Dave Ambroseの自叙伝「How to be a Rock Star」に関するよもやばなしを続けていますが、「次回は、Peter Green登場です。」と書いたのが、2025年の4月22日でした。
嗚呼、今は師走...なんとも息の長い企画となっていることをお許しください。
さて、いよいよ、Peter Greenを迎えることとなります。
The new guy looked a bit weird and wonderful, and would certainly prove to be a talking point, but I was yet to be convinced by his musicianship.I soon got what Pete Bardens saw in Peter Green.
これまで、Dave Ambroseは盟友Peter Bardensの演奏を称賛していましたが、Peter Greenに対する文章は、熱量、文章量共にそれを凌駕しています。
レコーディング時でも
Peter Green had a searing, insistent guitar solo mid-way through 'Jodrell Blues' that sent shivers down my spine.It still does.I have never grown tired of listening to it.Watching him play, it was as though Peter and his instrument had become one;that the guitar had assumed his voice and that Peter himself was actually singing through it.It was extraordinary.
ライブでのトラブル時でも
We were performing one of our regular all-nighters at The Flamingo when Pete's organ expired mid-song.What happened next was truly astonishing.Without even a flicker of panic, Peter Green simply stepped forward and casually took over where Pete had left off, bridging the gap with inspired, sensational guitar-playing.It left the audience gasping.
有名バンドの前座を務めた際でも
Our Peter Green got up and jammed with them one night.Mick and I looked on yet again in complete amazement, knowing that what we were witnessing had never been seen before.He had at last emerged from his dusty chrysalis to reveal himself as the rarest of specimens: a guitarist with a unique tone.This was a fantasy, and something that is impossible to achieve in the real world.And yet, there Peter was, making magic before our very eyes.It was like watching him turn into a Les Paul.It's the only way I can describe it.Convulsive, vibrato-heavy and groaning with emotion, with true blues, it was a sound from another world.What beneficent muse had descended?
Dave AmbroseとPeter Greenの関係は、極めて良好であったようです。実際、次のような記述があります。
What he actually said was, 'Dave, you've got the blues'.
(中略)
It was only much later that I would remember what he'd said that day, and would understand what Peter Green had been trying to tell me.I had the blues.I was a true musician.In my heart and in my soul, deep down.The syllables reverberated, articulating both salvation and condemnation.Peter recognised me because I was like him.As things turned out, in different ways, we were as doomed as each other.
最後の一文が意味深ですが、その点は次回に明かされます。次回は、題して「有名ボーカリスト登場 !」と言ったところでしょう。
蛇足になりますが、Peter Greenについて、Peter Bardensとの絡みで少し補足しておきます。
・1970年作のPeter Bardensの1stソロ「The Answer」に、Peter Greenがゲスト参加している。
・Petet Greenは、The Blues breakers等を経てThe Fleetwood Macの設立に至るが、やがてドラッグの影響で長期リタイヤ状態となる。1979年の復帰ソロ作「In the Skies」には、Pete Bardensが参加している。
・2008年にPeter Greenの「The Anthology」が4枚組ボックス・セットでリリースされたが、Peter B's Loonersから1曲(Soul Dressing)、Bardensの1stソロから3曲 (Don't Goof with a Spook、The Answer、Homage to the God of Light)を収録している。
