Hard Hitter Rock Engle

Two CD collection. When Purple Records was first set up in 1971, it was by no means a mere vanity label to release Deep Purple product, from Machine Head until the end of the decade; it also set out to nurture and discover raw talent too. The label would eventually become home to debut solo releases from Jon Lord, Roger Glover, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, as well as early releases from Yvonne Elliman and Ronnie James Dio with Elf. One of their earliest signings was a hard rock band called Bullet, featuring guitarist John Du Cann and drummer Paul Hammond, both formerly of Atomic Rooster, having played on Death Walks Behind You (1970), and In The Hearing Of (1971). They were joined by Quatermass bassist John Gustafson. After only one single, they discovered a US band already called Bullet, swiftly changing their name to Hard Stuff.

A year on from one of the most satisfying hard rock debuts of the age, 1972's Bulletproof, Hard Stuff were hard-pressed to make such a brazen impression on their second LP, and that despite having spent the intervening time pushing themselves to the very brink of a breakthrough. Funkier than its predecessor, and more experimental too, the uncompromisingly named Bolex Dementia substituted much of its predecessor's raw power with proggier tones – John Du Cann himself compared the title track to Spooky Tooth's equally vague meanderings with Pierre Henry. And as if that were not difficult enough, the album was decked in what remains an astonishingly ugly cover, and promoted with a truly tasteless ad campaign.

Fated never to rise to any heights at all, Hard Stuff – formed by guitarist John Du Cann following his unceremonious firing from Atomic Rooster – had already been through two names before they were signed to Deep Purple's Purple label; Daemon lasted a few rehearsals; Bullet survived a single; they became Hard Stuff after another Bullet fired a legal complaint at them, and Bulletproof was their riposte. It is heavy and it is loud. Period reviews mused on the Purple influence and they are not far from the mark, but only if organ were excised from the mix, to be replaced by guitars, guitars, and more guitars.