RIP Tony McPhee

This is my fave Groundhogs tune - when I first heard it, something about its wiry angularity reminded me of, well, Wire. Then years later I read somewhere that the Groundhogs was one of the only bands all the members of Wire liked.

Now this one is the Stone Classic - simply one of the greatest hard rock songs of the '70s. Fantastic production. 

Tony McPhee #3 also did this potty solo album with berserk synth.  Love the record cover. 

Hogsadelic!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Remissly missed recent RIPs:

Tina 

Andy 

Astrud

Cynthia 

Francis 

Bobby

Martin

Outside music: 

Martin 

Kenneth 

Further to Flo Rida as space-filler, I think this is probably the first rap song I heard purely as a sample-delivery machine, the MC as padding...

For the longest time that sublime Bobby Caldwell hook was what I waited for, the only reason I stuck around....


And yet without Common, it doesn't quite work.

Judge for yourself --  the instrumental version of "The Light" (almost Common-free - the love-poesy is stripped right out but there's a few scraps of MC-ish blather left in) 

Here's the original Caldwell song "Open Your Eyes', from the album Cat in the Hat - lovely if a little goo-ey.  That is one wide tie he's wearing  on the cover.

Love those guitar fills in the outro - played by Caldwell himself?