Customer Reviews

Ahead Rings Out

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jethro Tull's first album "This Was" was released on the now legendary Island label in October of 1968 with MICK ABRAHAMS on lead guitar. Dissatisfied with the result, Abrahams left and was replaced by the brilliant MARTIN BARRIE. Abrahams then roped in JACK LANCASTER on Sax, Flute & Violin, ANDY PYLE on Bass and RON BERG on Drums and formed the delightfully named and much revered BLODWYN PIG (Abrahams himself handling lead guitar, vocals and all the principal song writing).

In the middle of 1969, they popped into Morden Studios in Willesden in London and with Producer Andy Johns (brother of the famous Glyn Johns) promptly produced this much-loved gem. The "Blods" or The "Pig" as they're affectionately known over here in Blighty, made only two albums before Abrahams finally went solo. This release "Ahead Rings Out" was their debut in 1969 on Island Records (ILPS 9101). It was housed in the now famous sleeve (a Gatefold who's liner notes are reproduced on this great re-issue). Initial runs were on the hugely desirable "Pink" Island Label Design - followed by a second press on the "Pink Rim" Label. Both have been difficult to find across the years. "Ahead" was followed in April 1970 by their second and last proper album, "Getting To This" on Island/Chrysalis Records ILPS 9122.

"Ahead" was pressed up on a slab of a record for the time - I'd say about 200 grams. And while that felt meaty, unfortunately, like the mottled effect label, the vinyl here in the UK reflected the same. It's an album (like Crimson, Traffic, Tull) that is notoriously difficult to find a good pressing of - pits in the surface etc... So to hear it after all these years in this stunning remastered sound quality is a genuine thrill!

If I were to categorize how they sound, it would be early Tull but with a jazzier feel provided by Lancaster's superb sax playing. As a gangly teenager in Dublin, I was suckered into buying the album by the bluesy feel of their initial single "Dear Jill", but that song doesn't actually reflect what most of the album sounds like - rocking Tull with a jazz tint. I was a bit disappointed at first, but on replays their unique sound grew on me - to a point where I wore the record out - and would replace it sporadically through the years with VG copies - just to have a copy to play!

Back to this superb EMI 2006 re-master - Tracks 1 to 9 is the original US track run of the LP with 10 to 16 being bonuses. Track 10 is "Sweet Caroline", the non-album B-side to their first 7" single on Island "Dear Jill" (WIP 6059 in May 1969). Tracks 11 and 12 are "Walk On The Water" and "Summer Day", their 2nd 7" single on Island from October 1969 (WIP 6069) and are both non-album tracks. Tracks 13 and 14 are "Same Old Story" and "Slow Down", their 3rd 7" single on Chrysalis/Island (WIP 6078) from January 1970 and again are non-album tracks. "Slow Down" is a Larry Williams cover version. Track 15 is "Meanie Mornay" from the "Getting To This" sessions and track 16 is the short "Backwash" sandwiched between "Change Song" and "Ain't Ya Comin' Home, Babe?" on Side 2 of the original UK album. I'd have to say that ALL of the bonus tracks are just that - genuine bonuses - and for collectors - a thrill to hear after all these years languishing in obscurity.

The booklet has liner notes by the now 65 year-old Mick Abrahams; they're witty, humble and very informative. The artwork of the original album is faithfully reproduced along with some tasty European picture sleeves of rare 7" singles. But the real treat is the sound - and my God does it leap out at you! It's shockingly good - and LOUD!! A fabulous job!

Abrahams made 3 solo albums immediately after Blodwyn Pig folded - first up was "A Musical Evening With Mick Abrahams" on Chrysalis Records in 1971 (ILPS 9147, often just referred to as "Mick Abrahams"), followed by "At Last" in 1972 (Chrysalis CHR 1005) and finally "Have Fun Learning Guitar With Mick Abrahams" on the privately pressed SRT Records in 1975. "Evening" and "At Last" are available on CD as are subsequent releases through the years. Of note to this re-issue is the excellent 2CD mini box set in 2004 which is called "All Said & Done" where he re-visits several tracks on "Ahead" with superb rocking results, including the great "Dear Jill".

Like Taste's "On The Boards" (1970), Free's "Fire And Water" (1970) and Fleetwood Mac's "Then Play On" (1969) - "Ahead Rings Out" is a classically great ROCK album of the period with tints of blues and jazz thrown in for good measure. I only have to see the cover and I get mushy!

Buy this superb re-issue with confidence - and a top-notch job done EMI!!!

This is the third CD copy I've bought of the Blods first album - released in 1969 shortly after Mick Abrahams left Jethro Tull after their first album "This Was". The sound on this remaster is not exactly a revelation in that it's not a vast improvement, but there are several good reasons to choose this over previous versions - or get this new version to add to your complete Blodwyn Pig collection (as you'll see later in my commentary). First of all, "See My Way" IS on this redux, contrary to the Amazon track listing - making it the complete UK & North American version.Plus, this contains the A & B sides of a few singles not previously available on LP or CD, although they are in Mono. "Walk on the Water" & "Summer Day" are included on "Getting to This" in stereo, but these mono versions are the original single mixes. "Meany Mornay" was inexplicably left off "Getting to This" but is included here - finally! Now this is interesting: The version of "Ain't You Comin Home" is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TAKE than has been previously available, and there is no note of this in the liner notes - which leads me to think it was an accident. It's a perfectly fine take with some very different sax work by Jack Lancaster & solos from Mick, but it's undoubtedly different. One puzzlement: it's weird having "Backwash" at the very end, instead of it's place as the intro to "Ain't You Comin' Home". Maybe Mick didn't really dig this one enough and left it as an afterthought... dunno. Good find & definitely worth picking up. OH yeah, the liner notes from Mick Abrahams makes it worth the price alone - he's a hoot.

