Album: Grinilla (1973)
(Remaster 2001 + 1 Bonus)Genre: Prog Rock (Folk/Hard Rock) /
Ireland
Peggy's Leg had always appeared to me as something of a mystery. A musical myth of legend and folklore. I had never seen a picture of any band member let alone the album, an album which to Irish collectors was something of a holy grail regardless of music genre. Those who claimed to actually have a copy of the only album that Peggy's Leg released, Grinilla, were quite impressed with themselves as being part of an exclusive club. Only 500 were pressed and no one knows how many of these actually exist. But a few years back an Italian private pressing emerged, though still limited to 200, which dispersed as soon as they were pressed. And finally getting my hands on a copy was quite bizarre and unexpected, yet very exciting. Even the album artwork is bizarre. It's a black and white drawing of a gorilla dressed in a space suit, he has a huge banana on his back thats fed to him via a tube and the gorilla has this huge evil grin on his face! Cool. A mixture of classical, jazz, rock, light jazz-rock, prog wrapped up in a psychedelic sensibility this album is indeed a very strange and unique experience, and rather than being pompous or bordering on pretension like perhaps the Nice or ELP, Peggy's Leg have this innocent naiveness about their music, though full of passion as "Think For Yourself" testifies, and the musicianship throughout is very tight, Peggy's Leg are always very competent juxtaposing hard and fast distorted riffing with smooth and delicate acoustic passages and intricate time signatures, and it can take a few turns to get to grips with the six selections on offer. How Irish audiences, who were rather conservative at best in the early 70's, took to Peggy's Leg is a mystery, and it took many acts to find success away from home before being accepted at home. For example, Thin Lizzy were nothing in Ireland until they went to London and built their reputation up there, and when they came back home they were treated like superstars, typical Irish trait unfortunately. But it would seem that Peggy's Leg were never given that opportunity and for 1973 were maybe too eclectic or "weird" to be accepted but they were truly ahead of their time and peerless, at least on the Irish scene, which is perhaps one of the reasons they disappeared without trace, but fortunately enough they recorded this stunning piece of work that is hard to find but discovery will be very rewarding. To hear the subtle change from one style to the next, as on "Into The Nightmare", is a worthwhile experience. And just as you settle into that mood a flurry of electric harmony guitar riffing from Jimmy Gibson and Jimmy Slevin kicks in accompanied by some machine gun drumming from Don Harris before gently easing in to where we started with a smooth lyric that's pure psychedelia. This is par for the course here, and every tune is wonderfully constructed and thoughtout. The lyric content is very dreamlike with allusions of mythical places and stoned out visions, references to Hitler, plagues and disease. Obviously they had a short time to record this album, the vocals certainly do show limitations, and though it is excellently frenetic in places musically, it would definitely have benefited from a more forgiving mix, and the vocals with some extra manipulation could have been more that edge it lacks if the drama the lyrics demand and in turn they do sound rather slight and even unfinished. And if anyone is familiar with the classical piece "Sabre Dance" written by Khatschaturian, there is a version here that is mind-blowing fast with a heavy chocked riff doubled with the bass of Vincent Duffy and ends the album on a high. Rumour is that this may have been released recently on CD though only available over the internet from Jimmy Slevin's own website and if available I recommend prog rock fans to get their hands on a copy. Grinilla is an extremely rare Irish prog album that could be the soundtrack to many an Irish myth or legend with a timeless quality and a very enjoyable collection of songs and stories from a forgotten era of Irish progressive music, as rare as it already is . Review by "jonnydeluxe" (Rate Your Music).
RATING: 7.75 / 10
