‘Gotta Keep Running’, ‘You Got It’ & ‘Green Winter’

Peter Green’s decision to leave Fleetwood Mac was made public in the April 11, 1970 issue of New Musical Express.

Other than confirming that he would continue to honor all of the band’s commitments until the end of May of that year, he did not detail any plans of his own.

True to his word, Green fulfilled his obligations on May 30^th.  Although he immediately embarked on a number of gigs in small venues and a wide variety of session work that June, he rejoined Fleetwood Mac on June 17^th to tape a BBC television broadcast with the band miming to “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)’.

Green’s first guest session, with American pianist Memphis Slim commenced on June 3^rd.  Four sessions were done for the LP over three weeks. 

He also continued working on his debut solo LP with the first solo (with him playing all the instruments) and then another two with two separate groups of musicians.

He also contributed to his old friend Peter Barden’s solo LP.

In the last six months of the year, he would play on sessions for Country Joe MacDonald, Toe Fat, Gass and Dave Kelly.

Dave Kelly (Jo Ann Kelly’s “little brother”) never had much presence in the U.S., having only a few songs released on Various Artis LPs, in the States. 

He faced a similar situation in the U.K. In addition to solo tracks released on small specialty labels such as “Blues Like Showers of Rain” (Saydisk) and “Me and the Devil Blues” (Liberty) and at least one Immediate label compilation. 

Raising his profile just slightly, he was also a member of larger ensembles, appearing on two Tramp LPs, two John Dummer Blues Band LPs and one Brunning Sunflower Blues Band LP, “I Wish You Would”.

He released his first solo LP on the Mercury label, “Keeps it in the Family” in 1970, recorded in 1969.

In 1970 he began working on a self-titled follow-up, recruiting a wide range of musicians, many of whom he had worked with on various other projects including one with who he apparently knew through other musicians, Peter Green.

Interestingly, out of all the people who worked with or knew Green during this period that Martin Celmins interviewed for his biography of Green, Kelly was one of the only ones to speak positively of his demeanor and persona.

Kelly places the sessions with Green at the Phillips Studio in Marble Arch, London.  (The notes on the back of the LP jacket notes that the songs were “Recorded in Phillips and CTS Studios June 1970 – January 1971”.

In Kelly’s telling Green pulled up to the studio in a beautiful sports car (a Jaguar) with his girlfriend, Sandra Elsdon, at his side.

Once inside the studio, Elsdon left the musicians to themselves, settling herself into a corner to knit, “…a real hippy scene!”, remarked Kelly, as Green awaited instructions.

Kelly, “Peter asked me what I wanted him to do and I explained. He was very helpful, very constructive in the studio and a charming man.”

Unfortunately, Kelly’s is confused in his other memories of the session, telling Celmins that “…we recorded two tracks, one of which we didn’t in fact use in the end, because of, let’s call them “external pressures”. Philips must still have that one in their vaults.”

Green is not only clearly heard playing on three of the LPs numbers, but he is in fact also credited as doing so on the album sleeve, (and listed as doing so in R.J. Greaves’ sessionography in Martin Celmins’ biography) transparently billed as Peter “Gee” most likely to avoid a contractual dispute with Reprise.

Did they record four tracks, with one being held back due to the “external pressures” Kelly refers to?

It is easy to understand how Kelly may have misremembered a specific session done fifteen or twenty years earlier, but Celmins could have corrected him, or left out the quote.  (It remains in the latest “up-dated” edition of the biography released in 2022).

If there is in fact an unreleased track in the Phillips vault, it is highly doubtful that it will ever see the light of day, as one would have to believe it would have come out already.

