Liar released a couple of albums in the mid/late 1970s. Not quite in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal category, they were more akin to what we now call classic rock – though they could and did do the heavy stuff.
Their second album – Set the World on Fire – had big record company support, was one of the first albums to be issued as a picture disc and surely saw the band set for the big time with a support slot for none other than Styx on their Grand Illusion tour of America. Couldn’t fail, right?
Wrong.
Bizarrely the record company took the view that as Set the World on Fire was selling so well in the States that Liar could headline on their own tour and pulled them from the Styx support. Major mistake and a few more disasters brought the end of the road for Liar.
However – that classic second album has been given the remastering treatment by none other than former band member Steve Mann (which is the good news). The bad being that it’s a limited run of 1,000 copies. Each numbered and with a post card hand signed by the band.
Get one if you can. As I type this post, there are still copies available via Amazon and also AOR Heaven in Germany are listing it on their web site.
Set the World on Fire is a fine, well-crafted mixture of meaty rockers and the sweeping ballad type stuff. I suppose you could slot it somewhere akin to Foreigner even though Liar were from here in good old Blightly.
Check out the title track for example. A bit of a tinkling intro gives way to a beefy rocker with a chunky riff and tasty solo.
https://youtu.be/_MZWclDx3qQ
Town of Evil People one of those sweeping ballads telling the tale of an old gunfighter. I’m calling and in particular Five Knuckle Shuffle rock things back up again before another of those effective quieter ballads with the gentle Frustration.
The closer – Who Cares – is a superb seven minutes of rockerama and mad guitar with a mid-section of all sorts, bit of this, bit of that, bit of funk, bit of jazz, bit of flamenco even. All a bit different and it makes for a fine track indeed.
Overall – Set the World on Fire is a winner. Or rather should have been on release bar that unfathomable record company move to pull the band off the Styx tour.
If you can pick up one of the limited edition remaster you’ll be able to hear for yourself what a fine band Liar were.
>> LIAR SET THE WORLD ON FIRE ON AMAZON HERE <<
As I mentioned above in the post, as I write this (1 January 2021) there are still copies available on Amazon and AOR Heaven though with only 1,000 available they have sold out.
Liar did record a third album – Sunset Plaza Drive – which wasn’t released at the time though was released recently. That’s a fine album too. Read my review of that album and some more of the Liar back-story here: