Better late than never - II

As someone wrote on a music mailing list, the fact that he likes no current music allows him the time and money to purchase and listen to all the music that he missed earlier. I've been following his advice, and bought two discs recently, both of which date from another era.

The earlier of the two is "The best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac". As can be inferred from the title, this collection is from the earliest line-ups of the band, before they went American. When Peter was in the band, they were basically a blues group, and most of the tracks on this disc are in this style. The exceptions - and the reasons why I bought the disc in the first place - are the singles: Albatross, Black magic woman, Green Manalishi, Man of the world, Oh Well. I never listened to the blues when I was growing up; this was a kind of music which hit its zenith in Britain in the mid-60s, and was already dying by 1969, approximately the year of this collection. I eschewed the blues changes as much as possible, a direction probably influenced by Richard Thompson, Robert Fripp, Peter Hammill, etc (in other words, all the musicians to whom I listened from 1970 onwards).

There is one track on this disc which reminded me slightly of Blodwyn Pig, who were, I suppose, a second generation blues band who were stretching the form by adding jazz and rock influences. BP were the first underground band that I saw, certainly the first that I liked and their's was the first rock record that I bought. It's interesting to note how much distance they had put between themselves and Fleetwood Mac, even though chronologically they were separated by a year at most. Maybe Peter Green too was heading out of the ghetto, an impression which is supported by "Oh Well"; unfortunately his health unravelled and he had to leave the band he founded before he could take it to new pastures.

Fast forward by two years, and it's time for Shirley Collins' "No Roses" album. I had a friend who bought the vinyl album at the time of its release, so I've been familiar with this for years. NR was Ashley Hutchings' first project after leaving Steeleye Span, and only two years after "Liege and Lief". What can I say? Not as groundbreaking as L&L, not as influential, but certainly more varied, and ultimately more interesting. Amazon were selling it for three pounds; the postage cost more than the disc. A hole in my collection and one which needed filling.

Serenpiditiously, this morning appeared an email on a music group listing about a Fairport Convention torrent from 1982. When I looked for this, I also found a television program about the Albion Band from 1979, featuring several snippets of interview with AH himself, several songs (including one with Shirley Collins) and a cut-up interview with Richard Thompson. I was back in the folk-rock belt, a place where I spent the seventies, and curiously, the nineties.