Tony McPhee & Friends - Me And The Devil/I Asked For Water, She Gave Me Gasoline (2in1)

Album: Me And The Devil/I Asked For Water
Size: 120,3 + 133,0 MB
Time: 51:52 + 57:22
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1968/1969/1998
Styles: Blues
Art: Front, sleeve, tray

CD 1 - Me And The Devil:
1. Tony McPhee & Jo Ann Kelly - Rollin' And Tumblin' (2:33)
2. Andy Fernbach & Nick Whiffen - Duckin' And Dodgin' (3:12)
3. Tony McPhee - Death Letter (4:16)
4. Steve Rye - Elevator Woman (2:52)
5. Jo Ann Kelly & Bob Hall - Make Me A Pallat (3:25)
6. Simon & Steve - Heartstruck Sorrow (4:08)
7. Dave Kelly - When You Got A Good Friend (3:19)
8. Tony McPhee - Me And The Devil (3:54)
9. Simon & Steve - You Better Mind (2:31)
10. Andy Fernbach - Hard Time Killing Floor (5:57)
11. Jo Ann Kelly - Same Thing On My Mind (1:51)
12. Andy Fernbach - Broke Down Engine (4:08)
13. Dave Kelly - Arkansas Woman (3:35)
14. Tony McPhee - No More Doggin' (3:53)
15. Jo Ann & Dave Kelly - Buy You A Diamond Ring (2:13)

CD 2 - I Asked For Water, She Gave Me Gasoline:
1. Tony McPhee & Jo Ann Kelly - Oh Death (3:16)
2. Andy Fernbach - She's Gone (3:49)
3. Graham Hines - Factory Blues (3:58)
4. John Lewis - Boogie Woman (3:10)
5. Jim Pitts & John Lewis - Nervous (2:50)
6. Brett Marvin & The Thunderbolts - Crazy With The Blues (2:59)
7. Jim James & Raphael Callaghan - Lord I Feel Tired (4:07)
8. Tony McPhee - Gasoline (4:50)
9. Jo Ann Kelly - Rock Me (2:48)
10. John Lewis - London's Got The Blues (3:28)
11. Graham Hines - Love's In Vain (3:02)
12. Jo Ann Kelly w. Brett Marvin & The Tunderbolts - Dust My Blues (2:33)
13. Andy Fernbach - Built My Hopes Too High (4:47)
14. Tony McPhee - Don't Pass The Hat Around (3:46)
15. Jim James & Raphael Callaghan - When My Woman Is With Me (3:31)
16. Brett Marvin & The Thunderbolts - I'm So Tired (4:23)

Me And The Devil (1968): You had to hand it to Liberty Records - when it came to blues, they owned more treasures than they ever realized. While Canned Heat were busy burning up the charts in the United States, over in England Tony McPhee and some talented friends - including Jo Ann Kelly, Steve Rye, Andy Fernbach, and Dave Kelly - were generating this exceptional (mostly) acoustic blues record, which sounds live in the studio and is about as fine a blues revival record as ever came out of the Sceptered Isle. The slide guitar and acoustic guitar stylings alone are worth the price of admission, and the vocals are mighty strong, too. And Steve Rye's harmonica work and Bob Hall's piano blues are worth more than one listen as well - indeed, this record deserves to be at least as well known among blues fans as any of Eric Clapton's much-vaunted output from the same era. /Bruce Eder, AllMusic

I Asked For Water, She Gave Me Gasoline (1969): I Asked for Water features more acoustic blues stylings from Tony McPhee and some equally talented friends, but is not quite a repeat of the prior album - the playing is more incisive and the boldness is ratcheted up at least half a notch, vocally as well as instrumentally. The overall effect, at times, is one of the "blackest"-sounding blues albums ever generated by white Englishmen (and Englishwomen), even if the presence of drums does present a slightly modernistic intrusion. This is distinctly a more late-'60s record at times, in sound and intent, than its predecessor, but that's not a problem when you're dealing with talent this prodigious, because it's all honest and unaffected. /Bruce Eder, AllMusic

R.I.P. Tony McPhee (March 23, 1944 - June 6, 2023)

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Tony McPhee - The Two Sides Of Tony (T.S.) McPhee

Album: The Two Sides Of Tony (T.S.) McPhee
Size: 88,6 MB
Time: 38:23
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1973/2004
Styles: Blues/Rock mix
Art: Full

1. Three Times Seven (3:13)
2. All My Money, Alimony (3:00)
3. Morning's Eye (4:48)
4. Dog Me, Bitch (2:48)
5. Take It Out (5:23)
6. The Hunt (19:08)

Aptly titled, Two Sides of Tony McPhee not only explores McPhee's conceptions about love, relationships, religion, and aging, but the album is divided up musically, showcasing his talent as both a guitarist and a keyboard player. After displaying his keenness for composing a concept album with Split, a piece that he recorded with his band the Groundhogs based on the complexities of schizophrenia, McPhee decided to record an album that was more exclusive and personal.