When I reviewed the BGO version of Ahead Rings Out, I may have mentioned this, the new E.M.I. version. Not only is "See My Way" on this one as well as on "Getting to This", but the one here has no fade, unlike its U.K. counterpart. Also included here is the U.K. mixes of "Change Song", "Ain't Ya Comin' Home, Babe?" and "Backwash" (Although the latter is out of sequence, but that can be remedied by manual programming.) The mono single mixes of "Walk on the Water" and "Summer Day" are included, but the stereo versions can be found as bonus tracks on "Getting to This". You will want to get both these discs to have the entire Island/Chrysalis output. Now, if you're a fanatic, you will want to get both the BGO and E.M.I. versions of "Ahead Rings Out" to have the both mixes of "Ain't Ya Comin' Home, Babe?" and "Change Song". Also, the E.M.I. version contains the B-sides of the above mentioned singles and these have been released here for the first time since the vinyl days! I'm not going to go on about the music here, because the crux is that this is the one you're looking for if you want the complete Blodwyn Pig recordings on Island/Chrysalis.

Supposedly Ian Anderson and Mick Abrahams had a control fight after Jethro Tull's debut release of THIS WAS, culminating in the decision of Abrahams to leave the group and form Blodwyn Pig. The next Tull album, STAND UP, while a five star effort on its own, eschewed the blues and jazz permeations of Tull's debut release and forayed into hard rock with folk and world music influences. If Abrahams wanted a more bluesy-jazzy outing then he got what he wanted with Blodwyn Pig's initial release of AHEAD RINGS OUT, and which (in my estimation) would have been the successor release to THIS WAS had Abrahams stayed with Tull and been able to infuse it with his vision instead of what Ian Anderson wanted to do. There isn't one clunker tune on AHEAD RINGS OUT, and it is worth the price of admission for "See My Way" all by itself, not to mention "Dear Jill" and "Ain't Ya Comin' Home Babe?". Abrahams is a technically proficient guitarsmith who doesn't overdo it and plays the requisite amount of notes to accomplish the point of the tune, a somewhat lost art shared only by Carlos Santana. He has major chops but he has restraint, and Jack Lancaster's reed contributions (he also weighs in with the violin on several tracks) are just as important to the sound of group as Abraham's fretwork. While I consider THIS WAS to be a "desert island" disc, one of ten I would take to any designated venue of maroonment, BP's AHEAD RINGS OUT takes off where THIS WAS leaves off and is an unsung classic of late sixties rock/blues/jazz, and is highly recommended. The bonus tracks are truly a bonus, and don't represent bottom of the bin stuff that is sometimes used as "bonus" tracks on certain reissues.

I love the first three Jethro Tull albums for their raw yet jazzy and elegant take on the blues. Say what you want about Ian Anderson--he had amazing flute chops, and used them well on these early recordings.

Mick Abrams, Tull's secret weapon, quit after Anderson wanted to take the band in an artsier direction, and if you listen to where Tull had gone by the mid 1970s, you realize Abrams was right. All that heavy prog which made Ian preen around in his pajamas with a scarlet A on his shirt does not sound too good in 2009.

If they had stayed the blues course they may have sold fewer records, but, asthetically, would have been better for it.

That is why we have Bloodwyn Pig. This is there first album, a extremely vital British take on the blues. This music rocks with roaring boggie riffs straight from John Lee Hooker, and there is accustic blues, all kinds of takes on the genre.

But the big sax and flutes add a jazzy impulse to this music, mixing the primal with the gourgous. The guitars roar raw while the jazz floats on top, and the synergy excellnt. Savoy Brown are the only other band I can name that had this talent and mixed it with this type of energy,

This holds up extremely well and I highly reccomened Ahead Strikes Out.

If you like jazz, blues, or rock influenced by them-especially if you like early Jethro Tull as on This Was, Stand Up and Living in the Past, this will be a welcome addition to your collection. I had the British lp years ago and this is better than I remembered, with almost as many bonus tracks as originals, giving you everything in the British and US versions plus single sides only available in Britain originally, and for an excellent price, with great sound. Mick Abrams, who leads, sings, and plays lead guitar, was a heavy contributor to Tull's This Was, and he did this after leaving Tull, as they began to go in a more folk/classical-influenced direction. The only thing that could have been better is if they had put the flute interlude, Backwash, before Ain't Ya Comin' Home Babe instead of at the end of the disk. That is where it appeared on the British edition of the album.

Classic raw 60's rock.Mick Abrahams formally from Jethro Tull leads this group into a great mix of blues and and funky jazz/rock combination.

This is their best. Tull fans...get this and be sad this bluesman didn't get to stay with the band.

This album sure brought the memories back. Under-rated album that ROCKS. Love the cover art work. In permanent rotation with my newer CD's.

you either love them or hate them -if its the former and you do not have this re-issue - then buy it! now! -it is worth every cent! as said in previous reviews this is the one- genuine bonus tracks -original pig sounds that i have never heard -what more can a fan ask for?

-let me say it again - buy it now!