks, and establish a band that by the end of the decade was out-selling The Beatles and the Stones.

Born in London’s East End into a poor Jewish family, he was turned on to the possibilities of guitar at the age of 11, in the skiffle era of the mid-50s. His brother Len acquired a cheap Spanish guitar and showed young Peter a few chords. Before long, it was Peter’s guitar.

This is the story of how it all began for Peter Green, his first recordings and the creation of Fleetwood Mac.

August 11, 1965: John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, featuring Eric Clapton, play at Putney Pontiac Club in south-west London. Shortly after this gig, Clapton unexpectedly disappears to Greece for a two-week holiday.

John Mayall: I guess Eric just became bored with it. So he decided to get some friends together and go off to Greece. For me it was panic stations, because we’d come to rely on him so much and there were so few people to choose from as a replacement. I got a lot of replies to an ad I put in the Melody Maker, so I was auditioning different players every night, letting them sit in to see how they worked out.

Then Peter came up to me during a gig at the Flamingo in Wardour Street and was fairly forceful, very insistent that he was better than the guy I had on stage that night, so I gave him a shot. And he was quite right, of course.

Mike Vernon (Blue Horizon label founder and producer): Peter was an unknown quantity at this time. He had played in several local bands, the best known of which was perhaps The Muskrats, but he was not a big name.

Peter Green: John said I could play a little bit, and he said: “You’ve got the feeling”, or something similar. Anyway, he let me on the train.

August 25, 1965: John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, featuring Eric Clapton, the guitarist newly returned from Greece, play at Putney Pontiac Club.

John Mayall: Unfortunately it was only a couple of weeks before Eric came back from Greece. Eric returned with a tan, and Peter was out again. Peter wasn’t very pleased about that, but that was the way it was.

I was