Watch David Gilmour join Mick Fleetwood for a pedal guitar cover of ‘Albatross’
Back in the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac, the band were swirling through unique sounds and genius riffs like nobody’s business. As the dearly missed Christine McVie once said: “Awestruck—everybody was awestruck by Peter. Except for Eric [Clapton], there was only Peter […]. We all thought he was just a superlative genius.” With Mick Fleetwood at the helm, they honed Green’s skill in a bluesy British force.
When discussing the early years of Fleetwood Mac, it is clear that ‘Albatross’ was the defining anthem. It was a track that defined them as something a bit more than a white blues facsimile. It was one of Fleetwood Mac’s first-ever hits, taken from their album The Pious Bird of Good Omen from 1968, and rippled with the band’s early intent.
Produced by Peter Green, this guitar-led track is probably one of the most famous instrumentals of all time. While it doesn’t often appear on the band’s Greatest Hits compilations, there’s no other track like it. And there’s no better representation of where and how the band started.
The original vibrancy that they dished out to their peers was pronounced. The Beatles even famously riffed off this track for ‘Sun King’ and David Gilmour has always been a huge fan of it. However, even their own heroes took note. The blues legend B.B. King famously said of Green: “He was the only one that gave me the cold sweats.”
Imitating the aura of the seaside, Mick Fleetwood’s drum-playing is a sloshing lull of contentment, while Peter Green’s tour de force guitar join is a gathering sonic storm. The result is a thrilling day out that couples expert musicianship with cleverly crafted artistry. The culmination is a sense of expressive atmosphere that has never left the soundwaves ever since.
That’s an energy that Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour carefully harnesses when he appeared on stage with Mick Fleetwood to offer up a live rendition on pedal guitar. Taken from Fleetwood’s tribute to Green, on the night, he was joined by Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler, ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons, John Mayall, Christine McVie, and, of course, the talented Mr Gilmour among others.
