Style: AOR, hard rock
Label: Columbia
Year: 1984
Home: Britain
Members: Dave King ~ lead vocals
"Fast" Eddie Clarke ~ guitars
Charlie McCracken ~ bass
Jerry Shirley ~ drums
Fastway is the post-Motorhead band led by guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke. This is their second album, which got some MTV play. The group went through a few line-ups. This album includes future Flogging Molly vocalist Dave King, & co-founder/ drummer Jerry Shirley. Shirley has played with Alexis Korner, Syd Barrett, John Entwistle, Sammy Hagar & Humble Pie. The bluesy roots of these bands might explain how he turns in more interesting drum parts that really flesh out & drive the songs, versus straight forward typical rock patterns that don't always work with the blues. As a life long blues fan, I find its hard finding a drummer who knows how to rock the blues. I've given so much away about this album with that statement. The band name might say speed metal, but its firmly blues rock. Or, I might describe it as melodic metal with a bluesy strut. Whatever the description - this is hot! Its not flashy hot. More like radio friendly hot with hints of Motorhead & lots of Led Zeppelin, both timeless influences. Others have called frontman King like Robert Plant. Its a legit comparison, though I think due to his phrasing more so than his tone. There are lots of singers who sound a bit too much like Plant, but in this case I think King walks the line on the safe side. He sounds like him, but not always, & in a good way. He's like Plant in the way David Coverdale is like Plant, sorta yes/sorta no, though extremely no today & on most albums. For me its like he's got the best traits of Plant, not the ones everyone imitates. While, with Plant, Clarke is Jimmy Page. Not figuratively as in songwriting partnership, but quite literally. Listen to "Misunderstood" & tell me that doesn't sound like Zeppelin. On the other hand, its amazing how a band can sound so much like another band, yet feel distinct. Fastway uses the influence of Zep, but for me doesn't abuse it or try to be Zep. The power ballad "Hurtin' Me" actually sounds like something Plant solo would do early in his career. It is thick blues with a rock edge. For the record, Plant's "Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes On You)" came out years later. If anything, there's just a strong '70's AOR vibe here, of which Zep was often a part of. "Steal The Show" is an example of that with its retro sounding melody. This is also a highlight, not to mention it includes a quasi-bass solo moment. It lives up to its name. "The Strangers" further switches things up with a folksy feel. It absolutely puts the expectations of a power ballad on its head & feels very much like what one might find in the '70's & never in the '80's. Pretty much this whole album breaks expectations & feels like its from another era. This is due to the fact that most '80's bands fell back on glam & metal with big sounds, but Fastway fall back on the blues. They're not faking it either, but going all the way. The call & response blues of "Telephone" you might have heard from some '70's white boy blues band. In the context of the 1984 this feels totally unique. Decades later it sounds refreshing. Sadly, at the time the album found critical success & rightly so, but the band's bluesy attitude never gave them the commercial success they really deserve. In a glam metal world people wanted more of the same, versus something different. That is too bad, as this is a solid & interesting outing. It is way more interesting than what so many of their hard rock peers were doing. The fact it had an all star producer in Eddie Kramer didn't hurt. He produced Carly Simon, Whitesnake, Robin Trower, Buddy Guy, John McLaughlin, Carl Perkins, Peter Frampton, Brian May's Another World, Alcatrazz's Disturbing The Peace, Anthrax's Among The Living, Hendrix's The Cry Of Love, & most notably Ace Frehley's 1978 solo & Trouble Walkin' & Frehley's Comet debut, plus Kiss' Alive!, Alive II, Alive III, Rock & Roll Over, Love Gun.
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