Peter Green Splinter Group - Soho Session (1999)

The Peter Green Splinter Group was a band led by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Peter Green, active from 1997 to 2004.

The Splinter Group's third album was a live recording. Now their debut had also been a live one (with the exception of the first two songs), so was another needed so soon afterwards, with just a studio album of Robert Johnson covers in between? Well Soho Session (recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club) is actually just simply a far superior record, so that it almost renders the first live album obsolete. It's a double CD, with about an hour and a half of music, and both the performances and recordings seem to be much better quality than its predecessor (some songs are on both albums, and heard side by side the versions here are surely superior). The songs themselves include both blues classics (Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips", Sonny Boy Williamson's "Help Me", two Otis Rush numbers and a large number of Robert Johnson songs, ) and old Fleetwood Mac tunes ("Black Magic Woman", "Rattlesnake Shake", "Albatross", "The Green Manalishi"). Also includes the Peter Green instrumental "The Supernatural", which he originally recorded during his tenure with John Mayall's Bluebreakers.The band lineup which recorded Soho Session was Peter Green (guitar/vocals), Nigel Watson (guitar/vocals), Roger Cotton (keyboards), Neil Murray (bass) and Larry Tolfree (drums). On a couple of the Robert Johnson numbers they are joined by backing singers (The Street Angels) who add a gospel flavour. There is some really fantastic guitar interplay between Green and Watson throughout, with some brilliant jams. Nigel Watson also gets to perform one of his own songwriting efforts ("Indians"), which would later appear as a more refined studio recording. This was clearly a very talented group, and Soho Session sees them captured at their very best.

The Robert Johnson Songbook (1998) <|> Destiny Road (1999)
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