Tarmac Group 1964, now group managing director, Martin acquired key quarrying assets, including Cliffe Hill Granite, Rowley Regis Granite and Hillhead Hughes. In 1968, Martin engineered the three way merger between Tarmac, Derbyshire Stone and the Scottish Asphalt company, William Briggs, creating the country's "largest roadstone and construction group". The group was briefly known as Tarmac Derby but the Derby name was later dropped. Further acquisitions were to come. Permanite, Britain's biggest roofing felt manufacturer, and Limmer, a quoted asphalt company, were bought in 1971, while the 1973 purchase of Mitchell Construction (which had foundered on the Kariba Dam) strengthened the construction
Happiness Is the Road to share these on any networks. The album was originally scheduled to be just a single album. Those tracks became "Volume 2: The Hard Shoulder." In the middle of the recording sessions, the band experienced a major bit of inspiration and songwriting. They decided to follow their instincts, and wound up producing what would eventually become "Volume 1: Essence." These tracks hang together loosely as a concept, and are much mellower than the harder rocking -and non-conceptual- Volume 2. Fans were treated to double the material, and two completely different vibes for their investment. All music written by Marillion, lyrics