Thank Christ For The Bomb - GROUNDHOGS****

Strange Town/Darkness Is No Friend/Soldier/Thank Christ For The Bomb/Ship On The Ocean/Garden/ Status People/Rich Man Poor Man/Eccentric Man

With their third LP Thank Christ For The Bomb the blues rock group Groundhogs make their UK album chart breakthrough. They would maintain their popularity through the early 1970s before fading into relative obscurity. (UK:9)

"Another superb album - psychedelic, progressive and bluesy. Guitar work is the main asset on this one. Ship On The Ocean is my favourite here."

"Not as fantastic as their next but still a consistent album with lots of great moments."

"Definitely an overlooked classic band here, The Groundhogs are a gritty, gravelly, gristly psych/blues band playing an eclectic brand of terse heavy rock that were definitely heavier than most of their contemporaries. Often veering between fuzzed out cheery riffs, to Tull-style prog interludes.”

"This is all pretty standard and generic stuff. Its your basic run of the mill early 1970s blues influenced hard rock by an average band with an equally average guitar player, who is just slightly better than the rest as a musician, but sounds way better because of it. Most of this is without melody or point."

"This one is arguably their finest moment, featuring some fantastic psych hard rock. Though overall, the LP is very consistent, the content of some of the individual tracks is not. Some of the better ones are actually in two distinct parts, where one excels, and the other not so much."

"Thank Christ For The Bomb is something of a concept album which highlights the absurd situation of being grateful for the nuclear threat as a deterrent against war. They have been favourably compared to Cream - most evident on tracks like Garden - but I think that's stretching things too far. The solos ramble on too long and the playing is very basic but it still retains some power."

"They are quite heavy into the blues and their sound, while not quite proto-heavy metal, is definitely harder than the average. Tony McPhee's vocals don't quite mesh with the pounding post-psychedelic sounds behind him. But it works. While not quite an underground classic, this has appeal for fans of heavier rock that doesn't quite fit into the mainstream."