Re: The "MIGHTY" Groundhogs
I first came to the Groundhogs via Split, their best-selling and most refined album, side one of which is divided into Splits part 1 to 5 and is concerned with mental illness inspired by a panic attack experienced by Tony McPhee. Although McPhee dominates the group as writer, singer, guitarist, producer and engineer, the rhythm section of bassist Pete Cruikshank and drummer Ken Pustelnik are extremely tight. No-one plays guitar like Tony McPhee, who has the perfect balance of sheer speed and blues-rock feel. I followed Split with Groundhogs' Best 1968 - 1972, a double-album compilation which gives an overview of the albums covered by that period as well as the varied styles, for example: the concise blues rock of BDD from Blues Obituary, the conscience driven lyrics of Garden from Thank Christ For the Bomb, the pure blues of Groundhog from split, all-out hard rock of 3744 James Road from Hogwash. Only disappointing by the Groundhogs' own high standards are the tracks from Who Will Save the World, on which McPhee tends to concentrate on synthesizer at the expense of his guitar playing, which is also multi-tracked. Suffice to say, I went on and bought all the albums represented along with the slightly later Solid and The Two Sides of TS McPhee.
The Two Sides of TS McPhee (1973) originated as a vinyl LP with two differing styles separated by the two sides of the disc. Side one was five pure blues tracks by McPhee on guitar, but without band, including Dog Me Bitch. Side two consisted of one twenty-minute track, The Hunt, about the cruelty of fox-hunting, played predominantly on synthesizers. Dog Me Bitch was played live by the Groundhogs as a band track and demonstrated Tony McPhee's willingness to adapt and alter his own material, something he continued to do years later. A memorable BBC Radio One In Concert programme, from the Solid era, is available on CD on Windsong.
Solid (1974) was the last of the three-piece classic-era of the Groundhogs and is Tony McPhee's masterpiece. Aggressive guitar playing on Light My Light and Free From All Alarm flows seemlessly into the further sophistication of synthesizer and mellotron on Sins of the Father and Sad Go Round . . . and that is just side one! When the power trio folded, McPhee experimented with a group called Terraplane and then reformed the Groundhogs surprisingly with a second guitarist.
Crosscut Saw and Black Diamond, both 1976, are by no means weak albums and show the effect of having a second guitar - allowing Tony McPhee the freedom to experiment further. Sadly, this band did not get the opportunity to develop beyond the two albums and again the Groundhogs were put on hold.
Live, the band were as tight as on record. Tony McPhee was a telephone engineer and used a homemade radio controlled guitar, which he started playing in the dressing room before he arrived on stage. For all I know, remote controlled instruments could be commonplace these days, but they certainly weren't in the nineteen-seventies. He was completely unpretentious, but his playing was phenomenal.
Razor's Edge, in 1985, showed a glimmer of the earlier fire, but the group did not fully reappear until the resurgence of heavy rock that came with grunge in the early nineties. Groundhog Night is an interesting live album, in that Tony McPhee, as always, reinterprets his own material. The album was the template for the future of The Groundhogs as Tony McPhee continued the band as a live act, periodically releasing live albums with further reinterpretations.
Steve Rye of the original Groundhogs band which recorded Scratching the Surface became a lecturer in geology (I know this, because he was the college lecturer of a friend of mine who went into geology). Rye died in the nineteen-eighties at only 46-years-old. Mick Cook of the Crosscut Saw band, died of cancer in the early nineties. Dave Wellbelove of the same lineup joined the excellent John Miles. Second drummer, Clive Brooks, opened a drum school and went on become Nick Mason's drum technician. Original rhythm section of Ken Pustelnik and Pete Cruickshank joined American guitarist Chaz DePaolo to perform during Tony McPhee's Groundhogs' downtime. In 2009, Tony McPhee suffered a stroke, so at the age of 67, he is probably retired(?)
A good starting place for the newcomer to the Groundhogs is the compilation The Groundhogs' Best 1968 - 1972, however tracks were removed by BGO to fit the album onto a CD - so be careful! Split is also a good starting place because it is their 'greatest hit' album. Solid is the best album and BGO kindly added a bonus track to the CD. If you like the heavy bluesrock of Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Robin Trower you will surely love the Groundhogs . . .
