| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| lemonade kid |
Posted - 18/10/2012 : 16:26:53
MICK ABRAHAMS
Jethro Tull, Bldwyn Pig & beyond!
Greyhound Bus...live 1971..from Mick's brilliant solo album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4UgMRT1on8
Michael Timothy 'Mick' Abrahams (born 7 April 1943, Luton, Bedfordshire, England) was the original guitarist for Jethro Tull. He recorded the album This Was with the band in 1968, but conflicts between Abrahams and Ian Anderson over the musical direction of the band led Abrahams to leave once the album was finished. Abrahams wanted to pursue a more blues/rock direction, while Anderson wanted to incorporate more overt folk and jazz influences. He was replaced first by Tony Iommi who would leave Tull after only a few weeks and would later go on to form Black Sabbath, and then by Martin Barre who remains with Jethro Tull to this day.
Abrahams went on to found Blodwyn Pig and the group recorded two albums, Ahead Rings Out and Getting to This before breaking up in 1970. Abrahams soldiered on with the short-lived Wommet, then the Mick Abrahams Band and has continued to release albums by himself and with reunited versions of Blodwyn Pig. He has worked as a driver, lifeguard and financial consultant, occasionally playing gigs, especially to support causes in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.[2]
Abrahams caused some controversy in Tull fan circles for his formation of a band called This Was in the late 1990s, which reunited the members of the first incarnation of Jethro Tull (with the exception of Anderson) to perform songs from that era of Jethro Tull's music. Tull fans disapproved but Anderson apparently was not too offended, as in recent years Abrahams and Anderson have guested on each other's records. Abrahams has also participated in Jethro Tull reunions, as well as one-off projects and gigs over the years.
According to his website, Abrahams suffered a heart attack in November 2009 and would have to recuperate before resuming work. In April 2010 his website revealed that he was suffering from Ménière's disease, which would hold him back from performing at least for another year.
Solo
* 1971 #8722; Mick Abrahams
* 1972 #8722; At Last
* 1975 #8722; Learning to Play Guitar With
* 1996 #8722; One
* 1996 #8722; Mick's Back
* 1997 #8722; Live in Madrid
* 1999 #8722; This Is
* 2000 #8722; See My Way
* 2003 #8722; Live: All Tore Down
* 2005 #8722; Leaving Home Blues
* 2008 #8722; This Was
* 2008 #8722; Times Have Changed
with Jethro Tull
* 1968 #8722; This Was
with Blodwyn Pig
* 1969 #8722; Ahead Rings Out
* 1970 #8722; Getting to This
.......................
Jethro Tull were playing the Royal Albert Hall. The Liverpool Scene were one of the support bands and they performed "I've Got Those Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, Chicken Shack, John Mayall Can't Fail Blues", a parody of the late sixties British Blues Boom. Guitarist Andy Roberts had just launched into Mick Abrahams' party piece "Cat Squirrel", when Mick himself sauntered onto the stage, calmly unplugged Andy's guitar and wandered off. Huge applause to match Mick's huge grin. He had the rock world at his feet. But there were plenty of times ahead when the grin did not come so easily, when laughter gave way to despair and anger. The break-up with Ian Anderson (now mended) is well known; less documented is the rancour surrounding the demise of Blodwyn Pig, the band whose name still invokes the response, 'Pardon?'. When Pig collapsed, Mick says, "I just wanted to get another band together right away, but also to experiment a bit, go down a different line." Blodwyn Pig was Mick's band, even the name is registered to him, but he still needed to assert to the world his leadership status. And so from the ashes of Blodwyn Pig, with no more fancy names, came the Mick Abrahams Band.
"The first line-up had a classical violinist in it. One of the hardest things I ever had to do was fire him. He was a great lad, but as soon as we got out on stage he'd forget everything we did in rehearsal and just go wild. The day I fired him, he leant against the amp and cried. In fact I got a bit Mayallish about it all; having people on board for about a year tops and then we parted company."
"Live In Madrid" captures the band in 1974, experimentations over, stepping out as a stripped down trio playing the kind of greasy rock 'n' roll perennially framed within the boundaries of motorway fry-ups, broken down vans and dodgy toilets.
As it transpired, the album marked a watershed in Mick's career. Even though he was the band leader, business hassles convinced Mick that he had completely lost control of his life, "about six weeks after we got back from Madrid, I quite literally told everybody to **** off. I'd had enough of all the ****. It was over."
The guitar went in the loft, but although it didn't stay there for long, Mick turned his back on life as a professional musician and hopped from one job to the next; window cleaner, lorry driver, swimming pool manager and used car salesman. In 1980, he tried his hand at selling insurance and within five years he was the top salesman in the company. But he knew he wasn't being true to himself. He'd kept his hand in doing the occasional session and instrument demo, but it wasn't enough, "the insurance job was supposed to support me as a musician, but it took over. I realised I was missing the life and I had to get back to the true path."
The long way back began in 1988 with the reforming of Blodwyn Pig which continues today albeit with the inevitable changes of line-up.
When Mick recorded "Live In Madrid", he was a deeply unhappy man, but in performance he gave nothing less than his best. Today, he is more mellow, certainly wiser, but no less a professional, striving to play better in the company of the best musicians. In answer to the question, "What's in it for the punter at a Blodwyn Pig concert?", Mick replies, "a show that sends people home with a smile on their face". But don't take his word for it, go and see for yourself.
--Harry Shapiro
Cat's Squirrel"-Blodwyn Pig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO0iZx6r0YI
and Tull's version 1968
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcSGKCgZjsY&feature=related
________________________________________________
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ashrob |
Posted - 19/10/2012 : 19:56:26
Great live too.
Believe I saw them with Clive Bunker playing drums |
| John9 |
Posted - 18/10/2012 : 21:50:30
Yes indeed, LK. Jethro Tull were never quite the same band were they after dear old Mick left. I love that first, blues based album....but then I have a real affection for all the more melodic material that followed......including all those non album A and B sides. Remember A Christmas Song:
Hey...Santa.......pass us that bottle will yer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxO795MMZFU |
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