THE TROUT'S MOUTH

Hi again, sorry for the delay in getting this post up here, i've slowly but surely been acquiring a life for myself again recently, and it got in the way of me bringin' you the goods last week.
Don't worry, it's unlikely to happen too often, your flow of obscure hard & heavy goodies will continue unabated.
We cover many bases in tonight's selection, we've got NWOBHM, the final piece of the SOUND BARRIER discography, some vintage Hard Rockin' from the land of the rising sun and a little Hard Rawk spliced with Funk.
Something for everyone? I hope so.
For starters, Hard Rock act GOLDSMITH was created in 1981 in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, by former BITCHES SIN guitarist Perry "Pez" Hodder. Originally a trio, with "Pez" handling lead vocals, Glen Milligan on bass and Mike Henderson on drums, the group subsequently added Pete Adams on second guitar. They debuted with the 1982 "Life Is Killing Me" 7" on Bedlam Records, after strong interest was shown in their four song 1982 demo cassette. The single is now a much sought after item and received the accolade of being single of the week in “Sounds” magazine and a wealth of rave reviews from European Nwobhm Fanzines.
Goldsmith then recorded a 12'' acetate called "You Won't Catch Me", that was planned to be released in 1983, but that never happened and only one copy exists. Goldsmith, while being aligned to heavy metal due to the single and the timing, were more of a heavy rock band. They split in 1984. In 2004 Obscure NWOBHM Releases Records compiled the bands three vintage recording sessions for the "Life Is Killing Me" cd retrospective with all tracks digitally remastered.

GOLDSMITH - Life Is Killing Me (1982-1984) UK

http://rapidshare.com/files/194883892/GOLDSMITH_-_Life_Is_Killing_Me__UK-2004_.rar

The all black SOUND BARRIER evolved from the demise of the R&B oriented, seven-piece COLOUR in 1979. COLOUR had steadily become more Rock oriented thanks to the recruitment of New Jersey born guitarist Spacey T. However, alongside COLOUR drummer Dave Brown, Spacey formed the Metal band he had always longed for in SOUND BARRIER. The first line-up of the group included bassist Keith Roster in a group that, initially, went for more of a Progressive feel until Roster departed and was replaced with Stanley E., rounding out a line-up fronted by vocalist Bernie K. SOUND BARRIER cut a four track demo with producer Neftali Santiago, which landed them a deal with MCA Records. Despite laudable press for the debut album, 1983's 'Total Control', and valuable support slots to no less than VAN HALEN, sales were not forthcoming and SOUND BARRIER was duly dropped by MCA. Undaunted, retained they kept the momentum going with the independent mini LP "Born To Rock" on Pitbull Records which contained a cover of STEPPENWOLF's "Born To Be Wild". The band was picked up by Metal Blade for their third release "Speed Of Light", by which time Stanley E., had been succeeded by ex-TERRIF bassist Emil Lech Brando. The album included a cover of THIN LIZZY's "Hollywood (Down On Your Luck)". The band fell apart once Italian six string hotshot ALEX MASI got into the band and set about taking control leaving the remaining original members no option but to quit the SOUND BARRIER ship. Soon enough the band evolved into MASI. Both Dave Brown and Bernie K. appeared on the 1987 debut MASI release 'Fire In The Rain'. After a period in late 1986 working with BLACK SHEEP bassist Willie Basse in SPACEY T'S LIBERTY, original SOUND BARRIER guitarist Spacey T briefly joined MOTHER'S FINEST in the early 90's on their initial European touring stint in support of the 'Black Radio Won't Play This Record' album. However, he had been replaced by a keyboard player by the time they returned. Lech turned up in JOSHUA whilst Brown formed TOTAL ECLIPSE with ex-BUSBOYS guitarist Victor Johnson, who had guested on the 'Speed Of Light' album. By 1998 Johnson was a member of SAMMY HAGAR's touring band THE WABORITAS. Spacey T. joined FISHBONE.

