NEVILLE’S ADVOCATE ...
Being invited to speak and play at the preview of Peter Green’s guitar sale at Bonhams was a huge privilege – and a worry, says Neville Marten
Peter Green was one of our most loved guitarists. He hit bullseye when it came to feel, note choice, touch and tone, and he stood apart from the crowd in other ways, too. His voice was special, and he exuded a spirituality that touched hearts all around the world. Peter’s estate recently auctioned off his collection of guitars, other musical instruments and ephemera, and the sale was handled by Bonhams in London. When Bonhams invited me, along with current editor-in-chief, Jamie, and former helmsman
Mick Taylor to form a panel, pick one guitar from the sale and discuss its place in Peter’s musical history, we jumped at the chance.
There would also be a band, put together by Oasis and High Flying Birds producer Paul Stacey, who is also a stunning musician and old friend. Separately, Paul asked Mick and me to contribute a tune to the evening’s musical interlude. Again, a mighty privilege that was not to be turned down (I’ve done that too many times before!).
Paul and I discussed what track I was going to play and settled on the slow minor blues Out Of Reach with its reverb-drenched solos and typical Peter melodicism. The track was originally an outtake that Green had recorded with John Mayall on slide guitar but which resides on later versions of A Hard Road. Peter wrote the number, and in my view it shows his personal vulnerability long before tracks like Man Of The World or The Green Manalishi.
Getting back to my performance, I was relieved that it wasn’t a fast or fiddly thing I had to negotiate but something slow and laconic. With my P-90 Les Paul into a pedalboard that Mick kindly provided, a
