SCRATCHING THE SURFACE

Travellin' band

Formed in the early 1960s, The Groundhogs were first known as The Dollar Bills before Tony TS McPhee joined a short while later and proposed a name change. Named after a John Lee Hooker song, the band were also briefly called John Lee's Groundhogs when they backed the great bluesman on a tour.

McPhee quickly took control of the band, guiding them towards a blues style. They toured for several years, releasing the odd single, but it would be 1968 before this their first album appeared.

Very much of its time, 'Scratching the surface' has similarities with what Creedence Clearwater Revival ('Susie Q') were doing around the same time. Indeed, McPhee's lead guitar style is similar to that of John Fogerty. With a simple line up of vocals, lead guitar and harmonica, backed by bass and drums, the songs here are straightforward blues songs adapted for a rock environment. We have simple repeating verses, regular lead guitar intervals, and harmonica intermissions. The pace varies between foot tapping rockers and more traditional blues standard swaggering, but the music is unashamedly blues throughout.

Side two of the LP release has the two longest tracks, 'Man trouble' and 'Still a fool' both running to well over 6 minutes. The latter was released in edited form as a single (the single edit can be heard on the remastered album), but both tracks are simply slightly longer variants on the blues themes which prevail throughout the album.

Tony McPhee's talents as a singer are shown to be adequate here, and his guitar prowess unquestionable The title though was in retrospect more accurate than intended, this album doing nothing more than scratch at the surface of what the Groundhogs would go on to achieve.

For those, like myself, who find the blues to be a rewarding diversion, this is an album worthy of investigation. For those looking for the prog (or 'Prog related') side of the band, there will be little of interest here.

The debut album by this (not-yet-experimental) Blues Rock band, I would say broadly, released in 1968, the Groundhogs are of the same ilk of early Jethro Tull or even Led Zeppelin. To give a general overview: boring to decent Blues is infused with Rock with varying results...

"Rocking Chair" is certainly a fine forward-driving Blues Rock song [In retrospect, the highlight, if I can call it that]. Certainly very of the time. "Early in the Morning" offers quite a different vibe. More stripped down Blues with a solid, clean guitar riff matched with harmonica and a very straight-forward rhythm section at first. Some of the vocal harmonies are pretty nice, but the song overall offers little. "Waking Blues" feels a bit like early Rock 'n' Roll. Pretty decent guitar performances here.

Back to the straight backbeat of the heavy kick drum on "Married Men", the simple Blues vocalizations and guitar riffs are... just that. Simple. I don't care for it. These are some tired moves, I'm sure even at this point. Popular then or not. "No More Doggin'" features more harmonica, and all this is is basic, boring old Blues to my ears. Not sayin' the album is getting worse as it goes, but... to this point it certainly was.

Getting plenty of ear fatigue from this, but really that's just the boredom setting in. "Man Trouble" has a pretty solid backbeat. Some decent ideas, if anything. Over it, though. "Come Back Baby" is taking us back and... I'm just like... The British really loved this sh*t, huh? Moving on, "You Don't Love Me" has some decent vocals... But this is just the same ol'. "Still A Fool" is one of the better songs, at least on paper. Sort of the vibe that Led Zep were trying to exploit a bit at this time. But it's like... boring Zep.

That's it. Moving on.

True Rate: < 2/5