BLUES OBITUARY

The Groundhogs" second album, "Blues obituary" is a bit of a strange beast. While the début ("Scratching the surface") had been a decent if unremarkable 40 minute set of blues variations, "Blues obituary" find them beginning their quest to find a style of their own. Harmonica player Steve Rye left after just one album, leaving a trio boasting a line up of just guitar, bass and drums.

The opening "BDD" (which apparently stands for "Blind, Deaf, Dumb") immediately demonstrates that Tony McPhee is intent on leading the band on a journey away from blues. The refined guitar sound and smoother nature of the song offer something which, while still relatively basic, is more than simply a variant on basic blues structures. The following "Daze of the weak" at first sounds like a retreat back to the blues of the first album, but the track develops well within the confines of the one dimensional line up, the lead guitar driving things along at varying speeds.

The echo on the singing on "Times" helps to vary the vocals, an aspect often cited as the weak point of the Groundhogs output. It is though McPhee's prowess on lead guitar which is the track's strength. Even "Mistreated" (not the Deep Purple song) which does feature a blues structure to the vocal part, is more swamp rock than blues as such. "Express man" has a good feel to it, the lead guitar here being slightly more precise and considered.

"Natchez Burning" also heads south for its inspiration, the track being a slower piece with some spooky vocal sounds. There are once again strong similarities with the path being followed around the same time by John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR). The closing "Light was the day" is the most experimental of the tracks here, with freeform guitar being backed by improvised drumming. Goood use is made of then still novel stereo effects, McPhee demonstrating that he can make it up as he goes along too.

With a running time of around 33 minutes, "Blues obituary" is as brief as CCR album too. It does though offer the first signs that the Groundhogs would be more than a late to the party blues band, and that Tony McPhee had a desire to take the band into uncharted waters.

A mono single edit of "BDD" can found on some subsequent releases of the album, such as the fine "Thank Christ for the Groundhogs" collection.

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