Confessions Of A Vinyl Collector

I haven’t done one of these posts for a while, over two months in fact, but then I’ve had good reason.  Basically I stopped buying vinyl for a time… certainly not because I finally decided that compact disc was the way to go but for the more mundane reason that the power supply on my Project turntable packed up!  I never guessed at that point how bloody difficult it would be to source a sufficient 16v replacement locally and ended up waiting a couple of weeks for Needles And Spins to send the replacement.  Funny, but I don’t remember them taking so long getting the original turntable to me but then that cost a bit more I guess?

Anyway, when did things pack up?  Well that was after a trip to Ammanford and the record room of favourite local shop “Gwlad Deg“.  I only made one purchase on that day, but it cost me £15… a very nice copy of the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience double album “Electric Ladyland“.  Got through the first side with the likes of “Voodoo Chile”, “And The Gods Made Love” and “Crosstown Traffic” emanating late sixties rock perfection from the speakers.  Flipped the disc to enjoy side two and zip…. nothing.  Apparently, according to the techie at the local Maplins  the psu had completely died – unusual he said as they usually emit something but this had ceased to be.  The power of Jimi overloaded the power of Swalec perhaps?

So, fast forward to last weekend and turntable issues resolved I was off on a trip down the M4 on the Sunday to witness UFO in concert at the Bristol Academy.  This also gave me the perfect excuse to get out early and make a debut visit to “Plastic Wax“, an excellent shop with masses of vinyl both in the 33rpm and 45rpm flavour and to my delight a slew of bargain racks with the offer of “£1 each or 20 albums for £8″ paricularly catching the eye.  Now I’m not going to bore you with the details here, as some of the purchases are guilty pleasures, comedy albums or collection fillers not worthy of mention really but the highlights (or otherwise) at the equivalent of 40p each remember, follow…

Gillan – Toolbox… most name “Magic” as the last Gillan album and really, for that era anyway, it was but in 1991 he resurrected the name, logo and all, for a very listenable album on “eastwest records”.  None of the old guard were there in support, Heartland guitarist Steve Morris this time the foil for the Purple frontman as he was in the “Garth Rockett and The Moonshiners” band that presumably prompted this.

Loverboy – Get Lucky… I saw these live many years ago supporting Def Leppard on the Hysteria tour if I recall correctly.  That prompted a purchase of their then current album “Wild Side” (which subsequently got sold with the selling off of my original vinyl collection) but wasn’t received sufficiently well enough for me to check anything else out.  Time to correct that with this, their second album.  “Take Me To The Top” apparently is the track to listen out for.

Nazareth – Expect No Mercy, Loud ‘n’ Proud and The Fool Circle… the beginning of a new crusade I think.  I have a couple of  Nazareth albums, Razzamanazz and Greatest Hits of course, as well as Malice In Wonderland but its time to branch out and hear more from these Scottish rockers I think.  Coincides nicely with Classic Rock Magazine featuring them in their “Hard Stuff – Buyers Guide” feature in the current issue.

Rainbow – Bent Out Of Shape… oh look!  One of the collection fillers sneaked through.  Honestly I don’t have much love for Rainbow past the Dio era but I haven’t heard much off this one save “Street Of Dreams”, “Stranded” and the horrible spectacle of Blackmore doing “The Snowman”.  Anything I should listen out for or should it just go onto the shelves in the Rainbow section?

Mr. Big – Lean Into It… another late 80s/early 90s band who I felt had more of a focus on substance rather than style.  Look past the acoustic ballad and you find the Beatle tinged “Green Tinted Sixties Mind”, the catchy “Road To Ruin” and the superior slowie in everything but sales figures “Just Take My Heart”.  Shame they are only currently doing one date in the UK on this forthcoming tour… I actually have every one of their studio albums on CD.

Enuff Z Nuff – self titled… more Beatles influenced rock from the late 80s although admittedly this time I struggle with the image a bit.  Possibly the only album of theirs to get a vinyl release over here although I base that only on the fact I haven’t seen anything else by them in the racks – not that you often see a CD by them over here.

