WHO WILL SAVE THE WORLD? - THE MIGHTY GROUNDHOGS!

The Groundhogs 1971 follow up to their enormously successful "Split" album sees Tony McPhee continuing with his determination to explore new styles and sounds. For the first time, he introduces keyboards to the mix, playing both mellotron and harmonium himself. It is though his lead guitar prowess which is of course the mainstay of the album.

Once again based around a concept, "Who will save the world.." boasts a wonderful cartoon based sleeve designed by Neal Adams. This cartoon element disguises a serious message, where McPhee bemoans the evils of the world then (and indeed now). The album was not quite as successful as "Split", but still made the UK top 10.

The opening "Earth Is Not Room Enough" catches us unaware straight away, the track swimming in the band's newly acquired mellotron. The lead guitar is still there, but the dominance of the mellotron immediately gives the song (and the album) a softer feel. "Wages of peace" is more orthodox Groundhogs, with a marching riff and McPhee's familiar vocals being the main features of the song. The laid back nature of the lead guitar break is notable though.

"Body in Mind" continues the ecology theme, but it is interesting to note that the Mighty Groundhogs do not actually spend much time saying how they will "Save the world"! The track features some nicely distorted lead guitar, which fries the brain if listened to on headphones as it dances around in the stereo. "Music Be the Food of Thought" focuses heavily on the lyrical message, but does feature some nice brass like keyboard sounds.

If side one of the original LP was an interesting if slightly flawed set from the band, side two has the sound of a trio struggling for ideas. Things start off well enough with "Bog roll blues", a song with some good dramatics on the keyboards. The track's promise though is not fully developed. "Death of the sun" is a jangly throwaway, pleasant enough but a bit poppy and uninspired. The cover of the standard "Amazing grace" is nice, but a number of bands and artists were doing the same thing around the same time, indeed a Scottish Pipe band took the tune to the top of the UK singles chart.

The album closes with the 10 minute "The grey maze". Prog fans should not get too excited though, as this is essentially just an extended boogie jam. On the plus side, the track does feature a lengthy lead guitar improvisation, but it does tend to drag after a while.

Overall, while it is good to see the Groundhogs diversifying their sound through the introduction of keyboards, there is an inherent weakness to this album when compared to its predecessors. The album lacks a killer track, and rather has the feel of a band putting something out sooner than they would have wished.

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