Dust - Hard Attack (Hard Rock, 1972)

"I went with the drummer Mark Bell (who is known today as Marky Ramone), and said "Mark, John Bonham's got a 26' bass drum, you' ve gotta get yourself a 28"…" so he did!"

At the dawn of the '70s, hard rock and early heavy metal were almost completely dominated by British innovators. Dust was one of the few American bands to try picking up the gauntlet, playing a progressive brand of proto-metal that was explicitly indebted to their British contemporaries. Formed around 1968, the group featured vocalist/guitarist Richie Wise and the teenaged rhythm section of bassist Kenny Aaronson (who also doubled on slide and steel guitars) and drummer Marc Bell; plus, Kenny Kerner served as the group's lyricist, manager, and producer. Dust released their self-titled debut album in 1971 on Neil Bogart's pre-Casablanca label Kama Sutra. The album became a cult classic for lovers of the raw hard blues sound and definitelt had it moments. Songs like "From A Dry Camel" don't just happen anyday. The follow-up, 1972's Hard Attack, sharpened the band's edge and intensified the power of their approach; thus, it became the more sought-after of the pair by collectors interested in the roots of American metal. However, Dust would record only those two albums; Aaronson joined Stories in 1973, and Wise and Kerner became a production team, also working with Stories; the following year, they would go on to helm the first two Kiss albums. Aaronson, meanwhile, became a prolific session bassist and Bell later became part of the New York punk scene, joining up with Richard Hell & the Voidoids and then moving on to the Ramones (adopting the name Marky Ramone).
The team of producer Kenny Kerner and vocalist/guitarist/producer Richie Wise do just what the title suggests on this one, bringing a harder attack to songs like 'Pull Away/So Many Times' and 'Ivory,' the latter an instrumental with emphasis on guitar riffs and cymbal work. It's an all-out assault from the trio and pretty interesting, though the album as a whole works better when Thog's Fred Singer adds piano and organ. 'How Many Horses' benefits from keyboard presence, and brings the group back to the Leslie West/Mountain flavors so obvious on the group's 1971 debut. That song definitely sounds like Dust was intent on remaking the Jack Bruce/Mountain classic 'Theme From an Imaginary Western,' one of that group's highlights. That the quieter moments, the elegant 'Walk in the Soft Rain' and 'How Many Horses,' work better than the brutally hard 'Suicide' hints at the adult contemporary leanings of Kerner and Wise. That they would merge this group with their labelmates in the band Stories for 1973's Traveling Underground is more evidence of what musical style they were more comfortable with. Unlike the commercial happy style of Stories, this album is obsessed with death -- perhaps a marketing tool to the hard rock audience with that theme running through the disc. It's no secret why Stories lead singer Ian Lloyd ended up on Scotti Brothers Records in 1979 and 1980: Producer Wise, the lead singer of Dust, was AandR man at that label. Both this album and their debut provide evidence that there were some music business execs who actually had talent. The wonderful Frank Frazetta artwork on the front of the album also shows good taste. Frazetta did many a cover drawing for Creepy and Eerie magazines. It's a well-known fact that Gene Simmons from Kiss came from the world of fanzines and fantasy, and it should be no surprise that Wise and Kerner went on to produce the debut from Kiss in 1974 on Neil Bogart's Casablanca imprint. All in all this is a raw, bluesy, early hard rock classic that everyone should own.

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