Cherry Red [Release date : 20.03.26]

Blodwyn Pig had quite some pedigree.

1968: Founding member Mick Abrahams (guitar/vocals) came straight from Jethro Tull, after some conflicts with Ian Anderson over musical direction.

Co-founder Jack Lancaster, sax and flute virtuoso, had himself already enjoyed a rich and varied career, including works created with fellow artists, like Country Joe (no Fish), Alvin (Ten Years After) Lee, Rod Argent and Phil Collins.

This was a powerful pairing of two skilled and imaginative composers/musicians.

The band name (Blodwyn: Welsh female, and Pig: the quislings of “1984”) was an unconventional choice, typical of Brit bands in the sixties, chosen to attract attention.

It was a short career, with Abrahams, Lancaster, plus Andy (wish I was lead guitar) Pyle on bass and “Animal” drummer Ron Berg recording only two full length studio albums (both UK Top Ten), plus a bunch of radio sessions.

Three remastered and expanded albums in this set:

CD1 : Ahead Rings Out (1969, with 7 bonus tracks)
CD2 : Getting To This (1970, with 4 bonus tracks)
CD2 : Blodwyn Pig at the BBC (John Peel Sessions, Top Gear Sessions, and Radio 1 In concert). 19 tracks in all.

They were a dynamic band who liberally laced a grainy blues style of rock with jazz improv. Each musician was an equal partner. There’s a musical chemistry between them that ignites some well thought out blues and rock material.

As an integral part of a UK blues movement, they were just as good but not as durable as Humble Pie, Free and Led Zeppelin, with whom they often shared the live arena.

CD1 : Ahead Rings Out
Whatever ingredients went into the recipe, the result – like bluesy opener, ‘It’s Only Love’ and the smokey jazz rock of ‘The Modern Alchemist’ – doesn’t ultimately sound like much else than Blodwyn Pig, and there is often something rather enjoyable about knowing they are a one off.

CD2 : Getting To This
Like its predecessor, it’s produced with a formidable intensity – though it’s loose limbed when it needs to be – and an impressive sonic feel. ‘Drive Me’ and ‘San Francisco Sketches’ are the picks.

CD3 : At The BBC (17 tracks)
Standouts among many contenders would be ‘Same Old Story’, the band’s non album hit single (a bonus track on CD2) and the run of 5 songs from BBC Radio 1 sessions (from The Hippodrome, Golders Green in London) by a briefly reformed band in 1974, especially, the several-songs-in-7-minutes, ‘See My Way, and the old fashioned rock’n’blues of ‘Six Days On The Road’.

Even live the band’s sound is skilfully layered. You catch most of it first time around. Then you hear it again and you think ‘I didn’t hear that’ the first time, and so on.

Revealing liner notes can add great value to a remastered set like this one. Making reference to the albums released in the nineties by a unenthusiastically reformed band, Steve Pilkington notes “but the band’s chief claim to fame, and all too fleeting time in the sun, unquestionably rests with… Ahead Rings Out and Getting To This.”

Their legacy lives on. ****1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Josh Taerk - Sunday Session - 12 April 2026

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Power Plays w/c 2 March 2026

DODGY – It’s Not The End (Flip Flop Records)
THE SKBs – Hour Glass (indie)
LAKE – Boy On A Mission (indie)
KING FALCON Holding Out (indie)
HOKKA Heart Said No (Nuclear Blast Records)
STARBENDERS The Beast Goes On (Sumerian Records)
EDDIE AND THE WOLVES See Me Fall (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 2 March 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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