What started in the late ’70s in England as an underground movement—the New Wave of British Heavy Metal—and eventually inspired loads of quality American, European and Japanese bands was eventually reduced by major labels to the lowest common denominator: a bunch of skinny poodles in tight spandex playing day-glo instruments. All the hard work bands like Saxon, Iron Maiden, Accept and Rainbow had put in was all but nullified by metal equivalents of the Backstreet Boys. Sad.
OK, many of those classic metal bands eventually did themselves in with drastic stylistic changes (probably due to pressure from their labels) or constant line-up shifts, but there’s no denying that they made some great records back in the day. Unfortunately, until recently, many of the best albums from that era (I’m talking roughly 1975–1985) were basically out of print. (Remember, a lot of these albums came out just before CDs became commonplace and as a consequence weren’t a priority to be transferred to the digital format.)
Now, thanks to more than a dozen independent labels in both the U.S. and Europe, a whole shitload of classic hard rock/metal albums that have been out of print for more than 15 years are seeing the light of day once again—some for the first time on CD.
These reissues generally fall into two different categories: They are either back catalog of bands that still exist (in some form or another), or they are albums by bands that recorded a few highly regarded albums and have long since broken up. Riot is one example of the former. Previous labels Capitol and Elektra had no interest in keeping classics like Fire Down Under and Narita in print, so it was up to an indie label like Metal Blade Records to rescue them from obscurity. Groups like UFO, the Michael Schenker Group, Deep Purple, Saxon, and Uriah Heep, among others, have also had essential back-catalog releases brought back to life for a new generation to discover. Granted, Mechanix and Wild, Willing and the Innocent may not be as good as UFO’s classic Schenker-era albums, but they certainly contain plenty of great rock.
Equally encouraging is the availability of albums by bands like Icon, Fastway, Gamma, Armored Saint, Tygers of Pan Tang, TKO and many others. With their ties long since cut with the major labels that signed them, these now-defunct acts’ seminal albums are being lovingly preserved by a host of dedicated and enterprising independent labels. I’d be the first to admit that some of the stuff that’s being reissued (Kick Axe, Giuffria, Keel) is probably better left buried, but you can pretty much be guaranteed that if a record sold well in the ’80s, it will definitely find its way back in print. Soon.
Apparently enough time has passed and people are nostalgic enough that they are willing to put aside their embarrassment of owning (and listening to!) an old Grim Reaper or Saxon album. Personally I’ve always loved the stuff, but I’m happy to replace my old worn out vinyl LPs with CDs that were never available or only in print for a very short time, many years ago.
And even though all the bad hair-metal bands of the late-’80s pretty well obliterated the groundwork layed down by many lesser-known, but more talented bands before them, they apparently were unable to bury them completely. Some really great stuff is scratching its way out of the grave. Go out and find it.
Some of the more notable labels responsible for classic hard rock/metal reissues include:
Beat Goes On
http://www.bgo-records.com
Metal Blade
http://www.metalblade.com
Spitfire
http://www.spitfirerecords.com
Sanctuary
http://www.sanctuaryrecords.com
Wounded Bird
http://www.woundedbird.com
RESCUED FROM OBSCURITY:
10 Essential ’80s Reissues*
RIOT—Fire Down Under (Metal Blade)
SAXON—Denim & Leather (Disky)
MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP—Assault Attack/
Rock WIll Never Die (Beat Goes On)
THIN LIZZY—Thunder and Lightning
(Wounded Bird)
URIAH HEEP—Abominog (Sanctuary)
W.A.S.P.—W.A.S.P. (Original Masters)
ARMORED SAINT—March of the Saint
(Metal Blade)
TWISTED SISTER—You Can’t Stop
Rock ’n’ Roll (remastered) (Spitfire)
GAMMA—3 (Wounded Bird)
UFO—Making Contact/Misdemeanor
(Beat Goes On)
*All are currently available from Amazon.com