Wild Horses (rock band)

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Wild horses
General information
origin London , England
Genre (s) Hard Rock , New Wave of British Heavy Metal
founding 1978
resolution 1981
Last occupation
Reuben Archer
Electric bass , vocals
 Jimmy Bain
John Lockton
Electric guitar
 Laurence Archer
Frank Noon
former members
Electric guitar, keyboard , vocals
 Brian Robertson
Electric guitar
 Jimmy McCulloch († 1979)
Drums
 Kenney Jones
Electric guitar, keyboard
 Neil Carter
Drums
 Clive Edwards
Drums
 Dixie Lee

Wild Horses was an English hard rock and new wave of British heavy metal band from London , which was formed in 1978 and split in 1981.

history

The band was formed in 1978 after Jimmy Bain and Brian Robertson left Rainbow and Thin Lizzy , respectively. The name was borrowed from the Rolling Stones song of the same name . The two had met in 1976, when Bain had worked with the band Harlot. The line-up was initially supplemented by guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Kenney Jones. This changed a little later, whereupon the line-up of Wild Horses consisted of the singer and bassist Bain and the guitarist and keyboardist Robertson of the guitarist and keyboardist Neil Carter and the drummer Kevin Johns. Occasionally Robertson took over the vocals. After the first local appearances, Johns was briefly replaced by Dixie Lee, before this was in turn replaced by Clive Edwards. Other concerts followed, including with Rush , before the group signed a record deal with EMI in 1979 . In the same year, the band took part in the Reading Festival before a release was even available . It wasn't until November of that year that the first single was released, Criminal Tendencies , with The Rapist as the B-side . In April of the following year, a self-titled debut album followed, which had been produced by Trevor Rabin . The album is also known as The First Album ; then Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham can be heard as guest musicians. Mainly due to their popularity Bains and Robertsons from their previous band memberships, the album reached number 38 in the charts. As singles, Face Down and Flyaway were released in the following months . In the summer of the year the band performed with Ted Nugent . Towards the end of the year, the band went on a concert tour to Japan , where they enjoyed great popularity, even though the album had not yet been released there. In 1981, John Lockton joined the group after Carter left the cast to join UFO . Shortly afterwards, the band went to the studio with producer Kit Woolven to record the second album, which was released in the spring under the name Stand Your Ground . However, the album sold far worse than its predecessor and did not make it into the charts. In the same year the double single I'll Give You Love followed with the Joe Walsh song Rocky Mountain Way as a live version as B-side and The Kid with the The Blues Brothers song Saturday Night , the latter also live . The live songs were recorded during the concerts in Japan. A short time later, the single Everlasting Love followed in only a small edition , a cover version of The Love Affair song, with the B-side The Ax . In June 1981 the band was represented in the BBC radio show In Concert together with Export , in which the band also presented newer compositions. Due to the lack of success on the album, EMI split from the band, and the tour to promote the album was canceled after a few gigs. In the fall, Robertson and Edwards left the line-up to devote themselves to other bands. Frank Noon joined as the new drummer, who in turn brought in the singer Reuben Archer. Archer brought his stepson Laurence as a guitarist (both had previously played together in a band called Lautrec), who replaced Robertson, which increased the line-up to a quintet. Rehearsals followed and a studio was booked to record new material - and possibly a third album. Towards the end of the year, the new line-up also appeared several times in the Marquee Club . The plan to record a new album, however, failed after the three new members announced that they would not be able to work productively with Bain in the studio, which led to the breakup of the band in 1981.

style

Malc Macmillan wrote in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia that Bain and Robertson couldn't keep their promises that Wild Horses wouldn't sound like their previous bands. The debut single offers hard rock with a slight American influence and strong similarity to songs by Thin Lizzy, but also Meanstreak and Aurora . The following album has little to do with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The album does not manage to capture the live charimsa of the group and Bain's limited singing ability becomes clear. The second work Stand Your Ground is a bit harder and is more adapted to the then “trendy” form of heavy metal and hard rock. The music still has hardly anything to do with the NWoBHM, but much more than the debut album, and only reminds me of groups like Stampede and Grand Prix . According to The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal , the band played hard rock in the style of Thin Lizzy, which sounded better live than in the studio. Colin Larkin described the group's music as melodic hard rock in The Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal Second Edition . Bain's singing is weak, the music being different from that of Thin Lizzy and UFO. On stage, the repertoire differs greatly from the studio versions because it is presented live with more energy, raw and aggressive. On the second album, the group is more oriented towards the blues . According to Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic , the music of the debut album sounds formulaic, unimaginative and deliberately old-fashioned compared to the then emerging NWoBHM. The release is more a reflection of the past glories of all the members participating in the album than a collection of really good songs. Stand Your Ground is harder and better executed.

Martin Popoff wrote in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties about Wild Horses that this is "Pub Rock". The songs were written almost exclusively by Bain and Robertson, and Phil Lynott only took part in the ballad Fly Away . The electric guitars didn't sound very convincing and the drum sound was also bad. The second album offers melodic hard rock that is reminiscent of poorer Thin Lizzy. The songs are tasteful, calm, but also not very demanding. The lyrics are simple, human, hopeful and come from the heart. Occasionally the music approaches jazz , otherwise one sticks to conventional rock structures instead of approaching metal . The vocals are still partly not convincing.

Discography

  • 1979: Criminal Tendencies (Single, EMI )
  • 1980: Wild Horses (album, also known as The First Album , EMI)
  • 1980: Face Down (single, EMI)
  • 1980: Flyaway (single, EMI)
  • 1981: Stand Your Ground (Album, EMI)
  • 1981: I'll Give You Love (Single, EMI)
  • 1981: Everlasting Love (single, EMI)
  • 2014: Live in Japan 1980 (Live album, Krescendo Records )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 725 f .
  2. ↑ a b c Colin Larkin: The Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal Second Edition . Guinness Publishing, Enfield, Middlesex, England 1995, ISBN 0-85112-656-1 , pp. 388 .
  3. ↑ a b Tony Jasper, Derek Oliver: The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal . Facts on File Inc., New York 1983, ISBN 0-8160-1100-1 , pp. 390 .
  4. ↑ a b Info. Facebook , accessed August 14, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Eduardo Rivadavia: Wild Horses. Allmusic , accessed August 14, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b c Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 1-894959-31-0 , p. 414 f .
  7. ↑ Wild Horses. officialcharts.com, accessed August 14, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Biography. (No longer available online.) Rockdetector.com, archived from the original on December 22, 2016 ; accessed on August 14, 2018 .