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Post by julesd68 on Nov 1, 2020 11:09:10 GMT
This month I present to you a jewel of an album by Diamond Head. ‘Borrowed Time’ rode the crest of NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) in the early 80’s and is one of the few British metal albums from that era that truly stands the test of time. It is all killer, no filler. The album has a subtlety and idiosyncrasy that eluded the vast majority of the long forgotten bands of the time. I know the boy John is a fan and saw them live a number of times, sadly I never had the pleasure. The two most famous tracks from the album are the title track and ‘Am I Evil’ which is often played live by Metallica, who are great fans of the band. Do make sure you hear this monster of a track. Play LOUD - I hope you enjoy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Head_(English_band) |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 1, 2020 14:40:51 GMT
Completely unknown to me, I approached this with some trepidation as I'm really not keen on 1980s heavy metal. It's well produced and well recorded. However, unlike the wonderful Black Sabbath from the previous decade, there's nothing here for me to hook onto. It's been a bit of a struggle to get through the album but thanks for the AC, Jules. 2/5 from me (there's always Newsom).
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 1, 2020 15:13:39 GMT
Thanks for giving it a spin Martin!
I consider it very atypical of 80's metal as a whole which is one of the reasons I like it.
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Post by John on Nov 1, 2020 16:01:55 GMT
As Jules knows I was a big fan
I saw them over 20 times This is their second best album I had a copy of the original White Label that was mail order. The first time I saw them was supporting sorry blowing off April Wine the next time was the infamous Woolwich Odeon gig the night after the riots
Brian Tatler is absolute gent.
One of the best live bands I have seen especially before they had a record deal Lars Ulrich was a big fan and used to follow them on the road.
Basically badly managed but certainly inspired many bands
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Post by Slinger on Nov 1, 2020 16:22:37 GMT
I've not heard this, but I fell out of love with bands like the Tygers, and Leppard - also part of the NWOBHM - a long time ago. Still, I'll give it a go. At the very least it'll save me paying to have my ears syringed.
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Post by John on Nov 1, 2020 21:57:12 GMT
It gives a idea of what they were like live back in the early 80s
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 1, 2020 23:56:06 GMT
Excellent, thanks for that John.
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Post by Barrington on Nov 3, 2020 10:40:26 GMT
Played it twice no track jumped out at me , never a fan of this genre but yes it was ok . 3/5
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Post by Slinger on Nov 3, 2020 13:55:45 GMT
3/5 from me. Well played, but it did nothing for me. As Barry said, nothing jumped out at me, in fact I found myself becoming bored with it. Sorry, Jules.
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Post by jandl100 on Nov 6, 2020 5:51:15 GMT
Quite interesting. I've never heard of them before. The impressions that hit me were - Low energy. The pace seemed consistently just that bit slower and the overall effect less incisive than it could/should have been. The songs didn't develop and build the way they would have done with, say, Deep Purple. They haven't quite got the chops of the great players. A rather less talented Ritchie Blackmore came to mind several times. It's just that bit too careful, I think they knew it would fall apart if they let themselves go, in terms of both pace and dynamic impact in the way that the music seems to call for and in the way the great bands would have achieved. Am I Evil is the best track, and they do seem to have been inspired to let themselves go, and quite successfully. But I do wonder what a better band would have done with it. The potential for a fairly great album is there, they just needed to practice a bit, well OK, quite a bit, more.  But, nonetheless quite enjoyable. A decent 2nd rate band. It's a good gig at your local pub rather than the Hammersmith Odeon. 3/5. |
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Post by John on Nov 6, 2020 6:21:11 GMT
Some interesting points Jerry I would say the major let down was the drummer. Duncan a good guy but a good drummer? Brian writes good riffs but he is no Ritchie for sure.
The band were a lot better live than on record I have many memories watching them live.
Many people prefer the first mail order album. It inspired the trash movement a few years later. I prefer the rawness of the first album often known as the White album.
The 3rd album Canterbury is very different very polished with a few sessions players added in to create something totally different. Unfortunately when it came out the record would badly skip and was too radical for most fans.
I think the major issue for the band was the management. They also got badly screwed by the press blowing up the ambitions of band wanting to become famous. It was a pretty bad hatchet job to be honest.
