Groundhogs: Split (gold vinyl) [FIRE]

Why you'll love it

Fire Records' remastered reissue comes on gold vinyl with session out-takes to download. Split is Tony McPhee's power-trio peak, a four-part suite plus "Cherry Red," recorded live in a single take.

This edition

• Gold vinyl
• Remastered
• Download of out-takes from the original sessions

About the album

Plenty of records are about falling apart; few are as loud about it. Tony McPhee wrote the lyrics for Split after a panic attack in May 1970, and he turned the experience into the four-part suite that fills the first side, a heavy, restless trip through an anxious mind. McPhee wrote every song, and the trio was at the height of its run on Liberty.

The trio of McPhee on guitar and vocals, Peter Cruikshank on bass and Ken Pustelnik on drums recorded it in November 1970 at De Lane Lea Studios in London, with McPhee producing and Martin Birch engineering. Side two brings "Cherry Red," a riff monster, the punchy "A Year in the Life," the menacing "Junkman" and "Groundhog," based on a John Lee Hooker blues. McPhee's guitar does as much of the talking as his voice.

It came out on Liberty in March 1971 and has stayed a touchstone of British blues rock ever since. Fair warning: the riff of "Cherry Red" tends to move in and stay for the weekend.

Also at Kops: more Groundhogs on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Fire (cat# FIRELP508C), a reissue of the 1971 album.