Andy Taylor – Dangerous… an interesting covers album by the Duran Duran guitarist who by this time was producing Thunder (also the title of his own debut solo album) and attempting to forge a career as a rocker.  Let down a little by some predictable choices – Lola, Space Station No. 5 and Sympathy For The Devil for example doesn’t really display a vigorous search of artists back catalogue for inspiring songs – its still not bad. I remember the live tour too – caught the Milton Keynes gig.  Well, can still remember the gurning muso on either bass or second guitar anyway!

Robin George – Dangerous Music… similar title to the one above but about 5 years older.  Never actually heard this album but it seems to be held in great regard by the AOR crowd and thanks to watching Journey’s stellar performance streaming live from Download I’m listening to a slections from the fluffier side of rock again at present.

Other finds in the £1 racks included Johnny Winter “Nothin’ But The Blues“, Barclay James Harvest “Time Honoured Ghosts“, Asia “Alpha” and the first Bachman Turner Overdrive release but an old double album in the compilation section also caught my eye…

Fill Your Head With Rock – The Sound Of The Seventies… is my kind of comp!  Four sides of music with a mix of the already known or at least heard of  like Steamhammer, Santana, Janis Joplin trading alongside Pacific Gas & Electric, Moondog and Tom Rush.  I love these old compilations.  You can usually find a few fine songs but its the stuff that fuels wish lists for years to come.

Further visits to Plastic Wax are a must as well given that by aiming largely at investigating the £1 stuff I’ve potentially overlooked some great albums in the higher priced boxes.  I did manage to grab a few at £2 though…

Status Quo – 1+9+8+2… not their greatest effort although they did have a big hit by releasing “Dear John” as a single.  More importantly though it completes the “From The Makers Of…” set on vinyl once again and if your as big a Quo fan as I am you’ll understand the importance of that.

Journey – Frontiers… I mentioned their Download set higher up this post and ended up spending money on a Journey disc as a result of it!  I wanted either Escape or the Greatest Hits set but with neither turning up plumped for this promo stamped copy of their 1983 release.

UFO – Force It… well, given they were the reason I was in Bristol it seemed only right I get at least one of the albums I still hadn’t got on vinyl.  One of there classic studio albums with great songs scattered about all over the place.  “Let It Roll”, “This Kid’s”, “Mother Mary” and of course the song that would close a fine set later that evening “Shoot Shoot”.

Dr. Feelgood – On The Job… never pass up the chance of buying some Dr. Feelgood music at a favourable price.  The finest band ever to emerge from Canvey Island the tag of Britain’s best Pub-Rock band is largely suitable and although I haven’t heard any of the content on this one (something of a surprise as its a live release) I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.

Various Artists – Heavy Metal Monsters… not a classic compilation this one but still worth having I thought for the awful cover and the optimistic mixing of the established (Black Sabbath, Priest and UFO) alongside the lesser known Sledgehammer, Nightwing, Strife and Black Angels.  I think I can withhold anticipation for the Geordie assault on Nutbush City Limits a bit longer though!

The trip to the counter through the £3 rack upped the final tally as well…

Wolfsbane – Live Fast Die Fast… better known nowadays as latter day Iron Maiden frontman’s Blaze Bayley’s first band their enjoyable brand of “wicked tales of booze, birds and bad language” was an excellent tonic too in a period of hair-sprayed American imports dominating MTV Europe’s heavier offerings.  Whilst they were force-feeding us with Motley Crue and Poison we had the antidote in the form of Tamworth’s finest banging out “Manhunt” or the even occasionally broadcast on MTV track, “I Like It Hot”.  Wolfsbane were great live too.

Emerson, Lake and Powell – self titled… going down a prog-rock route momentarily here.  Another long term target I’ve been wanting to test the theory that they (E and L) only recuited Powell ‘cos it gave them back the “P”.  In reality I think the saving grace of this piece for me is likely to be “Mars The Bringer Of War” which I’ve seen Cozy do live as his solo piece.

