Danny Kirwan RIP
Discussion
V8FGO said:
Very underratedSad news indeed
Escort3500 said:
pitboard said:
A thousand curses on the German rich kids who gave Greeny and Danny the bad acid that wrecked their lives and careers
Didn’t know about that. 
I’m assuming Peter Green’s still as reclusive; I’ve not seen anything in the media about him for years. Blimey, only just heard this. My wife told me. Christ, only just 68 (last month, May 15 his birthday).
Very sad. I still remember to this day the first time I heard Danny close up. I was in Bournemouth on a break recuperating from a hernia op in 1968 and needed to do some walking and exercise, and had been through the park and up on the beach front when I heard this fantastic sound coming from the top of the hill just past the pier. I walked up the road to the venue (can't remember its name now, pretty sure it was the Ritz?), it had a curved bay window frontage. I had Fleetwood Mac's first LP which was without Danny and mainly blues and Elmore James influenced stuff - always liked 'Shake Your Moneymaker' with Spencer on vocals.
But the sound coming from this venue was totally different. I didn't even realise it was Fleetwood Mac at first. The place was absolutely packed! I couldn't have got inside even if I'd paid, so I stood on the grass outside with many others captivated by this driving sound. Someone said about the new guitarist recruited from Boilerhouse who had changed the sound of the band. He was not kidding! I was already a Mac fan, but now I was truly hooked.
Unsure now what the first song was I heard them playing as I walked into the venue area, but this reminds me of it (although it can't have been this Little Richard number, Jenny Jenny, because I'm pretty sure it was months or a year later when they first played it). If you have the vol on loud, be prepared to... 'wow!' The then instantly recognisable voice of God (Green, not Clapton!) and that mesmerising sound of Kirwan and Green guitars. Never forget it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CwBoXvKQ6M
I went to watch them every occasion I got the chance from thereon. Even twice again on Bournemouth front, same venue, in 1969 when they have become really big with their chart hits like Albatross etc. One of the best 'inside' gigs was a Swindon Locarno and loads of fabulous outdoor venues. They used to top the bill everywhere. Seems like yesterday to me.
Kirwan, probably one of, if not the greatest, vibrato guitarist ever.
Just listen to this think this is just a kid turned 18 years old: because he was. As someone put in the stupidly low number of comments – just 1 plus a reply! – you instantly know it’s Kirwan from the first note!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jks0tiht98
I have most, if not all, of his catalogue of FMac work and his solo stuff, and will be listening to a load of it again now. His solo stuff is in quite different vein, on one LP 'Midnight in San Juan' he does the Beatles 'Let It Be'!
RIP Danny.
Another gone too young and a life ruined, as someone above says, thanks (not!) to that band of German drug happy hippies who initiated the beginning of the end for you, and of course, Greenie (still with us, but not the man of the world he was, as he heads towards 72 years) with that fabulous sound, not just guitars but their writing/singing too.
Very sad. I still remember to this day the first time I heard Danny close up. I was in Bournemouth on a break recuperating from a hernia op in 1968 and needed to do some walking and exercise, and had been through the park and up on the beach front when I heard this fantastic sound coming from the top of the hill just past the pier. I walked up the road to the venue (can't remember its name now, pretty sure it was the Ritz?), it had a curved bay window frontage. I had Fleetwood Mac's first LP which was without Danny and mainly blues and Elmore James influenced stuff - always liked 'Shake Your Moneymaker' with Spencer on vocals.
But the sound coming from this venue was totally different. I didn't even realise it was Fleetwood Mac at first. The place was absolutely packed! I couldn't have got inside even if I'd paid, so I stood on the grass outside with many others captivated by this driving sound. Someone said about the new guitarist recruited from Boilerhouse who had changed the sound of the band. He was not kidding! I was already a Mac fan, but now I was truly hooked.
