Monday, April 29, 2024

Bulldog Breed: Made In England 1969

 
Bulldog Breed were an obscure late-'60s British psychedelic band who put out one album of typical but unremarkable music in the style,
though it was versatile in its approach, spreading across pop-psychedelia, more mod-ish, guitar-driven tracks, a bit of blues-rock, story-songs, and a jazzy piece. Prior to being in Bulldog Breed, drummer Louis Farrell had been in Gun, and some members had played with another obscure British '60s group, Please. After Bulldog Breed, some of them ended up in the similarly little-known outfits T2 and Asgard.
                  

Their album, Made In England, has become somewhat of a collectable. Band members included Rob Hunt (flute, vocals), Rod Harrison (guitar), Nick Spencer (guitar), Bernie Jinks (bass), and Louis Farrell (drums). Keith Cross (guitar) also played with the band. The band also released one single in 1969, the

excellent ‘Portcullis Gate’/’Halo In My Hair’. ‘Portcullis Gate’ leaned more towards progressive rock, while ‘Halo In My Hair’ sounded more like early Pink Floyd. Farrell, who had previously been a member of the band Gun, played with the band Please, along with many other members of Bulldog Breed. Cross and Jinks formed T2, and Harrison played with Asgard. Members of the band ended up working for Cross ‘n’ Ross, The Moody Blues, Robert Plant, and Tony Hatch. Hunt passed away around 1998.
                

Bulldog Breed's mighty obscure album -- the only one they put out -- is face-in-the-crowd late-'60s British psychedelia, neither memorable nor annoying. It's a bit of a club sandwich of period U.K. psych approaches, from the assertive mod guitar chording of "Paper Man" and testosterone-driven bluesy rock to clomp-a-clomp singsong vignettes of everyday English life ("Eileen's Haberdashery

Store") and bittersweet harpsichord balladry ("Dougal"). Several cuts have an almost definitively clichéd late-'60s British wah-wah psych pop guitar, and the filtered-fishbowled texture of the vocal on "Austin Osmanspare" is likewise the kind of sound you rarely heard on record in any other years. "Friday Hill," the best song, is fairly nice sad meditative U.K. pop-psych, and "You" is an unexpected shift into an almost cocktail-jazzy breeze. An amazing mod/psych/freakbeat rarity from 1969, featuring members of T2 and The FLIES.
               

Bulldog Breed – Made In England
Label: Grapefruit Records – CRSEG003
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Stereo 2009
Country: UK
Released: 1969    
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

    


01. Paper Man
02. Sheba's Broomstick Ride
03. I Flew
04. Eileen's Haberdashery Store
05. Folder Men
06. Dougal
07. When The Sun Stands Still
08. Reborn
09. Friday Hill
10. Silver
11. You
12. Top O' The Pops Cock?!?!
13. Revenge
14. Austin Osmanspare

BONUS TRACKS        

    
15. Porticullis Gate
16. Halo In My Hair

LINE - UP

Rob Hunt (flute, vocals),
Rod Harrison (guitar)
Nick Spencer (guitar)
Bernie Jinks (bass)
Louis Farrell (drums)

NOTES


Originally released in 1969 on Deram.


Flac Size: 254 MB

2 comments:

  1. Of course i have.
    Immediately you are extremely active.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I took the opportunity to hear the band again after an eternity. Strong typicial uk psych, especially the voc.

    ReplyDelete