Who needs the six pack and a couple of shots?

[kwame k]

Hellenbach were from the North East of England - and they were on Neat Records. The album that tune was from was called Now Hear This, from '83 - that was the best tune on it! They were on an indie label that also put one of my other faves from the so-called NWOBHM - 'Don't Need Your Money' by Raven, from 1980.

I remember the rear cover of the 7-inch single had the worlds 'ATHLETIC ROCK FROM NEAT' scrawled across the top. They sure had a lot of energy (the quality of the sound on this clip ain't great, but you get the idea):

Speaking of NWOBHM....was just jamming Diamond Head today

[VHscraps]

Yeah, saw them - Diamond Head - in something like 81, 82. Met them after the gig - just a front of stage kind of deal and they were signing stuff.

I used to think that some of their own indie releases, the singles and EPs before the Borrowed Time album, sounded sharper - the production on Borrowed Time seemed to make them sound less powerful, or less live. Dunno - it was a good album, but also a bit of a let down from what we expected. At the time I also quite liked the Canterbury album, but I haven't owned it for years since I mislaid my vinyl collection (something to do with moving in with girlfriend makes stuff like that vanish).

[kwame k]

I hate that....the mysterious, "Where the fuck is my _______!", after the move statement.

Here in the States getting the NWOBHM imports was a daunting and sometimes miserable experience. The Japanese import were the worst IMO! Literally buying an album and getting it home to have said album be completely different than the record cover said. Cassette tapes that the fidelity was so bad that you couldn't make out what was being played.

Ah.....the glory years of buying music!

[Seshmeister]

That reminds me - we had all those VH copycat bands back in the early 80s, and there was a British band called Hellenbach who were right in the VH mould. They even did something that at the time me and my friends thought was trying to do something like Big Bad Bill. It was a Disney tune called Everybody Wants to be a Cat (pretty good Eddie-esque solo in there if you listen right through):

That's so weird hearing that for the first time in 25 years or so, I had it on a mix tape I must have made from the Tommy Vance show or something.

You're right there were a few attempts by British bands to do the Van Halen thing back in the 80s but none of them got too far. My favorite was off the Wolvesbane demo that got them signed but they went in a different direction after that.

To me this was pure Van Halen, I wonder how many Iron Maiden fans are aware of Blaze Bailey's past glory...?

[Seshmeister]

The Full Bug - yeah, it rocks. Listen to the bit just as they are coming out of the guitar solo. The bass, drums and guitar hit 10 or 12 notes in unison (like an amped-up jazz combo), then Dave kicks in with the harp solo. Tight and loose!

The mistake guitarists (myself included) always make is that in their heads Eddie has this really distorted guitar sound that they then try and copy.

If you listen to stuff like The Full Bug it's really not very affected at all.

[chefcraig]

The Full Bug - yeah, it rocks. Listen to the bit just as they are coming out of the guitar solo. The bass, drums and guitar hit 10 or 12 notes in unison (like an amped-up jazz combo), then Dave kicks in with the harp solo. Tight and loose!

I recall reading a review or article in Creem or Circus that said "These guys have more ideas within a single song than most bands do on an entire album", or words to that effect. It's aspects like the one above that drew me (and a boatload of others) to this band in the first place. Thanks for pointing it out.

[VHscraps]

That's so weird hearing that for the first time in 25 years or so, I had it on a mix tape I must have made from the Tommy Vance show or something.

Sesh - just last night I came across an MP3 of a 1981 Friday Rock Show, and I listened to it for a while as I supped a few beers. It was from around the time that Fair Warning came out, and Thomas the Vance played Unchained as a 'new release' and raved about the album sleeve design / illustration being the most impressive he had seen in a long time. Other interesting stuff on that 'tape' - a demo by a guy called Paul Inder, then a 14 yr old wizzkid, who happened to be Lemmy's son. He appears in the Lemmy movie.

I should upload the thing to somewhere it can be streamed - it's good time travel stuff. Unfortunately I only have this one show. I used to have another with some good Diamond Head session material that I seem to recall not being on the BBC sessions CD (I think the used to record over a lot o radio and TV archive stuff).

[what waz zat]

No matter how many times I have heard VH, always great to listen again....seems like every song has something special in it - the solo in Sinners Swing blows me away.

[hambon4lif]

then here ya go:

http://www.rocknrollbreakfast.com/six_pack_and_96.html

all 3 hours, 27 minutes, and 18 seconds of it... And it'll always be here for your listening pleasure.


Amen,
the reverend

bump!!

[Dutchman063]

Schweet! it wont fukin play though....

[ToraToraTora]

This is THE perfect way to refresh for news while this blasts away in the foreground!