... and before the skies cleared over Boomland, there briefly existed a sometimes growling sextet, Bulldog Breed. Featuring all three key members of T2 - in what I gather was a fusion of two minor league English collectives, Gun and Please - Bulldog Breed lived long enough to see the release of one long player on the fledgling Decca subsidiary, Deram Nova.
Rationing nuances of the sort which would catapult ...Boomland beyond the run of the mill, the material here is a far more derivative distillation of live circuit blues rock fare studded with an occasionally brilliant facet of pure mod pop, informed by the ever excellent Small Faces and The Who; some very Keith Moon drum patterns, especially, on the track "Reborn", with guitar from Keith Cross which wanders from classic Townshend windmilling into some - briefly - glorious Ron Asheton riffing.
Nice on uppers but largely unremarkable.
Believe it or not, too - given my previous observation on T2's "History Man" stylings - the album even features a harp laden instrumental called "Top of the Pops Cock ?!?!"; a John Mayall piece of tired effrontery which almost put me to sleep. Alas. That was my bleeding eared wish.
And suitably, given Pete Dunton's uncanny resemblance to Dougal from "The Magic Roundabout" (circa T2), there is even a throaway slice of whimsy with the same working title - complete with "Laughing Gnome" faux jollity - which would not be at all out of place on a children's tv show. Lyrically ham-fisted and all the more baffling since side 2 ends on the pseudo penny dreadful which is "Austin Osmanspare"; an overblown slab of gothic posturing which not even Syd would have been able to salvage. Saucer-eyed on Mandrax, melting centre stage.
Made in England, with everything bar the kitchen sink included at a discount.
Peter Dunton: drums, vocals;
Keith Cross: guitar, keyboards, vocals;
Bernhard Jinks: bass; vocals
Rob Hunt: flute, vocals.
Luis Farrell: bass;Rod Harrison: guitar;
3 comments:
OK, now we are truly going deep. This album was on my to-do list somewhere... thx for looking into it. Bulldog Breed is to T2 as The Action is to:
A) Mighty Baby
B) oh sod it, I've not time to do this.
THanks for the post! :)
Ha!
On reflection, it looks pretty much like I'm out to crucify BB on account of one sole listen. That's not really the case; there are some truly nice moments spread across "MIE", but the LP move simultaneously in so many directions that it smacks more of desperation than a lack of cohesion.
Interesting comparison between The Action and Mighty Baby. The retrospective "Rolled Gold" demos make for a fantastic album, beyond doubt, but I've been thoroughly negligent on looking into the psych outfit they evolved into, so thanks for the pointer... even if it essentially reads "No Parking"!
On the other hand. Could be you are recommending Mighty Baby ? An even more intriguing prospect.
Bulldog Breed is to The Action as Western Gold is to Jack Daniels.
Mind you, I have been known to quite unapologetically partake of the former.
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