Junk Box Jury

Taken from the LP ‘Hard Rock’ | (Boulevard 4118) 1973

The Equinox | “Black Mike” | (Boulevard) | The Equinox were a short lived British quartet from Chesterfield who came together in 1972. The band spent most of their first year on the club circuit before a chance encounter with the folks at Boulevard Records, a well-known budget label with a nasty reputation for fleecing their artists and releasing substandard product.

The band agreed to record their album (in the engineers basement) for a mere £25 per member. “Hard Rock” hit store shelves in early 1973. The band were quite surprised to find that the individuals depicted on the cover were not even in the band.

Boulevard explained that they were suffering from a cardboard shortage and had decided to recycle some old rejected covers for the “Hard Rock” release. Though the band tolerated this kind of shady treatment, they would eventually cease to exist by January of 1974.

Vocalist Mike Shedd continued performing locally and now performs with classic rock cover band, Hellhound. Keyboardist John Stoppard has moved into performing Celtic music and has released a solo album, “Secret Gardens”.

The remaining members whereabouts are unknown.

Recorded at Saga Studios, London, 1973. Like the inimitable group Stray this band recorded at an incredibly young age and was their only record released.

The Equinox | “Black Mike” | (Boulevard)

The LP had no promotion from the label and it didn’t sell well. Today from a later perspective I think it’s well worth some love, not least from die-hard hard rock collectors or fans of odd garage.

If you look behind the mostly mixing and the sound it’s not bad at all. Ten self-penned songs as ballads, pure rock, hard rock and psych, all with a true garage atmosphere. Some reminding of more renowned stuff.

Vocalist/guitarist Mick Shedd has an appealing voice, the guitars are fine and backing right on spot. I’m sure if managed by another label, recorded in real studio with an experienced crew, and with larger promotion this would have done a lot better.

Saga/Boulevard, always on a tight budget, didn’t have the means to provide that, but at least they gave them the opportunity to record an album and that’s got to be worth something.

Sounding much like many of their peers from the British music scene in the early ’70s. The musicianship is decent enough and the writing is fully formed.

The Equinox | “Black Mike” | (Boulevard)

“Secrets Of The Mass” and “Black Mike” get the honours here as the stand outs.

Thought from the beginning as a cash-in operation when hard rock began to spread throughout the UK, this LP features a very young band (keyboardist Jon Stoppard was 16 when this LP was released in 1973) performing the sounds of the day Equinox consisted of Mick Shedd on vocals and guitar, Sid Oldfield on bass, Jon Stoppard playing organ and Terry Waldon as the drummer.

Incidentally they are not the ones who appear on the sleeve, where they were replaced by some unknown hipsters, and knowing Boulevard and its mother label Saga it was probably a stock photo rather than a proper session paid for the occasion.

The album sounds move through the early UK Hard Rock paths opened by bands such as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin, and although it must be said that our youngsters can’t match the playing skills of the bands they mirrored in, its justice to state ‘Hard Rock’ as a more than decent effort, and a true rarity even for the connoisseurs of the genre.

line-up:
Mike Shedd (vocals, guitar)
Sid Oldfield (bass)
John Stoppard (organ, piano, synthesizer)
Terry Waldon (drums)

Tracks on this LP are as follows: Rats Trap, Black Mike, Jenny’s Dream, Secrets Of The Mass, Jack And Jill Song, Beelzebub Makes The Goat, Supernova, Land Of Blue Fire, Patterned Skag, Dilemma.

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cost of record: £3.50
from: RSPCA