New Wave of British Heavy Metal heaven here. A four CD box set of a massive eighty two tracks of a selection of classic NWOBHM singles as originally released on Neat Records back then.
Neat were based up in the north east of England, which was something of a seething mass of NWOBHM-era bands looking to break out.
Many of them would find their way to the Neat label with the usual thing being to release a single and hope it went down well enough to be followed up with an album.
Now here we have this superb box set celebrating those days and no doubt bringing back many memories. Look at the box artwork for example – that’s what we did back then. Wander around in scruffy denim jackets proudly displaying our favourite bands on the back in the form of patches.
Or if you were fortunate enough to have a patient girlfriend who was skilled with a needle and thread and you were able to persuade her to practice her skills on your jacket you’d have some nifty embroidery of the logo of your band of choice prominently at the top.
We’d get paid on a Friday then mooch around the local record record shops on a Saturday morning to spend our hard earned on NWOBHM singles and albums which we’d read about in Sounds or been recommended by word of mouth. Great days much missed.
Many of those singles were what we now have here on All Systems Go. It’s a cornucopia of NWOBHM history.
Early singles from the likes of the Tygers of Pan Tang, Venom, Raven and similar who went on to bigger things and still strutting their stuff today.
And from those who whilst having much to offer didn’t push on for various reasons. For example the tremendous Saracen who mixed in prog and pomp with the power and White Spirit who had a young Janick Gers on guitar before going to Gillan and then a little band named after a medieval torture device. White Spirit’s debut album remains a stone cold classic as does Saracen’s Heroes Saints and Fools.
As an example of what we have on All Systems Go, here’s White Spirit’s Backs to the Grind.
Amongst the eighty two tracks we also have the likes of Persian Risk, Hellanback, Tysondog and Jaguar. All of which were rather jolly good without troubling the premier league and some lessor lights such as Crucifixion and a few what I’ll deem oddities such as ex-Tygers vocalist Jess Cox.
Four discs and eighty two tracks of New Wave of British Heavy Metal history. Marvellous. Either relive the old days if you were around back then. Or discover how NWOBHM influenced (and continues to influence) rock music today.
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