I not really listened to Diamond Head for years as prefer the musicianship of bands like Dream Theater and Zero Hour. But when I was a teenager OI loved the rawness of the band.
I remember them performing this back in 1980 and watching the shock at some of the audience.
Think Led Zep Lemon song but more obvious
This is also from the first album and gives you that rawness I am talking about
Here a few tracks from Canterbury
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 6, 2020 11:29:30 GMT
It's funny because I've never thought about how good they were as individual musicians - the music itself isn't complex and doesn't require any virtuoso standards; it's the overall effect that is more important.
The new recording of Am I Evil illustrates this perfectly to me - I much prefer the grittiness of the original!
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Post by ChrisB on Nov 12, 2020 1:34:44 GMT
I got around to playing this today. I don't think it has faired well with the test of time as an album. It has its moments but I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. There were a good live act at the time though!
The thing that kept crossing my mind was how much like Phil Mogg the vocals sounded at times, something I never noticed back then. The Sabbath influence on 'Am I Evil' came through very strongly to me this time around too.
Though I was a regular reader, I chose not to buy the first album from Sounds but could probably have made a packet if I did.
I bought one of those dodgy first pressings on 'Canterbury', John! Apart from a couple of tracks (most notably, the over-commercial opener), I actually really enjoyed that one....between the stylus acrobatics!
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Post by ChrisB on Nov 12, 2020 1:35:57 GMT
Sorry, I forgot to vote.
3 out of 5 for me.
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Post by John on Nov 12, 2020 6:53:14 GMT
Yes Canterbury is not a bad album just a shame about the bad LP pressing. To the devil his due is my favourite on it I got the white album from the back pages and was able to sell it for good money.
For me it is memories of my youth I was lucky enough to see them before they had a record deal quite a few times and the energy they had live is something that has stayed with me.
I even had the Radio Moscow first EP Brian band after Diamond Head Now that was rare. I saw them do their first gig up in Stourbridge very U2
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Post by mansie on Nov 12, 2020 16:50:17 GMT
The two most famous tracks from the album are the title track and ‘Am I Evil’ which is often played live by Metallica, who are great fans of the band. Do make sure you hear this monster of a track. Play LOUD - I hope you enjoy. OK I played loud and thought the tracks "Am I Evil" and "Borrowed Time" had energy and some good rifs on occasion. I'm afraid I moved on from Hard Rock and Metal ages ago so I'd give it 2/5. I think my younger self would have enjoyed this album more, I liked Deep Purple and "Smoke on the Water" but I was more or less broke all the time so no money to buy more albums. Just to scare the local townsfolk I would wear a Motörhead T-shirt (sleeves cut off!) and ripped jeans but in honesty I didn't really like the noise they made. If I wanted to listen to music I depended mostly on the radio and Metal would hardly ever come on. |
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 12, 2020 17:15:38 GMT
I grew up with The Friday Rock Show on Radio 1 with Tommy Vance. I'd listen to it in bed on my crappy Sanyo radio / cassette. Never had a Motorhead t-shirt and wasn't really a fan but I did have a very fetching pair of zebra print trousers!
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Post by mansie on Nov 12, 2020 17:28:41 GMT
Yes! Zebra trousers!  |
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Post by John on Nov 13, 2020 7:53:54 GMT
I grew up with The Friday Rock Show on Radio 1 with Tommy Vance. I'd listen to it in bed on my crappy Sanyo radio / cassette. Never had a Motorhead t-shirt and wasn't really a fan but I did have a very fetching pair of zebra print trousers! Kind of similar and I admit to having toothpaste trousers and leather trousers  I also enjoyed the Alan Freeman Show and used to pop into Shades every week to get the latest hot album. I even went to the Bandwagon and a few other Heavy metal discos so perhaps win on the embarrassing memories But most of the time was going to the Marquee 2 to 3 times a week, a pit hole it was but many good memories. |
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 13, 2020 15:14:12 GMT
I'd forgotten about Shades!!
I was in Manchester early 80's and Jilly's rock club was the place back then. Air guitar-tastic, happy days ...
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I also enjoyed the Alan Freeman Show and used to pop into Shades every week to get the latest hot album.