BLODWYN PIG: LIVE AT THE FILLMORE WEST 1970 (1999)
1) It's Only Love; 2) Ain't Ya
Comin' Home Babe?; 3) Dear Jill; 4) Worry; 5) San Francisco Sketches; 6) It's
Only Love; 7) Change Song; 8) Cat Squirrel; 9) See My Way; 10) Slow Down; 11)
Rock Me.
And, as a last word on Blodwyn Pig, here is a
quick account of one of those archival releases that are almost impossible to listen to because of awful sound quality.
This here is a show that the band played on the 3rd of August, 1970, shortly
before the break-up, but still in peak form: they now had two albums behind
their belt, almost two years of gig experience, and some sort of rock vision
that they tried to break through to us on Getting
To This. And they were playing at
the Fillmore West — a good chance to try and blow the Grateful Dead off the
stage with some brusk, brawny, British rock'n'roll.
The album loyally presents both of the short
sets that the band played on that day, opening for not-too-sure-whom, but the
«official bootleg» tag should count as a warning, since the sound quality is
that of a good front row audience recording — you can hear all the instruments,
but there is no question of any sort of «mixing» present, and this, as far as I
can tell, is the norm for most of
Blodwyn Pig's non-BBC live recordings, so get ready to live with this if your
soul happens to vibrate on the same amplitude with Mick Abrahams.
The biggest problem for me, unfortunately, is
not the sound quality, but the fact that this is still only Blodwyn Pig, and
that means «B-level». The band was reasonably tight, but never really
«Fillmore-proof»: the level of transformation that was implicitly required from
studio bands as they became live bands in 1970 is not reached. True, some of
the songs are expanded with additional jam sections, and there is also a
twelve-minute run through ʽCat's Squirrelʼ, which Mick took with him from his This Was legacy. But their attempts to
plow through these sections in «Cream mode», with lengthy solo passages from
Abrahams' guitar or Lancaster's sax, end up boring — loud, proud, and sincere,
but lacking individuality.
There are also some «atmospheric mistakes» that
may embarrass the listener — for instance, inserting a Tull-esque flute lead
part in the beginning of Larry Williams' ʽSlow Downʼ is a classic «conflict of
interests», somewhat typical for early 1970s art-rockers wanting to «embellish»
the rockabilly oldies with artsy flourishes. On the other hand, when they don't offer no embellishments (ʽRock
Meʼ), the results are simply non-descript.
On the whole, the album has mostly historical
importance — as in, this is the way (or one of the ways) a typically solid, but
unexceptional British roots-rock band would structure and conduct its show when
guesting on the West Coast; also, in the light of the overall legendary status
of Bill Graham's Fillmore enterprise, any extra small piece of the puzzle is
always welcome to complete the picture. (For instance, it may be useful to know
that Blodwyn Pig weren't booed off the stage or anything — Californian
audiences being quite friendly and receptive towards their guests, even if the
music was decidedly non-psychedelic). But only a thoroughly omnivorous person,
I suppose, could listen to this and experience genuine pleasure; in every respect other than historical, this is a thumbs down
in the context of all the truly great live shows from its era.
While noting G.S.'s comments and lack of approbation, I will remark only that it's a pleasure to hear Mick Abrahams at length in an immediate post-Tull environment. His signature sound made the first Tull LP the legend it became, and I at least, while wishing I could hear it again, never knew enough to pursue it Blodwynwise. So it's an enjoyable listen on those grounds, if no others.
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