That would make enough for any Confession usually but a journey over to the dark side of the UK (East Anglia) on company business last Friday provided the welcome excuse of a stop off in Cheltenham at the excellent “Vinyl Vault“on the way back.  Now I didn’t go mad here, spending just £25 on three albums (and the debut Wolfmother CD) but was more than happy with the three albums I chose.

Man – Slow Motion… under-whelmed by the new Manband album, the absence of George Jones perhaps robbing the band of the heavier angle that appealed to me, I needed an LP of previously unheard Welsh rock and Slow Motion ticked the box.  I don’t know why I hadn’t bought this before but glad I have it now; “Hard Way To Live”, “Bedtime Bone” and “Day And Night” all hitting the spot on first listen.

ZZ Top – ZZ Top’s First Album… and another collection completed.  Working on the assumption that “Recycler” was the last Top album to get a vinyl release finally finding a copy of their debut album (albeit a 1980 reissue) means I now have all the American boogie bands albums in their superior format.  Interesting comments on the back cover too… “In these days of homogenized rock, sythesized music, retakes, overdubbing, multi, multi-tracking, an honest recording by accomplished musicians is a rewarding pleasure”.  Obviously didn’t apply by the time of “Eliminator” and “Afterburner” did it?

Various Artists – Metallic Storm… the buy of the post for me without doubt.  A nwobhm era compilation on Ebony Records that features bands so obscure only one of the British bands appears in Malc MacMillan’s seminal book on the genre.  That band were Wikkyd Vikker who along with Denmark’s Mercyful Fate were the only recognisable names on the track listing.  What happened to Abergavenny’s “Scimitar” or Clacton’s “Mercenary” I wonder?  More on this comp in due course….

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BL

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Stampede on the Rock Show

More studio guests on the GTFM Rock Show this week, with Reuben Archer and Clive Edwards from the recently reformed “Stampede” joining presenter Andy Fox.  Reuniting on the back of a successful reissue of their excellent “Hurricane Town” album they discuss the whys and wherefores of getting back together, reminiscing about the bands original successes and disclosing plans for the future.

In a treat for fans of early 80s British rock though, the chaps also talk about past projects they and their fellow bands members have been involved in making for a superb hours entertainment discussing “Grand Slam”, “UFO”, “Lautrec”, “Lionheart” and “Wild Horses” amongst others.  You just don’t hear some of those names discussed on Planet Rock do you?

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN AGAIN

Get more info on the Stampede reunion here :- www.myspace.com/stampedeofficial

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GTFM Rock Show Preview

“Yet more live guests!! This week, STAMPEDE!“

This week, we welcome yet more ‘live’ guests, this time its members of the recently reformed 80’s British band Stampede featuring Reuben and Lawrence Archer (former guitarist with Grand Slam and UFO),Clive Edwards and Colin Bond. They’ll be answering questions, playing some of their tracks and playing some of their all-time favourite tracks.  We’ll also be giving tickets away to some of their reunion shows

Send questions for Stampede to: rockshow@gtfm.co.uk

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email DJ Andy Fox via rockshow@gtfm.co.uk

Listen live in the Pontypridd, South Wales area on 107.9 FM

or on the Internet by pointing your media player at

http://qtss.lrc.glam.ac.uk:8000/gtfmmp3

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The GTFM ROCK SHOW with ANDY FOX,

22.00 to 24.00 every Wednesday

Ricky Warwick in the GTFM Rock Show studio

In my humble opinion the most interesting of all “In Studio” appearances so far on the Rock Show this year as ex-New Model Army conscript and Almighty front-man Ricky Warwick joined Andy Fox in the GTFM studio. Now producing music some distance away from the blood and thunder of the Scottish band he lead to a Monsters Of Rock appearance in the early ’90s, Warwick has been described as a musical poet, a storyteller and an “Irish Bruce Springsteen” thanks to his accomplished solo work.

