Tony McPhee - High on the Hog: Anthology 1977-2000 '2004

Tracks list

Tracklist

CD1
01. Foolish Pride
02. Dry Land
03. Over Pressure
04. Down In the Bottom
05. Love In Vain
06. Smokestack Lightnin
07. Baby, How Long
08. Bleachin the Blues
09. Mannish Boy
10. Every Minute
11. No Place to Go
12. Took Me By Surprise
13. Little Red Rooster
14. Country Blues
15. Wang Dang Doodle
16. Terraplane Blues
17. Hoochie Coochie Man
18. Hooker and the Hogs
19. Young Fashioned Ways
20. Bdd
21. Status People
22. A Year In the Life

CD2
01. Me and the Devil (Live at the Rockhaus, Vienna)
02. Cant Be Satisfied (Live at the Rockhaus, Vienna)
03. Diving Duck (Live at the Rockhaus, Vienna)
04. No More Doggin (Live)
05. Eccentric Man (Live)
06. 3744 James Road (Live)
07. Split, Pt. 1 (Live)
08. Split, Pt. 2 (Live)
09. Thank Christ for the Bomb (Live)
10. Mistreated (Live)
11. Superceded (Live)
12. Groundhog Blues (Live)
13. Cherry Red (Live)

Tony McPhee was part of the first generation of young British blues disciples
influenced by Cyril Davies and his band Blues Incorporated. A member of the same
generation of young blues buffs as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones,
he never ascended to the heights achieved by the future Rolling Stones, but has
recorded a small, highly significant body of blues-rock.
Originally a skiffle enthusiast, he received his first guitar as a Christmas
present and formed his first band soon after, while still in school. He
gravitated toward the blues during the early 60s, and soon discovered Cyril
Davies. After seeing a few performances by Davies with Blues Incorporated at the
Marquee Club in London during 1962, he became hopelessly hooked on blues and
R&B, and decided to try and make it as a blues singer/guitarist.
McPhees first group was the Dollarbills, a pop band featuring John Cruickshank
on vocals, Pete Cruickshank on bass, and Dave Boorman on drums. He quickly
steered toward blues, most notably the sound of John Lee Hooker, and with the
addition of Bob Hall on piano, the group changed its name to the Groundhogs, in
recognition of Hookers Ground Hog Blues.
The Groundhogs were a very solid blues/R&B outfit, playing soulful American R&B
and raw American blues at venues such as Newcastles Club A-Go-Go, and they
subsequently became the backing band to Champion Jack Dupree at a series of gigs
at the 100 Club. Finally, in July of 1964, the Groundhogs reached their zenith
when they were chosen to back John Lee Hooker himself during his current British
tour. Hooker later selected the group to back him on his next tour, and also
sent an acetate recording of the group to executives at his label, Vee-Jay
Records. That acetate, the hard-rocking, piano-and-harmonica-driven band
original Shake It backed with a very powerful and persuasive cover of Little Son
Jacksons Rock Me Baby, was released on the Interphon label, a Vee-Jay
subsidiary. It failed to reach the charts, but it did mark the groups and
McPhees first American release.
Meanwhile, back in England, the group recorded a studio album with Hooker,
somewhat misleadingly entitled Live at the A-Go-Go Club, New York. The groups
fortunes seemed to improve in 1965 when producer Mike Vernon recorded three
tracks, Big Train Blues, Cant Sit Down, and Blue Guitar, but none saw any major
release or success, and only Blue Guitar ever received much U.S. exposure,
appearing on the 1970s Sire Records collection Anthology of British Blues.
By the end of 1965, the British blues boom had expended itself, and soul was
becoming the new sound of choice. McPhee had already shown a predilection for
soul music in his writing, especially Hallelujah, which the group cut with its
newly added brass section in 1965. The Groundhogs transformed themselves into a
soul band, and were persuaded to record a song called Ill Never Fall in Love
Again. As a first soul outing it was a promising beginning, despite a beat that
was too reminiscent of Otis Reddings Cant Turn You Loose -- the dissonant guitar
in the break was a refreshing change that would never have made it out the door
at Stax Records. The song failed to get much airplay or achieve a chart
position, and its B-side, the upbeat, haunting McPhee original Over You Baby
disappeared as well.
The Groundhogs split up soon after, and McPhee did session work for a time, as
well as recording some blues sides on his own, under the auspices of producer
Jimmy Page, that later turned up on various British blues anthologies released
by Andrew Loog Oldhams Immediate Records label, backed up by Jo-Ann Kelly and
fellow Groundhog Bob Hall. Unlike a lot of other blues enthusiasts from the
early 60s, McPhee remained true to his roots, and was good enough to rate a
berth as a sessionman on Champion Jack Duprees 1966 Decca album From New Orleans
to Chicago.
In August of 1966, McPhee and bassist Pete Cruickshank teamed up with drummer
Mike Meekham to form Herbal Mixture, a Yardbirds-like outfit mixing psychedelic
and blues sounds at a very high amperage. They were one of the more soulful and
muscular psychedelic outfits, reflecting their R&B (as opposed to pop) roots,
and even their spaciest material has a bluesy feel. A Love Thats Died relies on
fuzztone guitar, and would have made good competition for anything by the
Yardbirds had anyone been given a chance to hear it. Their cover of Over You
Baby is, if anything, superior to the Groundhogs original, and deserved a better
hearing than it got. Herbal Mixture had some success playing the Marquee and
Middle Earth clubs in London, and were good enough to get a gig opening for the
newly formed Jeff Beck Group at the London Roundhouse. Their records, however,
didnt sell, and at the end of 1967, following Meekhams departure, the band
ceased to exist.
McPhee continued playing blues in his spare time, however, and passed through
the John Dummer Blues Band during early 1968. His music had left an impression
on at least one record company executive -- in 1968, Andrew Lauder of United
Artists British operation offered McPhee the chance to record a complete album
if he could put together a band. He formed a new Groundhogs, carrying over
bassist Pete Cruickshank, and the album Scratching the Surface was duly recorded
and released that year. Ironically, this incarnation of the Groundhogs, put
together for the one album session, ended up lasting far beyond its origins --
five additional albums, including his best-known long-player, Me and the Devil,
were recorded through 1972, and the group has remained a viable unit, continuing
to perform in England and the European continent (where theres always work for
British blues bands) with McPhee as its leader.

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