Thursday, 31 January 2013
The Groundhogs
Cherry Red (live, 1971)
It's taken me eons to get around to buying Live at Leeds '71 by The Groundhogs, having been a fan since the 70's. For some reason, I've just always skipped over it. It landed on my doorstep yesterday and, I have to say, it's superb. The album was recorded by the Rolling Stones mobile unit during The Hogs' support set for The Stones; the tapes were given to head Hog, Tony McPhee, by Mick Jagger. This band could rock like almost no other back then and really should have been a much bigger name than they were; McPhee's guitar alone is worth more than the price of entry. I always think The Groundhogs were the missing link between blues rock and punk. Big influence on Joy Division/New Order and Mark E. Smith is a fan, by all accounts. How come there are so many great live albums called Live at Leeds (The Who, The Hogs, John Martyn, plus the Wailers recorded a fine set there - perhaps there are more?)?
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8 comments:
I kind of passed over the hogs. I must look into them as I like this. Interesting one about the 'Live at Leeds'.
My family lived next door to the drummer, Ken Puslelnik, so I had a natural affinity for the old Hogs. having done some research, I can confirm that both The Macc Lads and The Exploited also have 'Live At Leeds' albums - so it ain't all good! ;)
That should read 'Ken PUSTELNIK', sorry.
I think you're right about them being a missing link between blues rock and punk. I was amazed when I first heard Split (several years after its initial release) - loved their hard edge - still sounds like a great album.
(The Exploited live at Leeds? NO THANKS!)
For some reason I missed out on The Groundhogs until I heard a track (wish I could remember which one) on 6music about 3 years ago and the penny dropped. I still have a lot of catching up to do though. This is great.
I'm a big Who fan, but have never cared for their 'Live at Leeds' album - I'd probably prefer it to The Exploited & Macc Lads though!
The Swede: Get 'Split' and work from there.I think I know what you mean about The Who album, which took me many years to really appreciate. When I first heard it, it sounded a bit of a mess but now I love the sheer anarchy of it. As far as the best live albums of all time go, I don't think it should be rated as highly as it is. Then again, I believe that 'Made In Japan' is at least as good as Bob's '"Albert Hall"' but the 'critics' would never agree, so what do I know? I'd give another vote to Zappa's 'Roxy and Elsewhere', too. This sounds like a reason for a whole other post.
I listened to 'Made in Japan' end to end only recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's another album I hadn't heard in a l-o-n-g time and yet remembered every muttered aside - 'everything louder than everything else', brilliant. Up there with 'RAH' though? We'd have to agree to differ on that on that one!
TS: I realised my claim sounded rather hyperbolic once I'd written it but left it for good (or other) effect. You're right.
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