Herbal Mixture / The Groundhogs Featuring Tony McPhee - Please Leave My Mind (Reissue) (1965-66/1996)

The Groundhogs were a British blues band founded in late 1963, which toured extensively in the 1960s and continued in existence sporadically to the present day.

A skeleton in the closet of guitarist Tony McPhee, who led this psychedelic band in 1966-67 between the first and second editions of the Groundhogs. Herbal Mixture featured McPhee, bassist Pete Cruickshank (who also played in the pre- and post-Herbal Mixture lineups of the Groundhogs), and drummer Mike Meekham. The original Groundhogs, who had recorded a few very obscure R&B singles in the mid-'60s, had disbanded in early 1966; after a stint with Truth and some session work, McPhee launched Herbal Mixture. The band was probably his least blues/R&B-oriented project, drawing more from early British mod and psychedelic influences. And their surviving recordings aren't that bad; lighter and more melodic than anything else McPhee did, they have considerable period charm. A couple of non-hit singles resulted, the best of which, the lazy anti-work ode "Machines," has been anthologized on some compilations of rare British psych. Some other unreleased material was recorded during the era (some of which surfaced on a 1996 CD reissue) before Herbal Mixture called it quits in late 1967, after which McPhee returned to his blues roots with a reformed lineup of the Groundhogs.

The band's blues credentials were recognised when they backed John Lee Hooker and Champion Jack Dupree on their 1960s tours of Britain. The line-up for their first album, Scratchin' the Surface, released in 1968, consisted of Tony McPhee as singer and guitarist, bassist Peter Cruickshank (born 2 July 1945, Calcutta, West Bengal, India), Ken Pustelnik on drums (born 13 March 1946, on a farm near Blairgowry, Angus, Scotland) and Steve Rye on harmonica.

They remain one of the lesser known yet critically regarded bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s blues rock groups. Later album releases such as Thank Christ For The Bomb (May 1970); Split (March 1971); and Who Will Save the World? The Mighty Groundhogs (March 1972) are powerful rock albums which share a common achievement of all reaching the top 10 of the British album charts. "Split" reached number 5 , spent 27 weeks in the album chart and achieved gold record status. A further pinnacle in their career was supporting the Rolling Stones on their 1971 British tour at the personal request of Mick Jagger. They released an album of their live set on the Stones tour which was recorded at Leeds University and called "Live at Leeds". All these albums and live shows were performed by the classic power trio of Cruickshank, McPhee and Pustelnik.

Originally breaking up in 1976, they came back as a largely live act less than a decade later with a different line-up. At times in the 1990s, McPhee alternated two line-ups, one with a second guitarist. After years of performing, and recording for a loyal cult audience, McPhee left the band in 2004 in order to perform acoustically leaving fellow original members Cruickshank and Pustelnik to continue as The Groundhogs Rhythm Section. This line up has recently been augmented by a new frontman, Eddie Martin, the internationally known British blues artist, who will now be playing in the psychedelic / blues / rock style Groundhogs fans are familiar with.

This CD features Sixteen Tracks from the Rich Musical Past of Both Herbal Mixture and their Illustrious Predecessor, the Groundhogs. Both Line-ups Featured the Combined Talents of Tony Mcphee and Pete Cruickshank. This CD Has Been Specially Remastered and Includes Rare Archive Photographs, Together with a Complete History of Both Bands.