Peter Green Splinter Group – An Evening With/In Concert
Picture: C+
Sound: B Extras: C+ Concert: B
Peter Green is the original guitarist and a founding
member of Fleetwood Mac, who was long gone when they had their insanely
successful hit albums like Rumours and Tusk. He did have a solo career, and in recent
years is part of the Blues band Peter Green’s Splinter Group. Original drummer Cozy Powell, a brief
substitute for Carl Palmer in Emerson, Lake and Palmer, died in a fatal car
accident.
This new program was taped in 2003 with the latest line
up, including Nigel Watson, Roger Cotton, Peter Stroud, and Larry Tolfree on
drums. The two hours are split into two
sections: acoustic (30 minutes) and electric (90 minutes). Hot Tuna actually did to separate DVDs with
each theme. Both are in the
long-playing jam style that became a Rock standard in the 1960s.
The
Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown), Black Magic Woman, Albatross, Man
Of The World, Hitchhiking Woman, and Little Red Rooster
are among the classics covered by musicians still in rich form. They are now grand masters of the blues and
the performances scream this quietly.
The
program was shot in High Definition digital video, but this transfer does not
do justice to that kind of picture quality, looking soft and even displaying
slight color problems that have to do with the downtrade to the master used for
DVD. Being anamorphically enhanced in
1.78 X1/16 X 9 framing oddly does not help.
However, The 5.1 mix, especially the DTS (versus Dolby) is good, with
the kind of pronounced bass necessary to have Blues in the first place. The surround part is nicely balanced against
the rest of the channels; something Blues fans may especially celebrate.
Extras
include a Music Video for Real World, brief discography of Green’s
recent work, an interview, and a tricky-to-get-to European Tour piece that
lasts just over 10 minutes. It can only
be accessed by catching the bus. That
is, in the menu. You have to point down
when a bus rides by, then you highlight the “tour” part. You can get to this faster, though, by
hitting your forward button. All these
pieces are OK, but too short.
I have
been in debates over the origins of Black Magic Woman, as most assume it
is a Santana song and ONLY a Santana song.
Of course, Fleetwood Mac first cut it.
This shows best the influence of Green, however unseen, but we have here
a DVD that could help correct that. For
Blues fans, this is a must.
- Nicholas Sheffo