The result was Two Sides of Tony McPhee, with McPhee playing an acoustic and electric guitar for the first four tracks, then switching to three different synthesizers and an electric piano for side two, a lengthy spoken poem entitled "The Hunt." What results is an extremely entertaining and engrossing conceptual production that is equal to anything he's done with the Groundhogs. McPhee's writing is penetrating and resonant, unleashing his thoughts on the transcendence of life ("Three Times Seven"), the bitterness of failing relationships ("All My Money Alimony"), the pain of loss ("Morning Eyes"), and pure anger ("Don't Dog Me Bitch"), with each song accompanied by the guitar and nothing else.

The second half of the album is comprised of "The Hunt," which is just as esoteric and sagacious as it is long and opens up with the ARP 2600 synthesizer mimicking an eerie, echoed howl of a dog in the distance. McPhee bellows and rants in a penetrating manner about the unethical nature of war and humankind's inhumanity throughout the ages, switching ever so smoothly to his abstract philosophies about the corruption of power and the mystery of fate, life, and death. Not only is his poetry forceful, but the overlapping of the electric piano and drum synthesizer shroud the piece with an ornate progressive ambience, adding a deeper sense of intrigue to his words and creating a rather bizarre electronic climate.

The entire album is riveting, and Two Sides of Tony McPhee hinted at McPhee's fondness for progressive rock, an area in which he eventually led the Groundhogs into with their next few albums. Although this album has been eclipsed by what McPhee has accomplished with his band, its revelations about McPhee as a musician and a philosopher are quite gripping, and this is a must-hear for all Groundhog fans. /Mike DeGagne, AllMusic

R.I.P. Tony McPhee (March 23, 1944 - June 6, 2023)

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Tony McPhee & Joanna Deacon - Blues At Ten

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Time: 51:35
Size: 119,3 MB
Released: 2004
Styles: Electric/Acoustic Blues
Art: Full

1. Blues At Ten (3:20)
2. Messin' My Mind (3:44)
3. I Won't Take Love (3:30)
4. Strange Place (3:06)
5. Young At Heart (2:57)
6. Oh Death (4:00)
7. Blues Is A Man (4:26)
8. Devilived (2:57)
9. PMT Blues (3:12)
10. Better Of Withe The Blues (2:27)
11. Lost Boys (2:47)
12. Don't You Feel My Leg (2:43)
13. Single Lives And Family Ties (3:53)
14. Graveyard Blues (5:01)
15. Christmas Tree (3:26)

After The Groundhogs, Tony is now back to his roots playing raw acoustic blues. His new album, Blues At Ten, was written with half an ear to the old traditions of Blues; he has written classic songs that marry old and modern themes, offset with arrangements of traditional songs by his heroes. The set is a mix of acoustic and electric styles; material from the new album, blues classics and solo versions of Groundhogs favourites and duets with his partner Joanna Deacon.

Blues At Ten

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Groundhogs - Scratching The Surface

Year: 1968/2006
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:04
Size: 96,7 MB
Styles: Electric blues, blues-rock
Scans: Full

1. Rocking Chair (4:13)
2. Early In The Morning (4:48)
3. Waking Blues (2:27)
4. Married Men (4:36)
5. No More Doggin' (4:53)
6. Man Trouble (6:25)
7. Come Back Baby (3:51)
8. You Don't Love Me (4:09)
9. Still A Fool (6:38)

The Groundhogs' debut album is a long way from the "classic" sound of the better-known Thank Christ for the Bomb/Split/Who Will Save the World? trilogy. Indeed, the mellow classic blues through which the band pursues its nine tracks offer the unsuspecting listener little more than a direct blast from the peak of the British blues boom past. Early Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, and Savoy Brown all haunted precisely the same corridors as Scratching the Surface, with only the occasional burst of fuzzed Tony McPhee guitar to distinguish the sonics from the rest of the pack.

That said, Scratching the Surface ranks among the finest albums to emerge out of that entire period, a moody shuffle that includes an epic recounting of the Chicago classic "Still a Fool" and which matches five solid McPhee originals with a pair of blistering contributions from outgoing harmonica whiz Steve Rye. In fact, his "Early in the Morning" and "You Don't Love Me" might well be the album's best numbers, a discrepancy that puts one in mind of another of the blues boom's hottest acts, Jethro Tull, and just how much they changed once a founding member (Mick Abrahams) departed.

