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PETER GREEN SPLINTER GROUP
Destiny Road (Snapper)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
With the release of Destiny Road, it's time to put away the stories about Peter Green's two decade disappearance from the music scene and start celebrating his presence today. This is the fourth recording featuring Green in the last four years, so he's quite clearly back, and he's back in fine, if not final, form. The promise shown on the Splinter Group's pair of live recordings and on last year's Robert Johnson tribute comes to fruition on this new studio release, featuring 10 originals from various band members (if there's an unhappy note, it's that Green's songwriting muse has yet to appear to the man who gave Fleetwood Mac songs like "Rattlesnake Shake," "Oh Well" and "Black Magic Woman") and covers of Elmore James' "Madison Blues" and Stevie Winwood's "There's A River."
Green insists that this is very much an ensemble project, not simply a showcase for the chops of the player that Mojo Magazine ranked as the third best guitarist of all time (taking his place behind only Jimi Hendrix and Steve Cropper). This is proven out throughout the disc, with the occasional lead guitar part going to Watson, very strong contributions coming from keyboardist Roger Cotton. The rhythm section, drummer Larry Tolfree and bassist Peter Stroud, are rock solid as well.
The musical road that Peter Green is traveling is very much a one of rediscovery, and he's finding new landmarks and highlights along the way. This isn't a once great player paying tribute to himself, cranking out the old stuff for the old crowd. Peter Green & his Splinter Group are taking a brand new road toward an as yet undefined destiny, but it's a path the rest of us are going to enjoy following for what I hope is a very long time to come.
Track List: Big Change Is Gonna Come * Say That You Want To * Heart Of Stone * You'll Be Sorry Someday * Tribal Dance * Burglar * Turn Your Love Away * Madison Blues * I Can't Help Myself * Indians * Hiding In Shadows * There's A River
© 1999 - Shaun Dale