Hard Meat

Taking its cue from Traffic, this trio were among many outfits who, in the late 60s, ‘got it together in the country’ - in their case, the wilds of Cornwall. To make ends meet, guitarist Michael Dolan, his bass-plucking brother Steve - with whom he shared both vocals and a Birmingham upbringing - and drummer Mick Carless took on a summer residency as the Ebony Combo at Bude’s Headland Pavilion before assuming their genital moniker in 1969. By then, they had cultivated a faintly sinister ‘stoned hippie’ image, and their repertoire hinged on originals of ‘progressive’ rock plus reinventions of works by Bob Dylan (‘Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)’) and Richie Havens. After amassing an extensive work schedule they were signed to Warner Brothers Records for whom they recorded two unremarkable albums and a single - an arrangement of the Beatles’ ‘Rain’ - before disbanding in 1971. Two years later, Steve Dolan was among the cast on Pete Sinfield’s Under The Sky.