10. Hard Stuff Bulletproof 1972 (Purple)
Hard Rock
Somebody help me...I don't think I understand.
Overview
By 1972 bands were falling into quite a few diverse sub-categories, ranging from being either pseudo-satanic driven, melodic paced, having progressive leanings, shock-glam or just offbeat and weird. But the real heartbeat of the ‘heavy movement’ of this period, was without doubt hard rock bands that were high on heavy riffing and plenty of energy with either a heavy or an aggressive sound. Hard stuff were certainly heavy sounding and in many ways on the
Bulletproof album, they sound like an archetypal heavy band of their era and a perfect example of the above. The truth though was quite different, in that they only lasted for two albums and didn’t make any commercial impact and they are only really remembered by hard rock enthusiasts! In fact this album sounds too archetypal of the genre, as songcraft was largely given over to sheer basic aggression at times. This is surprising when you examine the actual components of the band, who had actually come from more complex proggy roots, than the more basic rocking sound being featured on the album. Two of the band members John Du Cann and Paul Hammond had recently left Atomic Rooster, due to band leader Vincent Crane’s desire to go into a more soulful direction. The other two members were much travelled John Gustafson who had previously highlighted on the heavy
Quatermass album by Quatermass (an album which I really should have featured on here due to its heavy leanings) The final component of the band was vocalist Harry Shaw ex of Curiosity Shoppe who came across as a mixture between Ian Gillan and the future Bon Scott, a singer who would never get any real recognition in his career. The band didn’t last long, partly due to poor album sales and the possible nomadic inclinations of its band members, they weren’t the type to stay in a band for any length of time. But the final straw, was the fact that Hard Stuff were dealt with a heavy blow, when both John Du Cann and Paul Hammond were involved in a traffic accident, thus prompting them to fold the band in 1973. So what does
Bulletproof sound like? Well I’ve mentioned on previous entries here, that the Deep Purple influence at the time was significant and Hard Stuff were no exception to this influence.
Harry Shaw-Vocals
John Du Cann-Guitar
John Gustafson-Bass/Keyboards
Paul Hammond-Drums
Production- John Gustafson
Album
Jay Time- The album starts off with this nifty sounding sub-3 minute opener written by John Du Cann.
Sinister Minister- The first thing that hits you is the songs heaviness, along with its pretty awesome riff that dominates throughout and at times it sounds like a Deep Purple song, it’s a great driving track and one of the best on the album.
No Witch at All- One of the more complex songs on the album, with its different tempo and tone changes and a great platform for the vocals of Harry Shaw and the instrumentation of the band, might be my favourite cut on the album.
Taken Alive- A standard rocker that is actually very representative of what was en-vogue circa 1972 in the UK.
Time Gambler- A song basically driven by a great performance by Harry Shaw and he’s superbly accompanied by the rest of the band over an impressive 6 minutes of singing and playing.
Millionaire- Another heavy monkey of a song and really highlighted by some great soloing by John Du Cann on guitar midway through the song and again Harry Shaw pummels his way through proceedings.
Monster in Paradise- A song co-written by Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan and Roger Glover and easily could’ve been on their
Fireball album.
Hobo- A steady effort and shows that some of the weaker efforts on the album are still strong tracks.
Mr. Longevity RIP- A 4 minute later album track that now comes across as a typical band effort.
The Provider Pt.1- A groovy 2 minute closing track to close the album.
Verdict
A hard hitting effort from a bunch of talented individuals, that basically pooled together to produce an album that was in essence, less complex than what they were used to doing. The album is a hard-hitter without any shadow of a doubt, but there are still enough complex sections, to prevent the album as just being described as a great but basic hard rock effort. The whole Hard Stuff project, therefore begs the question, were they actually putting out a sound that they really wanted to put out on this album, or were they actually just keeping a firm eye on the commercial aspect of things! If commercialism was their aim, they would sadly fall well short of that goal, but whatever the aim of the album, we have before us an unsung hard rock classic of the era. As for the album, there is no need to speak about the great musical displays of John Du Cann, Paul Hammond and John Gustafson on
Bulletproof because they play as expected, but I really think Harry Shaw needs to be mentioned, because he steals the show with his gruff true-rocking swagger of a voice, which at times sounds akin to Ian Gillan and at other times quite different, and in many ways he’s one of the great unsung hard rock vocalists of this period. His displays on “No Witch at All” “Time Gambler” and “Millionaire” are perfect examples of what a hard rock vocalist should be all about! After this album, things would go rapidly downhill for the band almost immediately, when Harry Shaw was ousted straight after the recording of
Bulletproof, he wasn’t even credited on the album amazingly! Looking at the album cover, just reveals three faces and not four band members, his face had been removed! After this album, they would release only one more album in the superbly named
Bolox Dementia where John Du Cann takes over vocal duties and it’s well worth checking out as well. As for
Bulletproof, it doesn't play......it swaggers.