Blodwyn Pig - The Recordings 1969-1974
They show what they are striving for right out the gate with “It’s Only Love,” the opening track off their debut album, Ahead Rings Out. It’s a rollicking bluesy rocker fleshed out with big band horns. Featured in Almost Famous, “Dear Jill” is a gorgeous, lazy and laid-back blues track highlighted by Abrahams' slide guitar and Lancaster’s clarinet. The upbeat blues rock of “Sing Me A Song That I Know” also has a jazz and funk undertone and sounds a little like The Doors at times. Written by Lancaster, “The Modern Alchemist” is a full-blown jazz rock track that does a great job of showcasing the musicianship of every member, while “Up And Coming” is slow and smoldering blues reminiscent of Cream. The bouncy, old school cabaret jazz sounding instrumental “Leave It With Me” is the one track here that brings to mind Tull, which is made even more notable by Lancaster’s flute. “The Changes Song” is a stunning acoustic blues track with Abrahams once again displaying his slide guitar prowess, accompanied by Lancaster’s violin. Following the lilting fifty-two second interlude “Back Wash” comes the noisy closing track “Ain’t Ya Coming Home, Babe?,” a six minute plus track of bluesy hard rock with some jazz elements and squeaking sax. It’s very loose and often sounds like a jam session. The bonus tracks on disc one start with recordings of “The Change Song” and “It’s Only Love” from 1969 BBC Sessions. “Sweet Caroline” and “Summer Day” are a couple of upbeat bluesy rockers that were single b-sides, while the single only a-side “Walk On Water” is a solid rock track with elements of jazz and psychedelia (also included here in an alternate version). Any or all of them would have been welcome additions to the albums. The last bonus track on this disc is “McGregor Muckabout,” which was recorded during the sessions for the album and is a bizarre 10 minutes plus cut of almost incoherent rambling and noise that really should have been left on the cutting room floor.
A little less than nine months after they released their debut, Blodwyn Pig was back with album number two Getting To This. The album gets off to a strong start with “Drive Me,” which after a heavier, Cream-like blues intro, evolves into a swinging, jazzy blues track with Lancaster once again shining on the horns. “Variations On Nainos” is highlighted by Abrahams guitar work and Lancaster’s flute, giving this laid-back, jazzy, funk rock track some Jethro Tull vibes (the song title, an anagram of “Son Ian,” is a poke at Ian Anderson). The more straight-ahead, hard-driving rock of “See My Way” is up next and is again set apart by the horns. At just over a minute, “Long Bomb Blues” is a nice little solo acoustic blues track with just Abrahams on guitar and vocals, followed by “The Squirreling Must Go On” a hard rock instrumental showcasing more of his blistering guitar. The most ambitious cut the band released on either album is the four part, eight minute “San Francisco Sketches.” After starting with a wistful, gently strummed guitar accompanied by flute, it shifts to jazzy, blues rock (again with lots of horns), followed by a section with Beach Boys like vocal harmonies, before shifting back to a jazzy free for all to close it out. Although not among their best, “Worry” is a solid, straight-on rocker, followed by “Toys,” a laid-back tune with lyrics looking back reflectively on his youth. This brings us to what many consider the biggest misstep of their recorded output, “To Rassman.” This reggae wannabe novelty song sounds like an experiment gone wrong that should’ve been left behind. The album’s final song “Send Your Son To Die” is a very Blodwyn Pig sounding track of horn driven rock with jazz influences. Four more bonus cuts round out disc two, starting off with the super infectious rocker “Same Old Story,” which was a single only track along with a high energy cover of Larry Williams’ "Slow Down" on the flipside. Lastly are a couple of tracks recorded during the Getting To This sessions. “Meanie Mornay” is a bluesy track with some great slide guitar that actually has a bit of a country influence and would have been a great addition to the album, while “One Thing Leads To Another” has a somewhat lazy, laid-back groove.
The final disc here is titled Blodwyn Pig at the BBC 1969-1974 and consists of recordings from five different BBC Sessions. First up are three songs from Top Gear on March 24, 1969, consisting of a couple of tracks from their debut album, including a great version of “The Modern Alchemist” that really shows off their musicianship. There is also a variation of “Up and Coming” called “Mr Green’s Blues,” which Is a tribute Peter Green, made even more interesting with Abrahams' “spoken word rapping” in the middle, followed by versions of a couple of songs from Getting To This recorded March 4, 1970 for Sounds Of The 70’s. The next two tracks were also from Sound of the 70’s, but were recorded a few months later on September 23, and are notable because at that point Abrahams had been replaced by Peter Banks and Barry Reynolds. “Moon’s Gone” is a catchy, very horn-driven song that shifts in more of a soulful rock direction, somewhat reminiscent of Van Morrison and “The Lady Of Liberty” (written by Banks) is a dreamy, acoustic track. The final nine tracks were recorded in 1974, with the band back to the original lineup with the exception of Clive Bunker now on drums. First up are four from a June 17, 1974 session for Sound Of The 70’s starting off with a take on the album track “See My Way.” The other three are “Baby Girl,” a ragged, bluesy rocker fleshed out with some honky tonk piano, the easygoing, midtempo “Leaving Song” and “Blues Of A Dunstable Truck Driving Man,” a really fun acoustic folk blues tune that Abrahams says is about his time driving a truck. Lastly are five cuts from In Concert that were recorded on August 15, 1974 starting once again with another great version of “See my Way,” this time a seven minute plus version with the band really letting loose. Next up are a couple of new songs, the gospel-tinged rock of “I Know” and the funky “Cosmografication.” Closing the set are a great cover of “Six Days On The Road” and a rocking version the debut album’s “It’s Only Love.” Following the 1974 reunion that was documented in these live performances, various incarnations of the band got back together off and on in the nineties, and even released a couple more albums. Abrahams sadly passed away in December 2025.
