Ring in the Pig

You may not know it, but British Blues is some of my favorite genre to go explore. People who know me well enough tease me for my Progressive Rock loves. They even tease me for my love of Tropicalia. What some of my friends do know is that I love the early Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Savoy Brown, Wishbone Ash, Chicken Shack, Ten Years After and others. I will seek out at the record store some of that wonderful Mike Vernon produced British Blues. I have a few records in my collection that chronicle this wonderful music. I have a lot of early Fleetwood Mac. I have a fair share of the others, but Fleetwood Mac is the one that sparks the most talk. I tell my friend that they were so much better in the 60's then the 70's. I even talked about Fleetwood Mac last October. I will slowly get to the others as soon as I find an album that is suitable for your ears.

The little geek in me has a soft spot for a lot of this music and every once in a while I go crazy by throwing all this music in my car and just turning up the volume. The other day I was just in those moods. I was going for a drive and I figure that I should put British Blues as my six discs in the car. Disc one was Savoy Brown's Raw Sienna, the second disc was Fleetwood Mac's Then Play On, third was Wishbone Ash's, Argus. The forth was John Mayall Blues From Laurel Canyon, fifth was Ten Years After's Undead and lastly the one very few people know about Blodwyn Pig's Ahead Rings Out.

I stumbled upon Blodwyn Pig when listening to early Jethro Tull albums. I am sure that someone told me about them. I also went through my music bible at the time and was suggested to listen to. They were very accurate in telling me how great they were. If the lead guitarist was the first guitar player from Jethro Tull then I had to listen. Not only because of what he wanted to do after leaving Jethro Tull, but to know how great he really was. I mean I still go gaga for Mick Abrahams wonderful playing on Jethro Tull's This Was album. Mick was focused on one thing. He wanted to make music with heavy Blues and Jazz influence. Ian Anderson wanted a less lax on those styles and play Rock and Roll. It's too bad too, I would love to hear how Tull progressed if they Mick kept his ground and won the argument. I am sure it would have sounded like Blodwyn Pig.

The first album is their masterpiece. They actually put out two albums, but the first is the only one you should go for. I picked up the album at a tag sale and the guy told me that it's like nothing I have ever listened to. It's is soaked in Blues and Jazz, but it sounds wonderful to the ear today. The songs that gets heavily played is "See My Way" and "Dear Jill." Each has wonderful playing by all four members and feathers why Mick was a great guitar player. If this is the neglected brother of the British Blues, it sure does make a fuss to get noticed. It's too bad they could not amount to anymore after the two albums because there was a lot of potential. There was so much going on in August 1969 that I know it got lost in the shuffle of music.

So try something new and exciting, Blodwyn Pig is amazing and it takes a few listens, but it is well worth the effort to check out. it's also a good album to talk about when your discussing British music. I am sure that you will get some interest when you put them and Jethro Tull in the same breath. Well in enjoy a rare relic from the 60's that a few people have forgotten. It maybe the most interesting album in your collection, but it will generate some great talk once it's played. Enjoy!