HILLOW HAMMET Hammer ORIGINAL '69 heavy psych rock LP
$
130
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Description
ORIGINAL 1969 LP by Hillow Hammet, “Hammer”, on the House of Fox label, and produced by 13th Floor Elevators producer LeLan Rogers. Rock and roll may mean different things to different people, but make no mistake – there will ALWAYS be certain things that are simply more rock and roll than others. The devil horn sign – the one you made while Slash was in the middle of that kick-azz solo – THAT’S rock and roll. The Flying V guitar – do you see folk music or bluegrass bands using it? Of course not, but they know the Flying V is solely and completely rock and roll. And sand sharks, when used with alcohol and groupies, well, that’s the stuff of rock and roll LEGEND. HIllow Hammet is rock and roll, through and through, and if the giant skullcrushing mallet on the front cover doesn’t convince you, then take my word for it – this album is NOT for anyone in the Little River Band fan club. First of all, and this is yet another sign of TRUE rock and roll, the lead vocalist sounds like he gargles with a mix of strychnine and battery acid – I mean, he makes the lead singer of Nazareth sound like Mel Torme. And second of all, and this is also rock and roll, these guys start with the blues. Some of the heaviest behemoths of rock legend used the blues as their point of reference – Cream, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, England Dan and John Ford Coley – they just amped it up and piled on the electricity. As Hillow Hammet does on “Trouble”, a vintage heavy slow blues crawl like ’69 Cream or ’70 Led Zep – exciting because the band sounds so TIGHT, almost live in the studio. And turns the sound of the blues into a funereal death march for a hundred brontosauri facing the onslaught of the ice age. Or something like that. The bassline behind “Nobody But You” sounds like the Peter Gunn theme on meth, so heavy and thunderous that when it drops out mid-song to make way for a dual guitar battle, it feels like the floor beneath you has just dropped out and left you hanging mid-air for a couple seconds, like Wile E. Coyote right before he plummets off a mesa top. And thirdly, and this, without a doubt, is concrete proof and the ultimate calling card for induction into all that IS rock and roll, THIS ALBUM FEATURES COWBELL! And, as any long-haired 40-something local metal band drummer who still wears a Blue Oyster Cult belt buckle (and does so proudly) can tell you, THAT’S rock and roll. “We Want to Be Free” rides a cowbell like Jamie Pressley rides Joy’s father in “Poison Ivy: The New Seduction” (well worth a rental, by the way), while the vocalist spits and screams out his raspy, Night Train-ravaged vocals like a Tasmanian devil choking on sandpaper. You’d swear this was the template for Nazareth’s “Hair of the Dog”. No, HIllow Hammet is not a mind-altering psychedelic trip, even though it shares the same producer as the mind-altering 13th Floor Elevators. Nor is it some namby pamby melodic harmony pop. It’s booze, and sweat, and Flying V guitars, and cowbells, and Christopher Walken, and foul-smelling but eager groupies with sand sharks. You don’t so much LISTEN to this record as it smacks you around the head and neck for 40 minutes until you either pass out or go let off some steam in your re-tooled Chevy Nova. And THAT, my friends, is the essence of rock and roll. Original 1969 pressing (NOT A REISSUE!) on the House of Fox label. Cover's in VG+ shape with some ringwear, all seams intact with no splits. Vinyl plays VG++ with light crackle, mostly at the start of each side and pummeled into the background once the music starts.
Winning bidder pays $4.50 for media mail shipping plus tracking in the US, $8 air mail to Canada, $14 everywhere else. Paypal, Bidpay, cash, checks and money orders accepted. And please be sure to check out my other auctions for more vinyl obscurities, and I will combine shipping costs on multiple wins.
