A quirky detour of late-'60s British progressive/blues rock,
Blodwyn Pig was founded by former
Jethro Tull guitarist
Mick Abrahams, who left
Tull after the
This Was album.
Abrahams was joined by bassist
Andy Pyle, drummer
Ron Berg, and
Jack Lancaster, who gave the outfit their most distinctive colorings via his saxophone and flute. On their two albums, they explored a jazz/blues/progressive style somewhat in the mold of (unsurprisingly)
Jethro Tull, but with a lighter feel. They also bore some similarities to
John Mayall's jazzy late-'60s versions of
the Bluesbreakers, or perhaps
Colosseum, but with more eclectic material. Both of their LPs made the British Top Ten, though the players' instrumental skills were handicapped by thin vocals and erratic (though oft-imaginative) material. The group were effectively finished by
Abrahams' departure after 1970's Getting to This. They briefly reunited in the mid-'70s, and
Abrahams was part of a different lineup that reformed in the late '80s; they have since issued a couple of albums in the 1990s. ~ Richie Unterberger