London The Metal Years Coming out September 30th

By Newsferatu, Writer
Thursday, August 7, 2008 @ 1:10 PM

- advertisement -
Press release:

Fresh off of their appearance in the 1988 Penelope Spheeris film The Decline Of Western Civilization: The Metal Years, Hollywood's own London entered American Studios in Topanga, CA in the summer of 1989 to record a live demo tape with famed producer Richie Podolor (Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, Alice Cooper). While the more famous members of LONDON had long since passed thru the band onto bigger fame (Nikki Sixx departed years earlier to form MOTLEY CRUE, Blackie Lawless had left to create and front W.A.S.P., Slash, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler went on to become stars in GUNS N ROSES and Fred Coury had departed to play drums for CINDERELLA) the remaining four members had attracted interest from several labels as well as Podolor who took them under his wing for this session.

Vocalist Nadir D'Priest, Bassist Brian West, Guitarist Sean Lewis and drummer Tim Yasui cranked out 15 songs entirely live (with absolutely no overdubs) - a single lead vocal track, a single guitar track, a single bass guitar track and a single drum track were all that were used in this session! Two of these songs - 'Break Out' and 'Russian Winter' - appeared in the Decline Of Western Civilization: The Metal Years film and 'Oh Darling' had appeared on the earlier LONDON album Don't Cry Wolf. Several others reappeared two years later on D'Priest's solo effort entitled Playa Del Rock, and the rest remain unfinished efforts, preserved here for collector's and die-hard fans of this cult group, which officially disbanded its name and legacy with the release of the D'Priest album in the early '˜90s. As a bonus for LONDON fans, a reunion of this 1989 lineup (with bassist Brian Perry replacing Brian West) was assembled for a new 2008 studio recording of the MOTLEY CRUE hit 'Shout At The Devil' which is included here.

If the thousands of hits that the old LONDON music videos garner to this day on YOUTUBE and MYSPACE are any indication of the band's still strong following, then this uncovered rarity should no doubt appease them and leave them waiting for the next discovery of once previously 'lost' recordings - or maybe a reunion? Only time will tell... Track listing: All songs written and recorded by LONDON except:

* "Oh Darling" (Lennon/McCartney) Sony/ATV Music Publishing
** "Shout At The Devil" (N. Sixx) MARS MOUNTAIN MUSIC CHERRY LANE MUSIC PUBLISHINGWARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC INC A SOUND SAFE MUSIC
*** "Love Games", "Time Is Money" , "Break Out" and "Russian Winter" (L. Grey) L . Grey Music (BMI)

      1) Night Rights
      2) Can You Feel The Fire
      3) Miss You
      4) Ride You Thru The Night
      5) The Wall
      6) Heartbeat
      7) Ride Away
      8) Spanish Harlem
      9) Here It Comes
      10) Oh Darling *
      11) Waiting
      12) Love Games ***
      13) Time Is Money ***
      14) Break Out ***
      15) Russian Winter ***
      BONUS TRACK: Shout At The Devil **