Saturday, August 1, 2020

Battle of the Bands: Oh Well!

Peter Green passed away a few days ago. I did a tribute post to him but I held back a gem of a song called "Oh Well." It is right up my alley classic guitar fueled blues rock.

The second verse is fitting, I can imagine him having this conversation entering heaven..

Now, when I talked to God, I knew He'd understand
He said, "Stick by my side and I'll be your guiding hand
But don't ask me what I think of you
I might not give the answer that you want me to"

There is probably a lot of truth to that verse for everyone. Thankfully there is a whole lot of grace.  Hear my full sermon at the Church of the Late Night Rock and Roller.

Fleetwood Mac "Oh Well"


Next I have two contenders. To be part of the great democracy I have established here 6 years ago after being shown the great path to freedom by Stephen and company. You can find a full list of bloggers on similar musical roads at his site. I admit sometimes the freedom turns into anarchy  but that's okay  it is usually better than the real world. Anyway I have two contenders you vote in the comments which version you liked the best or hated the least and I count up the votes and post about a winner in a week or so.  


Contender One: Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes




Contender Two: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers



Hope you enjoyed the Battle, I look forward to reading nd counting your votes! I will have another Battle on the 15th and in between I will post the winner of this Battle and probably a few more posts. As always you are welcome to visit, enjoy the snacks help yourself to a beverage.


11 comments:

willowdot21 said...

After Fleetwood Mac it's got to be Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. But what about this fine Irish feller?
https://youtu.be/ENwWlLwNQTs

Mike said...

Willowdot21 Johnny Gallagher's version is fun! Thanks for sharing. Played on an Ovation with his own twist singing into the guitar pickup for part of the tune. Thanks for visiting and voting as well!

Arlee Bird said...

Stephen has used this song at least once before. I don't think either of your two choices has been used previously, but they all sound pretty similar so it's kind of a hard choice.

Guess I'll go with Jimmy and the Crowes since it doesn't have the extraneous crowd noise of Petty's version, which is still pretty good.

Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out

John Holton said...

I though the Jimmy Page/Black Crowes cover sounded smoother. There were places in the Tom Petty version that sounded herky-jerky, for lack of a better way to put it. I'll go with Jimmy Page.

Cathy Kennedy said...

Mike,


First, I don't have a BoTB going on today but I will on the 15th.

Now for your battle. I didn't know this song before today. I'm giving my vote to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Have a good weekend, my friend!

Kim@StormsAndStardust said...

I'm a huge fan of all the artists feature in your Battle, so it's a great one, and a tough one. Ultimately, I'm giving my vote to TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS. Both versions were good, but Tom's edged out Crowes/Page by a nose.

Kim

Stephen T. McCarthy said...

Howdy, MIKE ~

The 2nd BOTB installment I ever did (August 15, 2013) was 'Oh, Well' - Peter Green & Fleetwood Mac versus The Rockets' cover. I was the ONLY voter to vote for The Rockets. I was so stunned and in disbelief about that outcome, that I actually replicated the exact same Battle a couple years later, when there were more voters participating. Green & Mac won again, but The Rockets made it a bit closer in the rematch.

To me, The Rockets cover version will always be the definitive rendition of this song.

But in your match-up, I vote for TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS. I felt the guitar work in the Page / Crowes version was unnecessarily cacophonous, while Petty's take was much more fun.

But, as I said before, in my book, The Rockets absolutely *OWN* this song!!

~ D-FensDogG
STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS

Stephen T. McCarthy said...

Howdy, MIKE ~

The 2nd BOTB installment I ever did (August 15, 2013) was 'Oh, Well' - Peter Green & Fleetwood Mac versus The Rockets cover. I was the ONLY voter to vote for The Rockets. I was so stunned and in disbelief about that outcome, that I actually replicated the exact same Battle a couple years later, when there were more voters participating. Green & Mac won again, but The Rockets made it a bit closer in the rematch.

To me, The Rockets cover version will always be the definitive rendition of this song.

But in your match-up, I vote for TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS. I felt the guitar work in the Page / Crowes version was unnecessarily cacophonous, while Petty's take was more fun.

But, as I said before, in my book, The Rockets absolutely *OWN* this song!!

~ D-FensDogG
STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS

Sixgun McItchyfinger said...

This must be a top 20 ALL TIME rock song. Just great. Both bands are awesome, and as someone once said: "UHP! I'm an idiot!"

I missed many opportunities thru the years to see Tom Petty: something unimportant always got in the way. Now I can't. And somehow I was not even aware of the Black Crowes/Jimmy Page tour or I'd have gone for sure! Musta had my head totally shoved up in some dark space. Since then I have watched all the YT vids of them live, and I own and love the live double CD of them. This was a tough choice. I really liked the guitar work better with TP and the Heartbreakers over Page, for all his reputation. So I think the musicianship of TP wins this one by a head. More than a nose as it was for Kim, but not a half-length by any means.

Birgit said...

So many died that weekend including John Saxon, Regis Philbin and the great Olivia DeHavilland. This is an excellent song and both are great but I give it to the great Jimmy Page because it just stirred my soul more.

Cherdo said...

Wow, it's been a week for the Grim Reaper...he seems to be taking the best of the best. Hopefully, he'll leave the Rock Gods alone for a while. We need them.

That said, I'm still not over the loss of Tom Petty and it's been a while. "Damn the Torpedoes" was one of my all-time favorite albums. Wore it out, as a matter of fact.

So, Jimmy: you're great, truly. But my vote goes to TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS, RIP.