Runaway Dreams is an excellent five CD box set of Mamma’s Boys spanning 1980-1982. The band of course comprising of the three McManus brothers – Pat (guitar), John (bass, vocals) and Tommy (drums).
Hailing from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland they started out in the late 1970s taking influences from fellow Irish bands particularly Horslips and Thin Lizzy. They’d debut with a self-financed live album in 1980 and immediately got the New Wave of British Heavy Metal tag as NWOBHM was taking off at the time.
That live album is a cracker if, as you might expect, a little raw. Full of thumping hard bluesy rockers such as I’m Leaving Town, Down and Out and Record Machine. Pat’s guitar shines bright with his fluid fretwork. Check out in particular the slow burning Belfast City Blues and his solo. You’d swear it was Gary Moore.
It got them noticed sure enough as they bagged the support slot on Hawkwind’s 1981 tour for their Sonic Attack album. That’s where I first came across Mamma’s Boys seeing them on that tour with the Hawks.
A second album – Plug it In – appeared in 1982. It’s a more polished effort being a studio album showing the band had matured in terms of song writing being a hard-edged album and a sort of mixture of NWOBHM-era style rockers with a Celtic twist. All enjoyable stuff.
Not messing about they released Turn it Up in 1983. Another step up in song writing and style bringing in more melodic elements without losing any of the punch. Midnight Promises, Crazy Daisy’s House of Dreams, Gentlemen Rogues and Shake My Bones in particular being chunky rockers with Pat’s guitar all over them as fellow siblings John and Tommy gave his him the solid foundation base allowing him to riff and solo away.
Check out Gentlemen Rogues:
By this time it was looking like the big time wouldn’t be far away as they bagged another high-profile support slot, this time on Thin Lizzy’s final tour in 1983.
There was some traction in America also with albums such as Power and Passion – not included in this box set as after Turn it Up we jump forward to 1992 and Relativity. Perhaps Cherry Red couldn’t get the rights for the intervening albums. I don’t know.
Anyhoo – by the time Relativity appeared they’d bring in various vocalists as John had vocal problems. Relativity sounds rather removed from the swaggering earlier stuff with Mamma’s Boys moving with the times.
Relativity takes a little getting used to though has plenty going for it coming across to my ears as say a combination of period Bad Company, Foreigner, Heart and FM. Strong melodic rockers with some edge to them in general and the sound expanded by use of some keyboards.
Sadly, Relativity would be the final album from the boys as Tommy fell victim to his ongoing struggle with leukaemia and quite understandably that was the end for Mamma’s Boys.
As usual with Cherry Red they do this sort of stuff so well with their box sets, often of old NWOBHM-era bands such as the Avenger set which was released about a week ago prior to this Mamma’s Boys box.
This box set is an excellent way to remember how good Mamma’s Boys were and how far they could have gone with an even break. Their first three albums, Relativity and a disc of various singles, B-sides and rare tracks in a sturdy clamshell box with comprehensive booked included.
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