Bolex Dementia

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; shortly before the album's completion (and certainly playing a part in its overall weakness), Paul Hammond and Du Cann were involved in a nearly fatal car accident that kept the band off the road for six months while they recovered. The album was released with the ad campaign "not for use whilst car is in motion," and would-be purchasers maybe took that warning seriously. They didn't use it at all. Dead in the water in 1973, Bolex Dementia was reissued in 2011 by Angel Air, the original ten-track LP bolstered by two bonus tracks and excellent liner notes. ~ Dave Thompson