Unsure now what the first song was I heard them playing as I walked into the venue area, but this reminds me of it (although it can't have been this Little Richard number, Jenny Jenny, because I'm pretty sure it was months or a year later when they first played it). If you have the vol on loud, be prepared to... 'wow!' The then instantly recognisable voice of God (Green, not Clapton!) and that mesmerising sound of Kirwan and Green guitars. Never forget it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CwBoXvKQ6M
I went to watch them every occasion I got the chance from thereon. Even twice again on Bournemouth front, same venue, in 1969 when they have become really big with their chart hits like Albatross etc. One of the best 'inside' gigs was a Swindon Locarno and loads of fabulous outdoor venues. They used to top the bill everywhere. Seems like yesterday to me.
Kirwan, probably one of, if not the greatest, vibrato guitarist ever.
Just listen to this think this is just a kid turned 18 years old: because he was. As someone put in the stupidly low number of comments – just 1 plus a reply! – you instantly know it’s Kirwan from the first note!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jks0tiht98
I have most, if not all, of his catalogue of FMac work and his solo stuff, and will be listening to a load of it again now. His solo stuff is in quite different vein, on one LP 'Midnight in San Juan' he does the Beatles 'Let It Be'!
RIP Danny.
Another gone too young and a life ruined, as someone above says, thanks (not!) to that band of German drug happy hippies who initiated the beginning of the end for you, and of course, Greenie (still with us, but not the man of the world he was, as he heads towards 72 years) with that fabulous sound, not just guitars but their writing/singing too.
Stan the Bat said:
Escort3500 said:
pitboard said:
A thousand curses on the German rich kids who gave Greeny and Danny the bad acid that wrecked their lives and careers
Didn’t know about that. I’m assuming Peter Green’s still as reclusive; I’ve not seen anything in the media about him for years. Their tour was cancelled as was a new studio album. Green then moved to Sweden. He then went on to join The British Blues All Stars to do a tour, but the death of famous ex Colosseum saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, it meant another tour cancelled. Up until the end of 2008 it is said Green was in a bad space due to his medication. However, come February 2009 he was again picking his guitar up, this time as Peter Green and Friends.
In May of that year there was a BBC 4 documentary 'Peter Green: Man of the World'. This was followed with a tour of Ireland, Germany and England. Then some dates in Australia in the Spring of 2010 coupled with some UK tour dates that May. Very little news since.
dandarez said:
Stan the Bat said:
Escort3500 said:
pitboard said:
A thousand curses on the German rich kids who gave Greeny and Danny the bad acid that wrecked their lives and careers
Didn’t know about that. I’m assuming Peter Green’s still as reclusive; I’ve not seen anything in the media about him for years. Their tour was cancelled as was a new studio album. Green then moved to Sweden. He then went on to join The British Blues All Stars to do a tour, but the death of famous ex Colosseum saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, it meant another tour cancelled. Up until the end of 2008 it is said Green was in a bad space due to his medication. However, come February 2009 he was again picking his guitar up, this time as Peter Green and Friends.
In May of that year there was a BBC 4 documentary 'Peter Green: Man of the World'. This was followed with a tour of Ireland, Germany and England. Then some dates in Australia in the Spring of 2010 coupled with some UK tour dates that May. Very little news since.
Talking of Colosseum, Jon Hiseman, founder and drummer, died today.
And talking of Greeny, I missed a chance to see Fleetwood Mac in a local blues club in 1968 because the drunk driver I hitched a lift with crashed his car and I ended up in hospital. Many, many years later I went to see him with the Splinter Group. The saddest thing I have ever seen on stage. A crowd willing him to do well, but the evening was just a load of fluffed intros and bum notes. Not the slightest sign of the powerhouse he formerly was. As we left, I heard a bloke saying to his son of about 12; "That's what happens when you take drugs."
And talking of Greeny, I missed a chance to see Fleetwood Mac in a local blues club in 1968 because the drunk driver I hitched a lift with crashed his car and I ended up in hospital. Many, many years later I went to see him with the Splinter Group. The saddest thing I have ever seen on stage. A crowd willing him to do well, but the evening was just a load of fluffed intros and bum notes. Not the slightest sign of the powerhouse he formerly was. As we left, I heard a bloke saying to his son of about 12; "That's what happens when you take drugs."
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