Blodwyn Pig (Mick Abrahams) - Albums Collection 1969-2000 (4CD)

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Blodwyn Pig (Mick Abrahams) - Albums Collection 1969-2000 (4CD)

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A quirky detour of late-'60s British progressive/blues rock, Blodwyn Pig was founded by former Jethro Tull guitarist Mick Abrahams, who left Tull after the This Was album. Abrahams was joined by bassist Andy Pyle, drummer Ron Berg, and Jack Lancaster, who gave the outfit their most distinctive colorings via his saxophone and flute. On their two albums, they explored a jazz/blues/progressive style somewhat in the mold of (unsurprisingly) Jethro Tull, but with a lighter feel. They also bore some similarities to John Mayall's jazzy late-'60s versions of the Bluesbreakers, or perhaps Colosseum, but with more eclectic material. Both of their LPs made the British Top Ten, though the players' instrumental skills were handicapped by thin vocals and erratic (though oft-imaginative) material. The group were effectively finished by Abrahams' departure after 1970's Getting to This. They briefly reunited in the mid-'70s, and Abrahams was part of a different lineup that reformed in the late '80s; they have since issued a couple of albums in the 1990s.

Richie Unterberger, Allmusic.com

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Blodwyn Pig (Mick Abrahams) - Albums Collection 1969-2000 (4CD)

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Blodwyn Pig (Mick Abrahams) - Albums Collection 1969-2000 (4CD)

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None of Jethro Tull's progressive rock tendencies or classical influences followed Mick Abrahams into his creation of Blodwyn Pig, even with the inclusion Jack Lancaster's sax- and flute-playing prowess. Instead, Abrahams built up a sturdy British blues-rock sound and used Lancaster's horn work to add some fire to the band's jazzy repertoire. Ahead Rings Out is a stellar concoction of gritty yet flamboyant blues-rock tunes and open-ended jazz centered around Mick Abrahams' cool-handed guitar playing, but it's the nonstop infusion of the other styles that makes the album such a solid listen. After only one album with Jethro Tull, Abrahams left to form this band, and it's evident that he had a lot of pent-up energy inside him when he recorded each of the album's tracks. With a barrage of electrifying rhythms and fleeting saxophone and woodwind excursions, cuts like "Sing Me a Song That I Know," "Up and Coming," and "Backwash" whip up highly energetic sprees of rock and blues. Most of the tracks have a hearty shot of rock up the middle, but in cuts like "The Change Song" and "Backwash," the explosive riffs are accompanied by a big band style of enthusiasm, adding even more depth to the material. Andy Pyle's bass playing is definitely distinct throughout each track and is used for anything but a steady background, while labeling Ron Berg's drumming as freewheeling and intemperate would be an understatement. It's apparent that Blodwyn Pig's style is indeed distinct, releasing a liberated and devil-may-care intensity while still managing to stay on track, but the fact that each cut convokes a different type of instrumental spiritedness is where the album really gains its reputation. Wonderfully busy and even a tad motley in some places, Ahead Rings Out shows off the power and vitality that can be channeled by combining a number of classic styles without sounding pretentious or overly inflated. A year later, Blodwyn Pig recorded Getting to This before Abrahams left the band, and although it's a solid effort, it falls just a smidgen short of Ahead Rings Out's bluesy dynamism.

Mike DeGagne, Allmusic.com

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Blodwyn Pig (Mick Abrahams) - Albums Collection 1969-2000 (4CD)

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If you're looking for a glib way to dismiss Blodwyn Pig then just say that they were the band formed by Mick Abrahams after he left Jethro Tull. If you want to discover a fine and much underrated group and a great album you;ll have to try a little harder.

Few people pretend that Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson was an easy man to work with in the band's early days, much the same could be said of Mick Abrahams. Both were struggling to be the frontman in what was one of the most exciting bands to come out of the British blues explosion of 1968.
Abrahams lost that power struggle, Anderson shaped Tull and Abrahams formed Blodwyn Pig.

