Groundhogs - Split (1971) flac

By "themaninthehat"


Following the success of THANK CHRIST FOR THE BOMB and a gruelling tour with the Rolling Stones, Groundhogs leader Tony McPhee suffered a nervous breakdown. Where most rock stars would settle for an elongated period of pampered rest in an expensive clinic, McPhee decided to write a suite of songs about it.


The result was SPLIT, possibly the greatest hard rock album of all time.

What used to be side one of the vinyl edition featured SPLIT PARTS 1 to 4, a gut churning chronicle of the aforementioned breakdown. McPhee never tried to make his music pretty in any way. His guitar sounds metallic in such a way that you'd think the strings had rusted. It's furious stuff. SPLIT PT 2 especially is superb. McPhee managed to cram more ideas into one song than most of his peers put into a whole album!

Side two -track 5 on the CD - opens with CHERRY RED, which should be regarded as the all time classic guitar led rock song. The album closes with a solo version of John Lee Hooker's GROUNDHOG. THe guitar playing defies belief.

If ever music could be described as ugly, this is it. But as the logo on the golden syrup tin says, out of the strong came forth beauty. This is a work of warped and addled beauty. Your record collection is incomplete without it.