At 27mb and an hour in length, this interview features Warwick discussing all eras of his career to date but talking specifically about his Irish roots and his latest album “Belfast Confetti“. In addition, by kind permission, included in full are live acoustic versions of “The Arms Of Belfast Town“, The Almighty’s “Wild And Wonderful” and most surprisingly, a reworking of the DiAnno era Iron Maiden hit “Running Free“.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW

On tour in the UK throughout June you can check out more Ricky Warwick songs and check tour dates at http://www.rickywarwick.com

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Devils Creek – Bullfrog Blues

Details: 2007, Top Of The Hill, CD

Any regular reader of these pages will know that I’m partial to a bit of blues-rock.  The last couple of years has seen Joe Bonamassa and Walter Trout rank highly in my year end favourites, whilst the likes of early Status Quo, ZZ Top, Gwyn Ashton and Rory Gallagher are regular listens guaranteed to please whatever my mood… so I’m kicking myself a bit for not picking up on this band a bit sooner!

Devils Creek are a classic three piece blues-rock outfit, very much in the mould of the aforementioned Gallagher line-ups although herald not from Ireland but from Cornwall.  Issued on bass-player Tim Chapple’s own Cornish music promoting record label “Top Of The Hill” my first impression upon hearing “Bulldog Blues” (other than wondering where the title track disappeared to – but that’s answered on their myspace page!) was this album has a similar structure to Bonamassa’s “Sloe Gin”.  Not in style particularly, we’ll come to that in a moment, but more in structure. Like “Sloe Gin” it’s a mix of impressive original compositions, from the pen of lead singer/lead guitarist Guy Rosewall, accompanied by a number of well selected and certainly unusual and often superbly interpreted covers.

Stylewise though it’s that Irish genius Gallagher and most specifically that stomping brand of blues-rock he displayed so brilliantly through the 70s and 80s that forms the major template for the music.  In fact it’s a radical electric reworking of the acoustic “Defender” closing track “Seven Days” that opens the album.  A fantastic re-imagining of the song so effective that it’ll have you checking the lyrics just to confirm its the same thing.  Following this a trio originals underscore the positive first impressions, with the powerful “Dead Man’s Walking”, and the amusingly acerbic lyrics of “Poor Boy” especially impressive.

With another original, “Shadow City” interloping in a collection of covers on the latter half of the album it is instead another reworking, this time of James Taylor’s “Fire And Rain” that catches the ear before a welcome visit to Albert Lee’s excellent “Hear Me Calling” proves a delight to discover.  For many years the opening song of the mighty Slade’s live set, Devils Creek take the sensible root of not trying to emulate the power of that band at their peak but instead take the song back to its bluesy roots.

Naysayer’s will knock the fact that there’s nothing radically new in terms of style on the album but that’s not the point is it? Some unfortunately even dismiss the genre as little more than glorified pub-rock but there’s plenty of us out there that delight in finding bands like this that keep this invigorating music alive.  For me, it’s the best album of its type that I’ve heard since last years Walter Trout set, and it offers the belief that live they’d be a blast.  A quick check of the gig listings on their myspace page shows that although prolific live performers unfortunately they seem mostly restricted to the South West of England at present.  Now, with the fact that Walter Trout has actually just announced a pretty comprehensive UK tour, I can’t help thinking that he and Devils Creek would make an ideal pairing.

Highlight: Seven Days

Score: 3.5/5

(CD Baby Link)

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UFO – The Visitor

Details: 2009, SPV, CD

What’s a poor old chap to do? Surely it’s about time someone deep in the recesses of Buck Palace gave the lad a second thought? After all, Phil Mogg has been helming the good ship UFO through rock’s stormy waters for nigh on forty years now. From space-rock beginnings, through the classic Schenker-years into the Tonka Chapman-era and a steady decline to the nadir of “Ain’t Misbehavin,” Mogg has fought tooth and nail to keep his band alive. Reaching the autumn of his career, he fronts a re-vitalised band that is truly enjoying a renaissance and “The Visitor” consolidates UFO’s reputation as a hard rock band of distinction.