This number, track one, Side One on his second, self-titled LP, would also be released in an entirely different arrangement on the Bunning / Hall Sunflower Blues Band LP a few months later.*

Dave Kelly

Dave Kelly: vocal & guitar /

Bob Brunning: bass / Alan Hawkshaw: piano /

Barry Guard: drums /Jo Ann Kelly: backing vocal /

Horn arrangement: James Clarke

Recorded late Summer, early Fall 1970 –

exact dates not known, Phillips Studio, Marble Arch, London

Released Dave Kelly (Mercury 1971)

Available on: Keeps It In the Family / Dave Kelly (BGO 2021) – 2CD

Green’s tracks available on bootleg

Dave Kelly – Gotta Keep Running (4:20) –

One would have to believe that Green was simply giving Kelly what he asked for here, as his playing is uncharacteristically flamboyant.

Everything about the number is, with everyone seemingly going all out.

Anchored by Alan Hawkshaw’s propulsive piano and Bob Brunning’s bass work, Dave Kelly shouts out the verbose lyrics (backed by sister Jo Ann) but loses the humor contained within them with the rat-a-tat-tat delivery.

Green’s break is interesting to hear as it places his work in a completely different context.

After the break, a phalanx of horns joins the proceedings and while this adds yet another element to the already thick mix, the coloration is welcome.

For my tastes, it is Kelly’s vocal that lets the number down, his unvarying shout and sheer density of the instrumentation makes the number feel taxing rather than fun.

Dave Kelly

Dave Kelly: vocal & guitar /

Peter Green (credited as Peter Gee): guitar /

Bob Brunning: bass / Bob Hall: piano /

Alan Hawkshaw: organ / Barry Guard: drums /

Horn arrangement: James Clarke

Session information, availability, same as above

Dave Kelly – You Got It (3:00) (song starts at 10:00 mark)

Kelly apparently wanted to try his hand at James Brown funk as filtered through Junior Wells’ Blue Rock recordings in the late 1960’s.

Once again, the band comes through for him, with Green’s guitar, at its absolute funkiest, strutting, posing and doing splits as the rhythm section offers unfaltering support.

Hawkshaw’s burbling organ provides the proper period sound and the horn section the requisite swing, but it is Hall who puts the finishing touches on the piece with a few perfect piano accents during the break, putting the “blues” in the blue-eyed funk.

In the end, the number is unable to live up to its promise as it too quickly breaks down into an extended “scat”, barked out by Kelly as the band fans the flames, but if he is no Junior Wells, he is certainly no a match for James Brown.

Dave Kelly

Peter Green (credited as Peter Gee): guitar /

Dave Kelly: slide guitar /

Alan Hawkshaw: organ / Bob Brunning: bass /

Barry Guard: drums

Session information, availability, same as above

Dave Kelly – Green Winter (2:20) –

The question that comes to mind when hearing this is: was this a Peter Green studio improvisation that Kelly decided to keep, or was this something he had been toying with for a while and recruited Green to help him bring it to life?  Each possibility seems plausible, but we will most likely never know.

This would not have sounded that out of place on “End of the Game”, with Green pounding out his darkest, heaviest riff since ‘Curly’.

A second guitar soon joins in, mirroring Green’s part (Kelly most likely played this part in the studio with Green and then overdubbed the lead, slide part later)

Guard’s drums bring the hammer down on the anvil of Green’s playing; Kelly’s keening slide notes the sparks flying from the broadsword being forged.

About half-way through the short running time, Brunning steps out; a dash of organ notes is added (not credited on the LP – Hawkshaw?) and Green and Kelly then engage in a brief call and response.

Brunning breaks up the relentless beat with a stutter of bass notes, and Kelly’s slide begins to wail. Green holds the bottom for a few bars, but by the time the number begins its slow fade, Kelly hi-jacks the piece, multi-tracking his slide, and playing off of himself.

As with the previous number, this one too feels as if it were snipped before achieving full-bloom.

*On the back of the “Dave Kelly” album sleeve, the song is credited to Kelly / Hall / Cotton.  On the record label, the names are listed as Kelly / Cotton / Hall.

On the Bunning / Hall Sunflower Blues Band LP the credits are simply Hall / Cotton.  Cotton is Dennis Cotton, with whom Hall had written many of the songs for the second Tramp LP.  Hall takes the lead vocal on the “new” version.