A version of blues classic Need Your Love So Bad that started life in 1968 as a home tape recording by Peter Green has now blossomed into a full arrangement above featuring David Gilmour's guitar and pedal steel.
"I'm only Eric Clapton's replacement, I'm not Eric Clapton" – Peter Green, 1998
Alongside Kirk Hammett's version of Man Of The World using the Greeny '59 Les Paul that once belonged to Peter Green, the track is part of the book project The Albatross Man. Green worked directly with Rufus Publications on the visual book of his life and career in the last four years of his life.
"Mark Smith at Rufus has been travelling down to Canvey Island on a regular basis to talk to Peter about his life, look through his personal archive and discuss his love for fishing, drawing and listening to a wide range of music on a daily basis," said the publisher launching the book.
"During this time a book of rare images, memorabilia, lyrics and notes from his time in Fleetwood Mac has been assembled with Peter having full control over the book's direction and details. Peter also played guitar for Mark on occasion, delicately going back through a lifetime of influential music. The resulting book, The Albatross Man by Peter Green, will be shipping in October 2021 on what would be his 75th birthday.
"During the evolution of the book, it was decided to include some unique music as part of the project. A newly discovered vocal take by Peter, recorded in the mid sixties in his mother’s attic on a tape recorder, of Need Your Love So Bad formed the basis of the first song with guitars provided by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, a huge fan of Peter’s work. The track was produced by Laurie Latham. Peter heard and approved mixes of the track and the short promotional video created for Need Your Love So Bad.
"The second track chosen was Man Of The World and Kirk Hammett of Metallica, another huge Peter Green fan and current owner of the legendary Greeny guitar, was approached and quickly joined the project. He flew into London and on January 6th 2020 he went into London’s Abbey Road with producer Rob Cass to record the guitar parts for his revised vision of the song, all using Greeny.
Kirk Hammett talks meeting Peter Green and covering his Fleetwood Mac classic
"The following day Kirk went down to Canvey Island to meet with Peter and hand him Greeny once more, but also to play him the guitar parts to Man of the World. Again Peter approved the music and approach. The track has now been mixed and finished in LA and also features Mick Fleetwood on drums. The bass and production were handled by legendary producer Bob Rock. Both tracks have been recorded for the book project and offer widely different interpretations of Peter’s work.
"At over 450 pages the large, coffee table book, The Albatross Man is a perfect celebration of one of the UK’s leading guitarists, songwriters and performers. Not only does it feature Peter's personal pictures, Fleetwood Mac notes and essays and a stunning array of photography (many previously unpublished) it also includes written contributions from Mike and Richard Vernon, Neil Slaven, Dinky Dawson, Kirk Hammett, Bernie Marsden and many others."
Pre-sale is now open for the three different editions of the book and it will ship on 29 October 2021, the date that would have been Green's 75th birthday.
More info at Rufus Publications.