This album has been produced without original founder and long-time member, bassist Pete Way, Though not his first absence from the ranks, this time he is recovering from treatment for a liver complaint. Peter Pichl (ex-Running Wild and now the bass-player in Nektar) undertook bass duties, but, whilst Mogg and drummer Andy Parker are on great form, this is undoubtedly Vinnie Moore’s album. For a supposed “shredder,” Moore has developed as a guitarist of style and subtlety. On “The Visitor” he establishes a bluesy-feel that runs like a vein through the album, even to the point of some masterful slide-work. The rolling groove of opener “Saving Me” sets the tone: musically,  they’ve never sounded more like Bad Company and songs like “On The Waterfront” (with great 70’s-sounding keyboard flourishes from Paul Raymond) and “Living Proof” (with its swamp-vibe and low, growling vocal from Mogg) are trademark UFO. “Hell Driver” and “Stranger In Town” are tougher, built on solid riffs with melodies to match.  “Can’t Buy A Thrill” and “Stop Breaking Down” employ those classy choruses that Mogg never seems to fail to produce on every album: simply put: just great hard rock songs, something UFO have been pulling off for years.

The band can’t quite keep the pace throughout: the solitary ballad “Forsaken” is too easy-going to be really effective and “Rock Ready,” whilst employing a blues-stomp, is not an especially memorable song. “Villains & Thieves” strays worringly close to (and I’m going to upset Rock Of Ages Management here) a Quireboys barroom outing, all tinkling ivories and chugging rhythm. But these are minor quibbles, there’s not a track that you’d skip and at least four potential classics that I’m expecting to hear on the forthcoming UK dates.

So, shape up Lizzie. A C.B.E. at the very least. Come to think of it, Sir Mogg has a nice ring to it.

Highlight: Living Proof

Score: 4/5

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NJ

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GTFM Rock Show Preview

“Another studio guest…“

This week, we welcome singer, songwriter, storyteller and former frontman with the Almighty, Ricky Warwick, ‘live’ on the show. Now with his third solo album ‘Belfast Confetti’ recently released on DR2 records. We’ll play tracks from it, have copies to give away and Ricky will be playing ‘live’ acoustically.

Ask him questions on e-mail : rockshow@gtfm.co.uk

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email DJ Andy Fox via rockshow@gtfm.co.uk

Listen live in the Pontypridd, South Wales area on 107.9 FM

or on the Internet by pointing your media player at

http://qtss.lrc.glam.ac.uk:8000/gtfmmp3

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The GTFM ROCK SHOW with ANDY FOX,

22.00 to 24.00 every Wednesday

Thunder – Expanded 2CD Editions

Released I’m sure to coincide with Thunder’s farewell tour, their first two albums get the Expanded Edition treatment….

BACKSTREET SYMPHONY

Details: 2009 (Originally released 1989), EMI, 2CD

Of all the albums released by new British acts in that particularly prolific period back in the late 80s, early 90s, this was the best and probably the most successful too.  On the back of this Thunder acheived no less than five UK hit singles and for a time looked the most likely to break the American market too, even earning praise from Axl Rose.  Rising from the ashes of the badly misdirected Terraplane, this release took them from the pubs and clubs to a show stealing performance at the 1990 Donington Monsters Of Rock.  Unfortunately, the annals of history will show that in 20 years they never really bettered it either.

Of those hit singles, it was “Dirty Love” that provided the original breakthrough after an initial release of the superior but less catchy “She’s So Fine” stiffed.  A cover of the old Spencer Davis group “Gimme Some Lovin’” added little except boundless energy that to be fair has always been evident in their live shows whilst “Love Walked In” provided the them with a ballad that would make many a compilation.  Ironically enough, for all there popularity the best track on the album in my opinion was, is and always will be the power house “Don’t Wait For Me”.  A real tour-de-force that builds and builds, demonstrating why singer Danny Bowes, in an earlier era would have been mentioned in the same breath as Paul Rodgers.

