What we have here is another 2014 Gonzo reissue, this time of Mick’s 2000 instrumental blues album ‘Novox’, where he is sometimes accompanied by Andy Pyle (who of course played with Mick in Blodwyn Pig back in the Seventies) and Paul Burgess (probably best known for his stints with 10CC and Camel), but at others there is only room for himself. Now, I have been a fan Mick’s work since I decided some thirty years ago that I really ought to seek out what had happened to the musicians who had played in Jethro Tull. This led me to discover some amazing under-rated bands such as Carmen, Paris, Wild Turkey and of course, Blodwyn Pig. There was something about Mick’s guitar playing combined with Jack Lancaster’s sax that sent shivers down my spine, and I soon bought not only their albums but sheet music books and even Mick’s guitar tutor album!
Of course, Mick left the music business for many years, only really returning in the Nineties, since when he has released albums both solo and with Pig, and has been delighting a whole new set of fans. But, as much as I love Mick’s canon of work, and although I appreciate his place in the Blues pantheon of English music, this album really doesn’t work. This doesn’t feel like an album of songs, but much more of a collection of workouts, with little to keep the attention. The acoustic numbers generally fair better than the others, but the one that did catch my attention (“Larrytino”) which has a Santana feel, is only just over two minutes long. Six of the fourteen songs on offer are less than two minutes in length, and the whole album is just thirty-two minutes long, so at least it’s over quickly. This really is an album just for Tull or Abrahams completists, and even though I certainly used to consider myself one of the former, spending way too much money on obscure vinyl, I can’t see myself returning to this one very often.
