Solid Ground - Made In Rock (1976, Swe, heavyhardrock, RE Scam Rec. vinyl rip, single flac + cue + splitter, DR9, artwork)

 *** Reviewed by great fellow Adamus67 ***

SOLID GROUND was formed in 1974. The members came from other band projects. Anders Berge and Gosta Hjelmqvist was earlier playing in a band called 4-ever, who played more proggresiv rock with lyrics written in Swedish. However they wanted to start something new and heavier, so they started looking for a bass and solo guitarist. After they had tried some bass guitarists, they came in contact with Peter Eklund who had finished job in another band. They realised immediately that this was the bass player they wanted. Two months later they came in contact with Bjorn Uhr, who they had known for a while. They asked him if he wanted to join the band, and so they become the SOLID GROUND. The band become Sweden’s heaviest band during the mid Seventies. Solid Ground signed up to SCAM records. A label owned by the former Violents and Hepstars member Hazze Ostlund.

In 1975 the band played a lot of gigs around the Stockhholm area, and also some places outside Stockholm. They also recorded their first single record, with the two tracks: “Tell me” and “My song”. In January 1976 they recorded their album:”Made in rock”. The tracks on the record were recorded in only one day. Two days later they came back to the studio for the final mixing. For many reasons, the record didn’t sell quite well, and finally when the guys was called for their dutys in the army, they decided to quit the band.

Solid Ground released their sole album, Made in Rock, in 1976, reissued in 1991 and 1995. Was it worth it? Well, it's, y'know, okay, but haven't we heard it all a million times before? Yeah, I've heard worse, but it's pretty clichéd stuff, with terrible lyrics, although to be fair, they weren't writing in their native tongue. Mind you, "Rock is my life, rock is my wife", is either unrestrained genius or utter stupidity. Possibly both. Best track is probably its longest ''Solid Ground'' itself, which, coincidentally, also features its only Mellotron work (player unknown), with a repeating strings chord sequence under the lengthy guitar duet at the song's conclusion. Anyway, a passable effort, but you can see why this isn't lauded as a lost classic - or maybe it is?

A quality hard rock to blues-based - from naughty face which opens the album ''Saturday Rae'' or ''Rock'n Roller'' to leisurely sabbath riffs ''This Bloody Town'' and ''Tombstone Kiss'', among which wormed blues ballad ''Mata Hari''. In some places it seemed like as the James Gang period Third. Properly played, with a dense sound, but without going over to the massiveness. Two bonus track, too bad, ''Tell Me'',especially ''My Song'' while his manner caused association with punk. This is hardly a disaster, as Solid Ground hadn't anything unusual to offer - the content was guitar-based, simple hard rock played by non-professional musicians. So crank up the volume for 40 minutes of 70's heavy rock'n'roll and forget all about intellectual discussions regarding the musical content. 
Thank you so much Adam for that effort
gigic2255


Solid Ground was founded back in 1974 and were the hardest Swedish act at that time. They've released one single in 1975 and in 1976 they released this masterpiece in a limited edition of 200 copies on Scam. That's the reason why the original costs around $800, but that's what it's worth. But there's also a re-release on Mellotronen, with the single track as a bonus.The album kicks off with "Saturday Rare (Handrock)" , a very heavy driven opener like almost every song on "Made in Rock". There's a unique drum-sound on this album, that makes it sounding very natural and earthy. Two other tracks, that I really like are "Tombstone Kiss" and "Rock N Roller".Both are so heavy, that they could have been played in the 90's. This album is a real heavy pearl so watch out for it!

(~cosmiclava.de)

Kick ass '70s proto-metal awesomeness alert! This Swedish band, who only managed one self-released LP back in 1976, combined hard rock panache with rough-edged rawness. It's a powerful mix of all things cool about rock in the '70s, from the swinging stoner boogie of Sabbath and Budgie and UFO to the glammy uber-catchiness of KISS and The Sweet to the melodic guitar heroics of Thin Lizzy... all done with almost punkish, sassy attitude and energy. And they've got some excellent, evocative of the era lyrics too, like these: "In the evening they go to discoteques / and drink champagne and listen to T-Rex / boys and girls look at each other / nothing happens no action no reactions" from the song "This Bloody Town". Meanwhile the production is in-your-face, plenty of distortion and reverb. HEAVY. Only 200 copies of the vinyl album were ever made, and the band eventually broke up in the wake of disco fever, a shame. (BUY IT @ Aquarius Records)

(~crotchbat)

Tracks:

side one:

A1. Saturday Rae (Hardrock)

A2. Just Tell Me

A3. This Bloody Town

A4. Mata Hari

A5. Oh Lord

           side two:        

B1. Tombstone Kiss

B2. Rock'n Roller

B3. 16 Track

B4. Solid Ground

Solid Ground -16 track (1976)

 

Solid Ground:

Peter Eklund - Bass Guitar

Anders Berge - Drums, Percussion

Gösta Hjelmqvist - Guitar, Lead Vocals

Björn Uhr - Lead Guitar

[Rip and Scans by gigic2255]

Link:   240 mb/file

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CD rip, EAC > Flac+.cue+log+scans:
https://www.mediafire.com/?lvyn15cm4r81b0y