Hard Meat – Freewheel 1970

Hard Meat – Smile As You Go Under 1970

Here is one of my favourite rock albums; “Through A Window” by Hard Meat.

I’m not rockist enough to have many obscure favourite rock albums. Most of my other favourites are obvious things like “Let It Bleed”, “Zeppelin II”, “Astral Weeks” and “After The Gold Rush”, so “Through A Window” is a bit of a one-off.

I bought it for the same reason I buy many late 60s/early 70s rock albums, for a drum break. “Freewheel” has appeared on a number of compilations in recent years thanks to its grooving bassline, dreamy acoustic guitar and supertight drumming (keep your ears on the snare!!!). Unlike most of the other rock albums I buy for breaks (like Elephant’s “Elephant” which I bought this week), this album is excellent from start to finish.

The rest of the album languishes in relative obscurity. It’s not so obscure as to make it a talked about rarity. You can pick the LP up for twenty quid or less if you’re lucky. It’s even been available on an Australian CD alongside the band’s self-titled debut, though I can only see it for sale on one site. No one seems to talk about it much though.

The back of the sleeve simply says:

“Many changes have developed since the first album and this, the second record, represents the middle of something that we started long ago.

Pete Westbrook and Phil Jump joined in on flute and keyboard repectively.
The band consists of Mick Dolan on six and twelve string acoustic guitars, six string electric guitar, harmonica and lead vocals; Steve Dolan on acoustic string bass, bass pedals, electric bass, acoustic guitars and vocals; Mick Carless on drums, castanets, congas and assorted loud noises.”

It’s basically two brothers and a drummer. A drummer that gets a writing credit on all their original songs no less, and it is Carless’ trapwork that makes the album cook. His drumming is more rigid than most of my favourite drummers but his touch is beautiful. Every snare hit or open hi-hat sounds detailed and deliberate. The recording is excellent in general but the drums are perfect. Loud in the mix and chrisply captured.

The album has a couple of shimmering electric guitar solos and the pleasantly naive lyrics of the Psych era. There’s also a big folk influence on the group. That said, even the folkiest songs are gatecrashed by a cascade of heavy drums. The band came from Birminghamd after all, the home of heavy. I’d like to imagine Mick Carless going on to drum for early metal bands, but it doesn’t seem to have been the case. The internet offers up nothing on him other than the two Hard Meat albums. Surely he went on to do something with all those chops?

The only person related to the record who leaves much of a trail is producer Sandy Roberton who worked with the Chocolate Watch Band and Harold McNair and is now some kind of LA music exec. Steve Dolan later worked with Pete Sinfield of King Crimson and Mick Dolan did some stuff with John Coppin and a dude out of Mott The Hoople.

The above “Freewheel” is a folky bit of break-rock that has already gained a decent audience. “Smile As You Go Under” on the other hand is the bumper-sticker anthem that never was and glorious singalong set closer if ever I heard one. It includes the shrewd tip “If that car’s hot, leave it where you found it, don’t hang around it”, a great solo and heavy heavy drum fills. It’s then followed by a section of “Freewheel” played backwards with some extra accompaniment. Yest!
These two songs are my favourites but if you lean more towards the folky guitar or the more driving rock then you might well like some of the others more. If you buy the album. Which you should.

I love it.