Tracks
Desperadoes
Are you out there
Let me be up front here: this is probably my favorite NWOBHM single ever released. And I don’t wanna hear any whining about “well technically you shouldn’t call it NWOBHM if it was released after 198x”. Shut up and go enter more of your collection into Discogs, you bloody wanker.
The date of release for Charger’s one and only vinyl offering has actually been a source of debate over the years since the record itself offers no useful information regarding its year of origin. Malc Macmillan made a rather solid case for a 1987 release date in his ‘NWOBHM Encyclopedia’, but many underground denizens, including some of the Metal Archives overlords, were extremely resistant to that notion, possibly because they didn’t want to give such a classic NWOBHM single such a late release date. This contingent tended to favor a date of 1984 though I don’t know what the logic was for that choice except that it was obviously not from the early years of the movement, and most people tend to consider 1984 as the last year that saw any quality NWOBHM material released. But at this point most popular references, including MA, seem to agree on 1987, so we’ll stick to that.
Charger’s souped-up, powered out sound does have more than a bit in common with the stronger, more energetic European metal offerings that came out in the post-NWOBHM era. ‘Desperadoes’ in particular features heaps of soaring, epic, blazing guitar work in the style more typical of the mainland than jolly ol’ England. Within the first few seconds you KNOW that this song is going to be full throttle from start to finish. Flipside ‘Are You Out There’ goes for a more anthemic, singalong, fists-in-the-air vibe, and nails it perfectly. Speedy, anthemic numbers, soaring guitar leads, a strong vocal presence, classy sounding tracks full of energy, two A+ caliber songs, and, just to top it all off, a brilliant monochrome picture sleeve (vintage NWOBHM for sure) featuring a dragon-horse chimera. It simply does not get any better than this, ladies and gentlemen.
The CHARGER single has always been a pretty rare and pricey item. Back in my poor college student days this was one of the only big-ticket items I ever splurged for because, as every record collector knows, there are some records that you simply MUST own. For me, this is one of those records.
Die Telefonnummer und der englische Akzent des Saengers sind die beiden einzigen Anzeichen dass diese Single aus England kommt. Auf den ersten Blick sehen die Jungs absolut nach US Anfang Achtzigern Hairspray Metal Fans aus. Zudem scheint die Single in den Staaten einfacher aufzutreiben zu sein als in England. Wie auch immer, zum musikalischen: Beide Songs gehen gut ab, geile Gitarren und superber Saenger. Absolutes Hitpotential vorhanden und es ist wirklich Schade dass da nicht noch ein Longplayer der Jungs erschienen ist. Wer die Single angeboten kriegt kann bedenkenlos zugreifen.