• Voto:
Se dovessi riassumere i Groundhogs, o l'emaciato chitarrista/cantante Tony McPhee, in una sola espressione, userei le seguenti semplici parole: dignitosi perdenti. Nell'esplosione del british blues dal '68 in poi hanno avuto qualche momento di buona notorietà (vedasi il picco di fama immortalato nel Live At Leeds '71, di spalla ai sempre più distrutti Rolling Stones), soprattutto nella trilogia (per chi scrive, imprescindibile) di Thank Christ For The Bomb - Split - Who Will Save The World?. Con quel tris di opere, le marmotte incidevano un hard-blues occasionalmente venato di psichedelia e vagiti progressivi, trovando la loro dimensione ideale
Poi, l'oblio: gli Zeppelin spazzarono via persino la serie A del genere, figuriamoci l'ensemble di McPhee, che nel frattempo si arrangiò buttandosi sulle sperimentazioni di Hogwash, album non particolarmente apprezzato. Poi, con poche pause, il chitarrista continuò a portare avanti questo piccolo nome con album abbastanza simili fra loro, uscite live per pochi appassionati e poco altro.
Il "Live At The Astoria", che presenta una performance del 1998, è la summa di quanto espresso nei trent'anni precedenti: una musica sincera, appassionata, grezza e squisitamente "vecchia". McPhee si presenta in trio assieme a tali Chipulina (basso) e Correa (batteria), e incide un'ora di sanissimo blues rock. I pezzi variano (variano?) da composizioni originali a riadattamenti, da segnalare in particolare la splendida e durissima "Eccentric Man", l'accoppiata "Split pt.1 - pt.2", "Cherry Red" ed un paio di classici di W. Dixon, "Shake For Me" e "Down In The Bottom". La musica che si ascolta è omogenea o perfino monotematica, con la sezione ritmica martellante e la chitarra che si perde e si ritrova in fraseggi logorroici solo a volte scanditi dalle parti vocali, quasi accessorie. Lo stile chitarristico di McPhee, pur debitore dell'influenza psichedelica che colpì Hendrix e Cream, riflette una sincera dedizione alla Musica in sè, i suoi riff abrasivi a volte rigorosamente classici (la tradizionale "Groundhog Blues"), altre volte rumoristi e acidi. Per appassionati è un eufemismo, ma gli appassionati possono godere.
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Eccentric Man (06:10)
My chest is a 36, my overcoat is for a 42.
My trousers end 6 inches from the ground, 3 inches from my shoe,
Tied up with a piece of string and held together with fish-bone glue.
Call me an eccentric man, I don't believe I am ( 2)
My bed is a park bench and my sheet and blankets are newspaper pages.
The people think I'm crazy, but I know I'm wiser than all the sages,
'cos I have money they think that I'm a fool for doing what I do, but I know it's right.
Call me an eccentric man, I don't believe I am (2)
SOLO IN E
If ever I want to I can have the comfort of my country home.
But until that time I'm quite content to have walls made of gravestones,
a carpet of moss, a ceiling of sky and a brown rat for a watch-dog.
Call me an eccentric man, I don't believe I am (2)
SOLO IN G
03 3744 James Road (11:16)
For seven hours six miles above the ground, each trip is a year off my life
Just longing for the minute we're down, like sitting on the edge of a knife.
Apprehension is itching my stomach, anticipation of the things ahead.
This coffee doesn't help the situation, just wastes two minutes instead.
Sixteen hours after leaving my home, three thousand miles to the west.
Feeling tired and very alone, need to take a bath and get refreshed.
Alienation is easy to feel, cut off from the situations you know.
Two people waiting for us to land just help to make these feelings go.
3744 James Road you've been like a home to me,
3744 James Road I'll come back and see you again.
3744 James Road I'll come back and see you again.
SOLO
3744 James Road you've been like a home to me,
3744 James Road I'll come back and see you again.
3744 James Road you've been like a home to me,
3744 James Road I'll come back and see you again.
07 Mistreated (07:48)
I'm like a ship on the ocean that's rolling from side to side,
But I'm not drunk I'm just dissatisfied,
It's not my body but my mind I can't control,
I have everything I need but still.....I want more.
I've done everything that I've ever set out to do,
I become so well known that they've put me in who's who,
But I've reached the limit and I don't know what to do,
If I can't go no further I'll have to go back.....to being poor.
SOLO
10 Groundhog Blues (04:49)
It's a low-down dog, 'n' dirty Groundhog been rootin' round my back door, (2)
Yes if I catch him there rootin' well he won't root there no more.
Yes he leave in the morning and he hang around all day long,
I leave home in the morning and he hangs around all day long,
Yes when I leave in the morning yes he hang around all day long.
Give me some toads 'n' frogs hips, I'm gonna mix 'em up together,
Mix 'em up good, mix 'em up together, kill that dirty Groundhog,
Then when I leave home in the mornin', yes he won't be there all day long.
SOLO
I said goodbye baby, baby got to leave you now,
I said goodbye baby, baby got to leave you now,
Yes I did what I wanted, yes I killed that dirty Groundhog.
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