Twang content: second sentence of the Beat Instrumental quote..
The link at the bottom is:
http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a8904593/blodwyn.pig.html
the page is outdated, but is shows him and the pig still playing around
England as late as last December.
Mick Abrahams:
Blodwyn Pig bossman!
Quote from "Beat Instrumental", February 1971:
"Unlike most guitarists, Mick Abrahams'
playing, blending
sophisticated chord work with dazzling
single-string breaks,
goes beyond the distinction between lead and
rhythm
playing. You can hear echoes of many forms -
Mick has a
wide-ranging style drawing from jazz, country
and western,
rock'n'roll (ancient and modern) and he is also
one of the
most imaginative and sensitive exponents of
bottlenecking.
Mick made his decision to go professional at the fitting age of 21, when his
mother asked him
whether he wanted a big party or a guitar to launch him into manhood; he chose
the guitar, a Gibson
SG that he still uses six years later, and shortly after formed his own band,
the Original Hustlers, who
played mostly Chuck Berry and Little Richard songs and what Mick laughingly
refers to as "our own
arrangements of Beatles' numbers".
His step into a national group came when he joined Neil Christian's Crusaders,
who had just lost
Jimmy Page, but he left after a three-month stint. "We had to dress up in
orange shirts, tight black
trousers and white boots and wiggle our asses. If you saw how fat I was then
you'd know why I
didn't fancy it", he admits. But after an ill-fated venture with a band called
the Goodtimers with,
amongst others, Graham Waller, Dave Cakebread and Bernie Etherington - "We
rehearsed
every night for five months and folded after six gigs. It wasn't a bad band,
either. We had a big fat,
bluesy sound" - Mick found himself back with the Crusaders, and, having played
"a few gigs" with
the magnificient Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages, went on to join a Luton group
called Jensen's
Moods, where he played with Clive Bunker and Andy Pyle.
His next band was McGregor's Engine with Clive (on drums), Pete Benson (or
Fensome? on
vocals) and Andy (on bass. Ex-Victor Brox's Blues Train) again."
Referring to McGregor's Engine, Pete Frame says in his "Rock Family Trees,
Vol. 2".
"Jan '67 to Nov. '67. A Luton Supergroup; all had played around the area since
Beatles days. This
was a power blues band, Cream inspired. Hot locally."
Back to "Beat Instrumental":
Rehearsing in an adjoining room at Caesar's Palace one day, however, was a
band called the John
Evans Smash who had been told by their managers to get "a blues guitarist".
Mick joined, and
managed to persuade Clive to go with him rather than work for Commer Motors;
the new group
included Ian Anderson and Glenn Cornick and was called Ian Anderson'sBag of
Blues. Agent
Dave Robson suggested Jethro Tull for a name, and their first record, one of
Mick's songs, came
out on MGM; "Sunshine Day", by Jethro Tull. Some time later, after Jethro's
triumphant appearance
at the Kempton festival of 1968, he was at last in a successful band."
Mick left Jethro Tull after one album ("This Was") and formed Blodwyn Pig.
Made two albums
with them - and then established Mick Abrahams Band (initially called Mick
Abraham's Pig or
Wommet). And swore to never play "Cat's Squirrel" again.
Mick Abrahams Band issued two albums: "Mick Abrahams" CHRYSALIS ILPS 9147
(1971)
and "At Last" CHRYSALIS CHR 1005 (1972). Jack Lancaster returns on sax on
number two.
In 1975 he recorded "Learning Guitar With" on SRT SRTM 73313. He should
know...
Cover above from "Mick's Back" album - still another one.
Mick keeps on recording infrequent comeback albums. Check out eminent link
below.
You can't keep a good man down, can you?
Links:
The Blodwyn Pig Fan Page
BARNARD wrote:
> You mean how can you tell stylistically, or how can you tell by their
> respective haircuts?? <g>
>
> Oboy, I'm gonna rent a video and worry about whether the guitarist is Tony
> Iommi or Mick Abrahams <g>,
> --junior
>
> NP: buck sings harlan howard (Mick A. didn't play on this disc...)
