A Google search turned up the snazzy website of founding member Mick Abrahams and, much further down the page, their mySpace. Abrahams, a former member of Jethro Tull, had left Tull in 1968 over creative differences and founded the Pig. At the time, Tull was headed into flute-loving folk-rock and Abrahams just wasn’t interested. Blodwyn Pig’s modern blues/jazz sound was fresh and exciting, compared frequently to such better-known musical pioneers as Frank Zappa, and was part of the 70s edge into Prog and Art Rock. Yet, in Europe at least, they managed to grow a mainstream audience as well, appearing on popular UK programs like Top of the Pops.

On their myspace and elsewhere, Abrahams tells some awesome stories of hilarity, madness and debauchery while on tour and in the studio. They released two albums, toured the U.S. twice, and were poised for big, big things. Unfortunately, the good times came to an end because of his crippling fear of flying (or rather, as he says, of crashing) and the other members unceremoniously booted him in 1970. Karma turned around and kicked them in the ass, and within seven weeks the Pig was no more. There was a brief, not-that-successful reunion in 1974, and since 1988 Abrahams has occasionally reconvened the Pig with various former members. He also plays with rotating band members as the Mick Abrahams Band.

Listening to Abrahams’ solo stuff on squirrelmusic.com, his guitar playing reminds me quite a bit of his contemporaries Eric Clapton and B.B. King. However, with Blodwyn Pig, the sounds and influences are varied and sometimes subtle. On 1969’s Ahead Rings Out the jazz groove of Jack Lancaster’s dual saxophones (seriously, you have to watch this to believe it) melds with Ron Berg’s crashing rock drums to create something that I’m pretty sure was out of the norm for that year: “The Modern Alchemist”.

“It’s Only Love”, from the same album, is very much a blues song but also has a strong Big Band influence, with an emphasis on the high-hat in the drums, and a prominent horn section, in addition to Abrahams’ excellent blues guitar. My grandparents would have no problem at all dancing to this song.

Blodwyn Pig took advantage of each technological advancement they could afford, recording Ahead Rings Out on 8-track and 1970’s Getting To This on 16-track. They were also creative in getting just the right sound, even when the recording and filtering equipment was not yet dreamed of. On “Dear Jill”, a song featured in the movie Almost Famous, Abrahams explained, “by double-tracking the guitar, which was an Ecko 12-string with only 9-10 strings on it (depending on my mood or how many strings I could afford on the day) it sounded akin to a modern chorus effect pedal.” (Liner notes to 2001 re-issue of Ahead Rings Out, via Wikipedia.)

Additionally, on Getting To This, Abrahams says, “I did sing a verse of “Variations on Nainos” with my head in a bucket of water with a mike positioned over it!” (From Blodwyn Pig’s mySpace.) “Variations on Nainos” is an experimental jazz type song with a Swingin’ 60’s vibe (it could be in the background of an Austin Powers scene with no dissonance). The bucket verse — double-tracked “with the same bucket,” by the way — appears around the 3:10 mark below.

Again reinforcing the idea that Blodwyn Pig could not be pigeonholed, “Same Old Story” touches into psychedelia and the Indian rhythmic and melodic influences of the time, but in areas with a harder edge than taken by other bands.

If you’re interested in further listening, the mySpace page jukebox features four songs, and there is quite a bit more, I believe, on Abrahams’ own site, including his solo work. But between YouTube and imeem.com, it is possible to hear just about everything for free. There’s also quite a bit available on iTunes, should you be so inclined, although not the first two records–live albums and an anthology.

I think that, should Taylor Hicks choose to do the research and select from the more heavily blues-influenced Blodwyn Pig songs, he could indeed have a hit on his hands. What might be more useful to him is a songwriting collaboration with Abrahams, who is still active and whose current music I find more compatible with Hicks’ style.

So what is a Blodwyn Pig? I’m not really sure. Blodwyn is a Welsh first name meaning “white flowers” or “blessed flowers”, usually female although one site lists it as male. We all know what a pig is, but I’m not able to analyze the band name beyond this point. Abrahams does not explain the origins of the name (assuming he even remembers at this point), so it may be impossible to know.

This week’s blurbs are all written by Alicia (ain127 on NESP). She’s great at finding what’s fun and current. If you want to write a CD blurb, send an email to margaux@oneforthevault.com with the Amazon link and your blurb, and I will consider it for an upcoming edition of One for the Vault.

Let us know in comments if you find something you like in our suggestions.
Margaux

My personal experience is that there are two “usual” types of hits: the uptempo dance number, and the midtempo ballad (a/k/a makeout song). In this blog, I’m going to examine uptempo songs. Later, we’ll cover ballads, and the third, rogue category, the novelty song (which can occasionally fit into one or the other of the first two categories). Now, on to the hits!

The backbone of a danceable song is the backbeat. (It even has “back” in it!) This usually consists of drums (or some kind of percussion, drum machine, etc.) and some kind of bass line, either from bass guitar, “stand up” double bass, or maybe the left hand of the piano or organ player. This is what you tap your feet or fingers to, it’s what you move and groove and shake your booty to. It’s what made people on American Bandstand say, “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it, I give it an 8.5″ for many, many years. If you haven’t got a beat, you haven’t got a hit dance song.

If you’re reading a score, the backbeat is on the bottom. Building upward, you find the instruments that play (or create) chords: keyboards, guitars, and string and horn sections. Chords are nice; they move around and create a mood, and then they resolve and finish the song (or section). Without getting into the technical details, I’ll just say that there are ways of doing this that are “usual” and ways that are “unusual”. The usual suspects are simple triads (made of 3 notes) and that’s your basic rock ‘n roll or punk song. When you get a songwriter who really knows what s/he’s doing, and s/he does something unusual, then you get a song that’s not only mass-market enjoyable, but stimulating. People actually like that. However, they don’t like “weird”, so if you’re using this post as a songwriting guide (I hope not!), be careful of weirdness.

Up at the top of our hypothetical score are the lead “instruments”, which can be just about anything that plays a melody: lead guitar, vocals, piano, sax, and if you’re Jethro Tull, flute. Here’s where the “catchiness” factor of a hit song comes into play. Like Blues Traveler said, “The hook brings you back.” So what’s the hook? Hum or sing your favorite song. The part you know best and sing loudest is probably the hook! Oftentimes, the hook is the title of the song or the fun part of the chorus. It gets repeated a lot. And in a hit song, it should be easy for the majority of people to sing. Most people who listen to the radio and enjoy songs are not trained singers, and they don’t have the range of, say, Mariah Carey. (I do, but this isn’t about me.) So take pity on your shower singers and car karaoke stars, and watch the range.

Finally, and this is optional: the lyrics. I say this is optional because there are plenty of songs out there that people sing that do not have lyrics. One of my personal favorites is… um… well, I can’t remember the name of it, because it doesn’t have any words! Oh well. Maybe I’ll remember it for the next installation of this mini-series. Anyway, if I could hum it through the blog, you’d probably know it too. And I hum or la-la-la along with tons of classical music that doesn’t have words. So lyrics are optional. And if you do have lyrics, frankly, they don’t have to make sense. In fact, it probably helps if they don’t. And if, like “Louie Louie”, the words are slurred? That’s pretty much an instant hit.

I’ll be back in a week or so with Midtempo Ballads, or Seduction In 12/8 time. Your homework assignment is to listen to the popular dance music of your generation with an ear to what I’ve discussed here, and report back as to whether I’m right. Class dismissed!