It’s not quite a perfect set, “Girls Going Out Of Her Head” should have been a b-side and certainly shouldn’t have made the origianl album ahead of “Distant Thunder”, but the addition of the period b-sides in this release does demonstrate that at this stage, Thunder were pretty consistent on the quality control front and by and large got the decision on what made the album and what made the flip sides about spot on.  “Fired Up” was always fun live without being a great track whilst “I Wanna Be Her Slave”, “I Can Still Hear The Music” and “Until The Night Is Through” are classic b-sides from the vinyl age in that you can play them now and again without troubling yourself wondering why they never made the album.  More positively, the rare live track “Another Shot Of Love”, the b-side of that original “She’s So Fine” single yet shelved for the more successful reissue takes it’s place at the centre of the bonus disc.  Nice to see that finally available in context.

The real treat with this bonus disc though is the unearthing of the “Town & Country Club” tracks from 7th March 1990.  I saw Thunder on this early tour at Milton Keynes (only the second time I had seen them live at this point – the first was supporting Aerosmith) therefore was pretty impressed that soon after a recording of this same tour made national TV.  Only six of the songs are here but then again that may well have been all that was broadcast, but by including it EMI have made this reissue pretty much essential.  Why?  Well that album highlight “Don’t Wait For Me” gets the full live treatment, adding 3 glorious minutes and a thunderous outro to create the perfect version… the one that would  crown the Donington set.

Quite honestly I have such good memories of this album and the period it was released that even in its original configuration it’s with me for life but this set caps it.  The best British debut album of it’s era.

Highlight: Don’t Wait For Me

Score: 4.5/5

LAUGHING ON JUDGEMENT DAY

Details : 2009 (Original release 1992), EMI, 2CD

And after saying “Backstreet Symphony” is a 5 out of 5 I’ll now go and state that despite it being not quite as good, it’s follow up “Lauging On Judgement Day” is probably my favourite of all there releases.  Again, I’ve written about this set before, but with this release Thunder got serious on so many songs.  The party rock of “Dirty Love” was unsurpassed by its attempt to emulate its success with the poor selection for a single “Everybody Wants Her”.  For once, the humourous track that seems to make every Thunder album (for better or worse) is avoided too; maybe at this point they simply realised they’d never better the wit of “Englishman On Holiday” and instead the dark lyrics of “Low Life In High Places” made for a great song but perhaps too uncomfortable to gain radio acceptance in a time when a band still needed mainstream playlisting.

Of the album tracks though this is almost as solid as the debut.  “Does It Feel Like Love?” was as close as any band has got to Bad Company at their best, “Empty City” was a dark, brooding piece sadly overlooked in the live set for so long.  “Today The World Stopped Turning” combined acoustic and electric guitar to great effect and in “Fire To Ice” they created one of the best album tracks I think they’ve recorded yet again, it’s rarely played outside of my living room it seems!

The ballad “A Better Man” seems to earn much credit when this album is discussed yet again, I can’t help considering the later slowie “Like A Satellite” a superior song, especially when you remember how they played it live on the accompanying tour.  Just Danny Bowes accompanied by a piano for the early part of the song made for marvellous moment, his voice again superior to just about any other emerging frontman of the period.  That version appears as one of the bonus tracks on the accompanying disc, as does another excellent Thunder slow number, another I rate above “A Better Man” actually, the again darker themed “The Damage Is Done”.

Unfortunately the bonus disc on this set doesn’t uncover anything particularly rare.  I reckon I actually created a C90 with this lot on it back in the day which if anything reminds me of the days before mortgage payments and electricity bills more than anything else.  I could afford every format back then and was daft enough to buy them!  Still, it’s nice to get them all in one place again, although drummer Harry James’ bash at “New York, New York” whilst funny live still doesn’t work as well without the visuals!

