Diamond Head. What a band. One of THE bands of the original NWOBHM-era. Make no mistake. Why they didn’t make it up to Iron Maiden levels of success, who knows. They should have. They had it all – probably just a bit too much. The “white album” is legendary. Self-financed offering of limited quantity at the time. Still have my copy. A classic to this day. I believe a critic’s cliché from the time sums it up. It goes something along the lines of Diamond Head packing more riffs in to one song than Black Sabbath manage on an entire album.
Despite my long soft spot for DH and my much treasured “white album” vinyl, my copies of their only other two albums from the NWOBHM days – Borrowed Time and Canterbury – long since lost and never replaced on CD despite always “meaning to” I’d never got around to it. Then the other day I was killing time on Birmingham station waiting for a train connection. As one does, browsed the Amazon app on me iPhone and up came Diamond Head, the MCA Years box at a v-e-r-y nice price. Instant purchase and what a package.
In the box is Borrowed Time, Canterbury, various bonus/unreleased demos, the “Four Cuts” EP……and……a separate CD of live performances from the 1982 Reading Festival and a BBC concert from the same year. DH nirvana.
Now after all the deserved attention of the stunning right between the eyes riffola assault of White Album much was expected of the boys’ debut on a proper label (MCA). Expectations were very high. That debut was Borrowed Time. It sent out all the right signals from the cover (apparently a very expensive artwork) with the Dean/Moorcock style and the Eternal Champion style figure (Elric perhaps?). And it did on the vinyl too. Some thought it was over-produced. Perhaps it was in parts though overall a monster offering including some reworked versions of a few songs from the White Album. The atmospheric, hypnotic but still crunching riff and beat behind In The Heat of The Night, the obvious single of Call Me and the huge hook, the speed of Lightning to the Nations and so forth leading through to the close of Am I Evil? As proper a rock song as you’ll hear. Huge, huge riff, chords, solos, drums, bass, the lot all together with Sean Harris snarling vocals all over it asking the sneering question “Am I Evil?”. Outstanding. The bonus tracks here being a Radio 1 session and the Four Cuts EP.
Next up it’s Canterbury. With the relative success of Borrowed Time the anticipation around this album were even higher than the debut. This was the one which would put Diamond Head up there at the top of the pile. Or so everyone thought. When it came out, reception was mixed (a faulty initial pressing didn’t help) as instead of the expected nuclear assault by NWOBHM, Canterbury had decidedly progressive leanings which I think foxed the critics – and a lot of the fans – at the time.
I say nuts to that. Yes, Canterbury is not as in yer face as DH’s previous. But what it is (in my opinion) is a very well-crafted album which is ambitious in its range, scope and variance demonstrating the chops of a band who had the balls to pull it off and still hit the spot. Makin’ Music is a more rock than pop opener though still as catchy as anything. Out of Phase gets in your head quickly then we have a run of hard-hitting, expansive, epic, hard, prog-metal with a touch of symphonic even. The Kingmaker, To the Devil His Due, Knight of the Swords and the Eastern-influenced Ishmael. All quite complex and whilst not perhaps immediately accessible do all please the listener very much after you “get it”. All the elements are there. Solid drums, semi-funky bass lines, Tatler’s adept guitar work with the right balance between outright riffage and some clever soloing with Sean Harris putting in a towering vocal performance – think something like a merging of Robert Plant and John Sloman. To further demonstrate what range and arrangement skill DH had back then, the title track (Canterbury) starts off like some sort of medieval-style hymn with piano and vox. You’re waiting for the explosion to come and know it will – then it does. Very classy.
Sadly for Diamond Head, they were dropped by MCA probably due to the less than expected sales of Canterbury. That’s too bad because whilst it is not what you’d call “traditional” NWOBHM it does showcase a band who could still rock hard but wanted to branch out in to a more expansive style before the fans or the market was ready for it. I actually prefer Canterbury over Borrowed Time.
The live CD of the Reading Festival and the BBC session is awesome too. They were great on stage. So, whilst Diamond Head have to go in with the “should have been massive” tag there’s more than enough in this box set to convince anyone who listen that they really should have been right there with Maiden, Leppard and similar.
For the price (just over twelve quid as I post this), it is simply un-missable. Whether you are an old git like me constantly rediscovering his NWOBHM past or a younger, sleeker model of humanity who likes their rock to rock hard and be classy refined at the same time – don’t think about it, buy it!
>> DIAMOND HEAD THE MCA YEARS IS HERE <<
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