Again, if you arrive at Scratching the Surface in search of a fresh "Cherry Red" or "Status People," you'll probably be disappointed. But if you want to hear the blues sluicing straight out of the Southern England Delta, there are precious few better introductions. /Dave Thompson, AllMusic

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Billy Boy Arnold, Tony McPhee & The Groundhogs - Chicago Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:08
Size: 135.4 MB
Styles: Chicago blues, Harmonica blues
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[2:44] 1. Riding The El
[4:22] 2. Mary Bernice
[3:48] 3. Just Got To Know
[3:13] 4. Just A Dream
[4:08] 5. It's Great To Be Rich
[3:08] 6. I Wish You Would
[2:03] 7. Eldorado Cadillac
[6:16] 8. Blues And Lonesome
[3:14] 9. Don't Stay Out All Night
[6:52] 10. Dirty Mother Fuyer
[4:18] 11. 1-2-99
[3:43] 12. Catfish
[4:24] 13. Sweet Miss Bea
[3:20] 14. Christmas Time
[3:28] 15. Ah'w Baby

Bass – Alan Fish; Drums – Wilgar Campbell; Guitar – Tony TS McPhee; Vocals, Harmonica – Billy Boy Arnold.

Born in Chicago rather than in Mississippi (as many of his musical forefathers were), young Arnold gravitated right to the source in 1948. He summoned up the courage to knock on the front door of his idol, harmonica great John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, who resided nearby. Sonny Boy kindly gave the lad a couple of harp lessons, but their relationship was quickly severed when Williamson was tragically murdered. Still in his teens, Arnold cut his debut 78 for the extremely obscure Cool logo in 1952. "Hello Stranger" went nowhere but gave him his nickname when its label unexpectedly read "Billy Boy Arnold."

Arnold made an auspicious connection when he joined forces with Bo Diddley and played on the shave-and-a-haircut beat specialist's two-sided 1955 debut smash "Bo Diddley"/"I'm a Man" for Checker. That led, in a roundabout way, to Billy Boy's signing with rival Vee-Jay Records (the harpist mistakenly believed Leonard Chess didn't like him). Arnold's "I Wish You Would," utilizing that familiar Bo Diddley beat, sold well and inspired a later famous cover by the Yardbirds. That renowned British blues-rock group also took a liking to another Arnold classic on Vee-Jay, "I Ain't Got You." Other Vee-Jay standouts by Arnold included "Prisoner's Plea" and "Rockinitis," but by 1958, his tenure at the label was over.

Other than an excellent Samuel Charters-produced 1963 album for Prestige, More Blues on the South Side, Arnold's profile diminished over the years in his hometown (though European audiences enjoyed him regularly) and he first ended up driving a bus in his hometown of Chicago, then working as a parole officer for the state of Illinois. Fortunately, that changed: Back Where I Belong restored this Chicago harp master to prominence, and Eldorado Cadillac drove him into the winner's circle a second time. After a six year lull between recordings, 2001's Boogie 'n' Shuffle on Stony Plain found Arnold still in fine form, backed by Duke Robillard and his band on a set of rough and ready blues.~ Bill Dahl

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Various - Blues Matters! (Blues Without The Blinkers)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:06
Size: 151.3 MB
Styles: Blues
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[5:51] 1. Roadhouse - Broken Land
[4:28] 2. King Cotton - Long Legged Woman
[3:37] 3. Dave Berry - Mercury Blues
[1:46] 4. Sean Webster - Mama
[5:50] 5. Innes Sibun - So Tired Of Living
[3:50] 6. The Mellotones - You Gotta Have A Man
[4:57] 7. The Roach Twins Band - Got A New Job
[3:41] 8. The Brew - The Prowler
[2:03] 9. Memphis In The Meantime - Perfect Day For The Blues
[2:53] 10. Roy Metté - When My Ship Comes In
[3:09] 11. The Swampnobs - Run To Me
[7:06] 12. The Mick Rutherford Band - Love In The Fast Lane
[4:46] 13. The Strats - Warriors Of The Night
[3:01] 14. Sons Of The Delta - Skinnybone
[2:56] 15. Tony McPhee - Devilled
[2:55] 16. The Mustangs - Wired
[3:11] 17. Danny Bryant - Last Man Standing

Blues Matters! (Blues Without The Blinkers)

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