line up 1 (1971-73)

- Jeff Ball -- vocals

- Paul Christodoulou -- bass, backing vocals

- Tom Kelly -- drums, percussion, backing vocals

- Frank Martinez -- guitar, backing vocals

- Merlyn (Jeff Ball, Paul Christodoulou ,Tom Kelly and

  Frank Martinez)

Genre: hard rock

Rating: ** (2 stars)

Title: Grit

Company: Sommer

Catalog: SOMM059
Year: 2020

Country/State: London, UK

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: reissue

Available: 1

Catalog ID: --

Price: $30.00

An entire industry has risen around discovering and releasing archival material from well known and lesser known bands.  On occasion one of these packages turns out to be a hidden treasure - Brian Wilson's "Adult Child".  The majority of these projects simply serve to underscore why the material never saw the light of day.  Grit's 2022 self-titled album falls somewhere in the middle of the pile.

This London-based quartet featured the talents of singer Jeff Ball, bassist Paul Christodoulou, drummer Tom Kelly and lead guitarist Frank Martinez.  By the time they formed Grit the four members had garnered some impressive credentials.   Christodoulou had been a member Merlyn.  Kelly had been in Connexion. Martinez had been in Grand Union, worked with The John Dummer Band and also been a member of Merlyn.  He also had a knack for building musical equipment including his own amplifiers.  Ball had been a member of several local groups and joined the others after seeing an add they'd placed in Melody Maker.   After playing talent concerts and small London clubs, in late 1972 the quartet recorded a four track demo at London's SWM Studio.  The band shopped the demo to numerous agents, in the process scoring a tour of Greece.  In the midst of the tour Martinez was forced to return to the UK when his father became seriously ill, spelling the end of the band.

And here's where the story gets kind of strange.  After one of the two acetates was found at a German flea market Austrian record collector/dealer Hans Pokora included the Grit acetate in his 7001 Record Collector Dreams reference book.  Other than the band name, nothing was known about the group until 2019 when Alex Carretero of the Spanish reissue label Guerssen met Martinez who agreed to make the band's material available for a reissue.

Released in 2020 on the Guerssen affiliated Sommer imprint, three of the tracks were pulled from one of the two original acetate copies guitarist Martinez had held on to for close to fifty years.  I also stumbled across a comment from Martinez who mentioned band roadie Jimmy Russell had recorded "1000 Miles" and "Down The Mine" on a cassette player during a performance at London's Angel Pub.  Be forewarned the sound quality on those two performances is poor.  Musically I didn't find anything particularly stunning here.  The quartet were certainly professional showing a diversity of styles across the short album.  It took me some time to acclimate to Ball's whiny voice, but he had the chops to handle their tougher numbers.  Martinez was a gifted guitarist.  Best of all was drummer Kelly who managed to turn in some of the most violent performances this side of John Bonham.  "Mineshaft" was a decent slice of Sabbath-inspired hard rock.  Unfortunately the live version entitled "Down in the Mine (Mineshaft)" suffered from miserable sound quality.  "What Do You See in My Eyes / I Wish I Was" demonstrated the group were capable of softer, more commercial efforts and blues-rock.  Bottom line is there just wasn't anything here that really jumped out at you.

"Grit" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Mineshaft (Jeff Ball - Paul Christodoulou - Tom Kelly - Frank Martinez) - 3:54 rating: **** stars

Jeff Ball's whine of a voice took a little getting acclimated to, but if you were an Ozzy Osbourn fan the learning cover wasn't too steep.  Come to think of it, powered by Martinez's thick and dirty lead guitar  if you were a Black Sabbath fan, then 'Mineshaft' was liable to scratch an itch with you.  No idea what the song was actually about, but it generated some energy.

2.) The Child and the Drifter (Jeff Ball - Paul Christodoulou - Tom Kelly - Frank Martinez) - 8:56  rating: *** stars

Opening with an extended instrumental jam, "The Child and the Drifter" noticeably improved when Ba;; started singing.  Not that his voice was great, but at least it forced the rest of the band to focus on the song's melody.  Loved Paul Christodoulou's "sliding" bass moves and Martinez used his spotlight time to turn in one of the album's best solos.  And just as he band were starting to get into the groove, around the 4:20 mark the song shifted into a slower, more melodic section.  The album's most mainstream and commercial effort, this part actually displayed a touch of Santana influence. And then it was back to patented hard-rock jam territory.  Admittedly the song wore out it's welcome by the time it wrapped up.

(side 2)
1.) What Do You See in My Eyes / I Wish I Was  (Jeff Ball - Paul Christodoulou - Tom Kelly - Frank Martinez) - 9:24 rating: *** stars

The ballad "What Do You See in My Eyes" was interesting for demonstrating the band were capable of recording something with subtlety.  Curiously the lead singer seemed to have an accent.  "I Wish I Wish" kicked in around the 1:30 mark and went off in a more blues-rock direction.  Pleasant, but it wasn't anything you hadn't heard before.

2.) 1000 Miles (Jeff Ball - Paul Christodoulou - Tom Kelly - Frank Martinez) - 3:23 rating: ** stars

Obviously a live performance (see comments above), the sound quality on the rocker "1000 Miles" was so poor it was hard to decided whether the song was any good.  To his credit drummer Tom Kelly all but overwhelmed the rest of the band on this one.

3.) Down in the Mine (Mineshaft) (Jeff Ball - Paul Christodoulou - Tom Kelly - Frank Martinez) -  3:54 rating: ** stars

I understand the need to pad an album to get near a thirty minute running time, but a live version of "Mineshaft" ("Down in the Mine (Mineshaft)") really wasn't necessary.  Like the previous song, this one was charactreized by Kelly's frenetic drumming and the fact it sounded like it had been recorded over a long distance phone line.

For anyone curious, Klemen Breznikar  conducted an extensive 2020 interview with Martinez for the online PyschBabyMag magazine   https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2020/07/grit-interview.html 

 © Scott R. Blackerby March 2026