Again, great memories of this album and era help colour my judgement but now, as then, the likes of “Flawed To Perfection” and “Everybody Wants Her” convince me it’s not quite as consistent as the first album. It’ll be great to see it back in the racks though and hopefully hear some of the long overlooked album tracks on the rock radio shows.

Highlight: Does It Feel Like Love

Score: 4/5

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NOTE TO EMI – What about “Behind Closed Doors”??????

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BL

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GTFM Download Festival Special Interviews

A swine of a Rock Show to edit up this week, with numerous interviews featured throughout a Download Festival special!  The end result though, and the content for this week’s GTFM Rock Show “Listen Again” segment is around 15 minutes of comment on Britain’s major Rock & Metal Fest from not only some of the names appearing at the festival but also from organiser’s as well.

The longer sections feature the likes of Cormac Neeson from The Answer, Vince Neil of Motley Crue, Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy and Joe Elliott from headliner’s Def Leppard talking about what makes playing Donington so special, what they have in store for the show and even there own recollections of being there in the crowd.  There’s also a bit of trademark “mock-toff” nonsense from Whitesnake’s David Coverdale!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

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Def Leppard – High ‘n’ Dry

Details: 1981, Phonogram, CD

Arguably not their most consistent album, certainly not their most polished album and nowhere near their most successful album but now 28 years old it is the Def Leppard album I reach for most these days.  At this point, still something of a fledgling nwobhm outfit, they had only the impressive but formative “On Through The Night” album under their belts and although were able to secure the services of the then hot-shot producer Mutt Lange (fresh from the success of AC/DC’s “Back In Black”) hadn’t yet fallen into the method of spending ages constructing songs note by note in the studio.

Consequently “High ‘n Dry” is a fine hard rock album.  Some commercial touches yes, but not as over bearing or over produced as they would be by the time of “Hysteria” some two albums but five years later.   Have they ever sounded more convincing than the opening call to arms of “Let It Go” for example?  Indeed the five song run that makes up what was the old first side of the vinyl release combine for such a strong line up there is a good argument to say they’ve never bettered it.  The menace entangled in the lyric of the pop tinged perfection entitled “Another Hit And Run” precedes an example of Lange bringing his AC/DC touch to the track which would provide the album’s name, “Hit ‘n’ Run (Saturday Night)”.  Following this is the best ballad Leppard have ever written.  “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak” inexplicably would become the only track from this album to have any longevity in the live set list, and you suspect if it had appeared on either of the succeeding albums would have been overplayed to death.  It segues then into the instrumental “Switch 625″ which finds the then guitar pairing of Steve Clark and Pete Willis dominating a feature so rarely heard on rock albums these days.

“You Got Me Runnin’” is another strong accessible rocker but “Lady Strange” must rank as one the most overlooked of all Leppard’s songs.  Nodding all over the place to their influences, the Lizzy-like opening merges with another AC/DC riff whilst amongst an early example of those trademark vocal harmonies, Joe Elliott makes his mark, emulating at times his own hero Ian Hunter.  “On Through The Night” nods to Zeppelin both in the tones employed but also by copying the “Houses Of The Holy” trick of placing a title track on the subsequent album.   There is a slight fall off in quality in the again AC/DC-ish “Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)” and the balls out rocker “No No No” which sounds more in context with the debut album than this piece but these do little to harm the reputation of the original ten track run.

What does harm things on the compact disc version though is a horribly over-tweaked remix of “Bringin On The Heartbreak” and the always weak b-side “Me And My Wine”.  Tampered with some three years after the original albums release it shows the belief that “Heartbreak” should have been a huge hit, but today the changes date it horribly and quite honestly both of these two can be skipped without remorse.  What can’t be skipped though are the first ten.  The opening five essential, the latter five good enough too.  In this age of bands announcing that they will be playing an album in it’s entirety on their next tour it would take the announcement of Def Leppard to be doing such with “High ‘n’ Dry” to get me in the queue for tickets.  Sadly I can’t see them doing it.

Highlight: Bringin’ On The Heartbreak

Score: 4/5

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BL

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