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DJ Supply

Title - 'Piggy Go Getter: Remastered'
Artist - Tear Gas

For those not in the know, formed in Glasgow at the close of the 1960s, the band Tear Gas (originally known as Mustard) featured Eddie Campbell (keyboards), Zal Cleminson (guitar), Chris Glen (bass, vocals), Gilson Lavis (drums) and Andi Mulvey (vocals).

Mulvey and Lavis were soon replaced respectively by keyboard player and vocalist David Batchelor, and Richard “Wullie” Monro and it was this very same line-up that recorded Piggy Go Getter at Regent Sound studios in London in 1970.

The album was a fine progressive rock record which gained a release both in the UK and the USA (adorned in an elaborate gatefold sleeve).

Tear Gas enjoyed a fine reputation on the European live circuit and would undergo further line-up changes when some months later Hugh McKenna replaced Batchelor and his cousin Ted McKenna (ex-Dream Police) took over from Monro on drums.

In August 1972 Zal Cleminson, Ted McKenna, Hugh McKenna and Chris Glen joined forces with vocalist Alex Harvey to form The Sensational Alex Harvey Band who would meet with success and record a series of inventive albums throughout the 1970s.

Thanks to the musician’s later work with SAHB, the Tear Gas recordings are now highly sought after by collectors.

Ergo, this just released August 2nd, 2019 via Esoteric Recordings edition has been remastered from the surviving master tapes and the booklet features a new essay with exclusive interviews with Zal Cleminson and Chris Glen and restores the original album artwork.

1. 'Lost Awakening' (3:25)
2. 'Your Woman's Gone and Left You' (2:22)
3. 'Night Girl' (5:40)
4. 'Nothing Can Change Your Mind' (3:31)
6. 'Big House' (3:35)
7. 'Mirrors of Sorrow' (2:52)
8. 'Look What Else Is Happening' (5:05)
9. 'I'm Fallin' Far Behind' (2:57)
10. 'Witches Come Today' (3:16)

On an album typical of the time with it's long guitar and keyboard passages, the group never shied away from the fact that as playful as they were musically, they were, at heart, simply a really loud band!

If memory serves me correctly, they used to open their live shows with Jethro Tull's 'Love Story' which started out very softly allowing the crowd to drift towards the front. Then they would turn the volume up and blow everyone out of the hall!

'Lost Awakening,' the albums opener, is like an electric CS&N number with harmonized vocals only in the chorus. Some decently flung solos close the track. Not bad. A similar, acoustic-laden gait ambles over to 'Your Woman’s Gone and Left You', a song that really needs to be given a hotfoot or something!

In and out of melancholy is 'Night Girl,' which means it’s in and out of vigor as well for a literally down the middle track; though still isn’t saving the day. More meandering takes place in the chorus-heavy, stillborn 'Nothing in This World Can Change Your Mind', but then 'Living for Today' pretends to be the harbinger of the future, centered on a strong, intriguing riff that kind of deflates to a rather fruity chorus.

'Big House' is a piano-led foot-tapper with a somewhat insipid forefront harmony they could easily lose, but it’s worth sitting through to shift 'Mirrors of Sorrow' into audible range.

Simultaneously dirge-like and bouncy, the obscure rhythm shares momentum with full-scale backing vocals, a breaking chorus, off-the-beam drum work and some memorial driving hooks that easily propel this to the top of the totem.

While not as boisterous, 'Look What Else is Happening' is still almost as lively as the first four tracks combined! Drummer Willie Munro finally wakes up and gets his licks in, as does guitarist Zal Cleminson and keyboardist Eddie Campbell.

'I’m Fallin’ Far Behind' persists in the feverish pace with another original main riff that ducks and moves like a basketball player angling for a shot. Discordant and lethal is the riffage of 'Witches Come Today' that grudgingly steps aside for a more prescribed, softer chorus.

Official CD Purchase Link

www.cherryred.co.uk





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