SOUND BARRIER - Total Control (1983) USA

http://rapidshare.com/files/194907158/SOUND_BARRIER_-_Total_Control__USA-1983_.rar

Despite the name, HEAVY METAL ARMY, and the way they looked in the album's insert, this late 1970's "metal" band from the land of the rising sun just rocked hard.
The hallmarks of their lone self titled 1981 album were heavy keyboard laden hard rock anthems with some outstanding guitar breaks from Shinki Sugama, and great melodic vocals from John Joseph Patterson. Of course, what else would you expect from a band with such a name? The band formed as a supergroup of sorts, with members coming on board from other big Japanese acts of the 1970's. Members CV's included time spent with Nipponese luminaries such as CARMEN MAKI, MARINER, CONDITION GREEN (who were Japan's answer to LYNYRD SKYNYRD!), CREATION, and MURASAKI (who were a very DEEP PURPLE influenced act). After the band's break up following this sole album, some members would go on to form EASTERN ORBIT in 1981.
EASTERN ORBIT recorded two albums, one studio, "Future Force", and one live, "Journey To Utopia", which included live versions of two songs from the Heavy Metal Army album. Eastern Orbit split in 1983.

HEAVY METAL ARMY - Heavy Metal Army 1 (1981) Japan

http://rapidshare.com/files/194933800/HEAVY_METAL_ARMY_-_Heavy_Metal_Army__Jap-1981_.rar

For this final album tonight, i borrowed this nicely written review by J. Richter from the excellent http://robotsforronnie.blogspot.com/ although i amended the section marked *.
KID DYNAMITE is another one of those ultra mysterious bands whose story is murky at best. It is known that the band emerged in 1975 when two former members (bassist Dicky Thompson and drummer John King) of the STEVE MILLER BAND decided it was time to strike out on their own. Vocalist Val Garcia and guitarist Michael Mallen were later added and Kid Dynamite was born. Opting for a label who would allow the band total control over their direction, the band signed with Alvin Bennett's Cream Records in late 1975 and began working on their self-titled debut with producer Hal Winn at the helm. "Kid Dynamite" was released in January of 1976, but flagging sales and little label support abruptly killed the band at the conclusion of the year. *Confusingly, Flightstream Records also released an album by Kid Dynamite that same year. Also entitled "Kid Dynamite", this 9 song album had a black & white sleeve featuring a design incorporating boxing gloves, and although it duplicated two songs from the other record, these were different versions.* Very little is known about the members post-split activities, though Michael Mallen is rumoured to be teaching guitar in California. This elusive gem is one that is often discussed in collector circles, but rarely ever recognized as a musically viable effort. I beg to differ. "Kid Dynamite" is a dynamic exercise in genre splicing which works effectively from start to finish. Blending blues, hard rock, soul and funk, the band shows off their musical chops throughout, with a notably scorching effort from Dicky Thompson in particular. Sounding quite similar to Joey Newman's hard soul act, BANDIT, the band merges the groove and conviction of classic funk with the forcefulness of 70's hard rock. The outcome is pretty spectacular and it's a real travesty that Kid Dynamite were merely a blip on the radar. Though this band is undoubtedly anonymous in all respects, some listeners may recognize the track "Uphill Peace of Mind", which was sampled and used by Dr. DRE ("Nuttin' But a G Thang"), and ULTRAMAGNETIC MC's ("Feelin' It"), almost twenty years ago.

KID DYNAMITE - Kid Dynamite (1976) USA

http://rapidshare.com/files/192158006/KID_DYNAMITE_-_Same__USA-1976_.rar

So that's it for another week, hope you find something here to make you smile. Thank you as always for all the comments regarding the last items posted which seemed to go down pretty well with you all.
If yer still Jonesin' for some more Hard obscurities please feel free to peruse my other blog, STILL ALIVE & WELL, which you can locate here.
So until next time, keep the comments flowing please, positive, negative, it doesn't matter, i just wanna know about how you're feeling about what we're trying to do here at New Improved Live & Otherwise Blog, or anything else at all really.
'til next time, live LARGE!