The band was poised for great things. Abrahams is probably the most under-rated of the British guitarists of that generation. That Clapton has inspired adulation while Abrahams has largely been ignored is simply unjust.

But what really counts in the music industry is persistence. Blodwyn Pig split citing musical differences before they really managed to establish themselves as one of the great bands of the era.

Getting to this was the second and last LP before the split. In contrast to the earlier 'Ahead Rings Out' which set out to bludgeon its audience with driving blues riffs, the influence of Jack Lancaster's jazzy saxophone is much more strongly felt. It is a sometimes gentle and thoughtful, sometimes rocking fusion of jazz, rock and blues - but this is not jazz-rock in the tradition of the over flared and over funked American bands of the era.
Lancaster's San Francisco Sketches is an intelligent sound picture in the tradition of Miles Davs Sketches of Spain (rather than posey prog of the ELP Pictures at an Exhibition ilk)
Toys is again a thoughtful look back on childhood from Abrahams. To Rassman is a product of its times - a send up of the burgeoning Rastafarian culture of South London with Bob Marley its icon. Whether a piece of music that touches on race in this rather crude (though affectionate) way would see the light of day in this era of political correctness is doubtful. I wonder how the band see it 30 plus years on.

Pip Pyle and Andy Berg are a solid and sometimes inspired rhythm section. All in all Getting To This is a fine album. Whether Blodwyn Pig would have excelled in the same way as Tull at reinventing themselves at regular intervals and thus prolonging their career - who knows. Personalities went their separate ways long before the music lost its exuberance.

If you want a period piece that in many ways has still stayed fresh - jazz/blues/rock played with the kind of sharp witted grit only British bands seemed to know how … get to this!

Jolph, Amazon.com

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Blodwyn Pig (Mick Abrahams) - Albums Collection 1969-2000 (4CD)

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The reconstituted Blodwyn Pig, consisting of Mick Abrahams (lead vocals, guitars), Graham Walker (drums), Dave Lennox (keyboards, vocals), and Mike Summerland (bass, vocals), with Jackie Challoner (backing vocals) and Nick Payne (harmonica, saxes). This is more of a soul band than the original Blodwyn Pig, and thankfully they've left jazz and progressive rock behind on this album. Apart from the superb title track, there's a ton of R&B-styled material here, all played and sung hard but well, with a level of maturity that only adds to the depth of the performances. In addition to originals by Abrahams, there are covers of songs by Doc Pomus and Dr. John ("The Victim") and Alexis Korner ("I Wonder Who"), the latter one of a pair of live tracks reuniting Abrahams with his former bandmates Clive Bunker and Andy Pyle.

Bruce Eder, Allmusic.com

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Blodwyn Pig (Mick Abrahams) - Albums Collection 1969-2000 (4CD)

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Like a lot of people, I approached Blodwyn Pig by way of Jethro Tull. Mick Abrahams was a 'force to contend with' in the original Tull line-up, and he and Ian Anderson came to loggerheads about the direction the group should take.

Abrahams split, but the group he formed was no mere spin-off. Blodwyn Pig was every bit the equal of Jethro Tull. Abrahams was and is a first-rate blues guitarist. His electric guitar stylings are instantly recognizable, and he is also a master of acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar. Sax and flute man Jack Lancaster shared Ian Anderson's fondness for imitating jazzman Roland Kirk. Lancaster even replicated Kirk's trick of playing two horns at the same time.

The tracks on Basement Tapes were drawn from BBC sessions that Blodwyn Pig did in 1969, and later in 1974 during an abortive attempt to reform the group ( the '74 edition of the band also includes former Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker.) These tunes fully illustrate just how eclectic a group Blodwyn Pig was. They feature guitar/sax passages that wail as hard as King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man", plus examples of Abrahams' off the wall sense of humor (best example: "Mr.Green's Blues").

Blodwyn Pig was as good as any band playing between 1969 and 1971–-extremely innovative and exciting. Don't miss this one, or the two classic studio albums, "Ahead Rings Out" and "Getting to This." Five stars.

Peter Baklava, Amazon.com