Hard Meat - Hard Meat (Great Hardrock UK 1969)

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Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
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Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Hard Meat was a British progressive rock group active between 1969 and 1971. It was formed by the Birmingham-born brothers Michael Dolan (1947 - 2 August 2014) (guitar, lead vocals) and Steve Dolan (1948 - 22 May 2000) (bass, vocals), with drummer Mick (variously Mike) Carless.

The trio's debut single was a cover of the Beatles' "Rain" b/w "Burning Up Years" on the Island label in 1969. This was followed by two albums released by Warner Bros in 1970: Hard Meat and Through a Window. Their second single (culled from the latter album) was "The Ballad of Marmalade Emma and Teddy Grimes," based on the life of two well-known Colchester tramps. Despite tours of Europe and the USA neither album saw chart success, and the group disbanded shortly afterwards.

New Zealand band The Human Instinct covered "Burning Up Years" on their 1969 debut album of the same name.

The nineteen sixty nine was the year too generous on the side of rock music so many brilliant albums were unnoticed at the time and to this day they remain noticed just by the few. Hard Meat is one of those albums filled with rock songs of quality that just passed by ignored and sunk into oblivion. 

So it’s very pleasant after so many years to find something new and excellent, take it from the shelves of obscurity, blow away the dust of time and enjoy the sound. It’s like a beautiful view seen through the window of nostalgia.

Produced by Sandy Roberson, 1969's "Hard Meat" featured all original group compositions. Musically quite  varied, all seven tracks were powered by Michael's likeable voice and his surprisingly impressive lead guitar and Carless' Keith Moon -styled percussion. The album certainly wasn't the year's most original offering, bouncing around the musical spectrum including dollops of folk-rock, conventional rock, psych, and even a bit of progressive influences.  

I really liked every one of these seven tunes. The opener 'Through a Window' (which curiously became the title of their sophomore LP) offered up an enthralling mixture of all of those earlier genres which should have become and FM classic. 'Time Shows No Face' showed the band could do conventional and commercial rock. With a sunny, lysergic feel, 'Universal Joint' sounded like something recorded in the mid-'60s  - I'm a sucker for this stuff. The funny thing was that as good as the individual tunes were, sitting down and listening to the album as a full set the results were even better. Well worth tracking down.

★ Mick Dolan - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals
★ Steve Dolan - Electric Bass, String Bass, Vocals
★ Mick Carless - Drums, Congas, Percussion and Assorted Loud Noises

01. Through A Window - 3:51 
02. Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow - 5:03 
03. Space Between - 4:33 
04. Time Shows No Face - 3:56
05. Run Shaker Life - 10:16 
06. Universal Joint - 3:39 
07. Most Likely You Go Your Way I'll Go Mine - 5:03 

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