It's All Meat - 1970 - It's All Meat

It's All Meat

1970 

It's All Meat

01. You Don't Notice The Time You Waste

02. Make Some Use Of Your Friends

03. Crying Into The Deep Lake

04. Roll My Own

05. Self-Confessed Lover

06. If Only

07. You Brought Me Back To My Senses

08. Sunday Love

Bass – Rick Aston

Drums – Rick McKim

Guitar – Norm White, Wayne Roworth

Keyboards – Jed MacKay

I have no idea if they spent countless hours spinning the Velvet Underground’s self-titled third LP, but along with say, “Beggar’s Banquet” and “Morrison Hotel,” it provides a fairly accurate point of reference for their proto-punk sound. Consisting of Jed MacKay (keys and lead vocals), Rick Aston (bass and vocals), Rick McKim (drums) & guitarists Wayne Roworth and Norm White, they chose their name not in homage to the Animals song (as I’ve read elsewhere) but from a a dog food commercial that boasted “100% meat – no filler.” Their ultra-sneerin’ first single, “Feel It” (which you may know from Pebbles #9, included as a bonus here) and this lone LP were released by Columbia in Canada only.

So many highlights! This band exuded such an effortless cocky swagger, it’s mind-boggling that they didn’t at least merit wider distribution– they definitely sounded like they were ready to grab the planet by its short ‘n’ curlies… “Listen to THIS, Fuckers!” The anthemic “You Don’t Notice the Time You Waste” could pass for a New York Dolls outtake, if it wasn’t recorded three years earlier. The snotty vocal spitting out streetwise words of warning is there, so’s the slap-happy drums and so-sloppy-they’re-perfect bastardized Chuck Berry licks. The nine-minute epic, “Crying Into the Deep Lake” invokes the Lizard King & Co. if you stripped away the pretentious, pseudo-poetic nonsense Jim dabbled in far too often– pure psychedelic bliss, I tell ya! Atmospheric ballad “Sunday Love” is the kinda track Doug Yule woulda been grateful to wrap his tonsils around if Lou’d handed it to him… bah, what’s the use? There’s so much to obsess over when it comes to this platter. All I can do is suggest you subsist on bologna for week-- if necessary-- to obtain a copy.

Originally came out in 1969, but first press is terribly rare and expensive. This review is for the Void reissue, and what a lavish reissue it is: full color 'psych' dayglo gatefold cover, groovy thick vinyl, bonus 7" single, insert, and band photograph(!). Yeah, it'll set you back 25 bucks or so, but it's probably the best psych reissue I have ever seen, aside from the Yo Ha Wha box set. Musically, we are all over the map, many different styles of psych, often almost veering into a garage territory, and sounding quite a bit similar to other low key 1969 Canadian psych bands, like Bent Wind. But the crucial track here is the long, doped out "Crying Into The Deep Lake", which is pure, cosmic psych of the "highest" order. Like a combination of "The End" and "In A Gadda Da Vida", this one spirals off into the ether filled cosmos, just pure, shimmering, mind expanding beauty. Snaky guitar lines, somber vocals, pulsating drums, the whole nine fucking yards, champion. While the rest of the album is decent enough Canadian 'period' psych, this is the cut that will push the whole thing over the top and make you happy you spent the 25 clams. Oh yeah, Hallucinations just released this on cd for cheaper, and you get the bonus tracks from the single, _and_ you get a few more cuts, but in my book the vinyl edition still wins out due to it's truly stunning packaging.