The band, which had previously backed blues legends John Lee Hooker and Champion Jack Dupree, was in great demand as a live act during the British blues boom of the late 1960s. Led by guitarist and singer Tony McPhee and named after the track „Ground Hog Blues“ from a John Lee Hooker album, the Groundhogs toured the UK successfully as a blues-rock group, opening for Led Zeppelin, amongst others. After their debut album, harmonica player Steve Rye left the band in 1968, and they recorded their second album at London’s Marquee Studios in the classic three-piece line-up of Tony McPhee, Pete Cruikshank on bass and Ken Pustelnik on drums.

It was released in July 1969 on Liberty with a cover design that visualised the album title Blues Obituary and depicted the three musicians symbolically burying the blues. However, the blues was not quite dead yet, while the album presented a band in search of its own, more progressive style, traditional blues influences remained the foundation of their psychedelic guitar rock. The real departure from the blues only came in their subsequent releases, featuring imaginative, experimental tracks that marked their most progressive and arguably most successful phase. Nevertheless, this rare second LP from the power trio is highly sought after by collectors for its hard, psychedelic space rock.