Other stuff about SAMSON

A Review of "Head on" from Sounds

An advertisment for "Head on" from Sounds

BY GOD, it would have been rather embarrassing if 'Vice versa' had turned out strictly duff-wise, wouldn't it? "Once committed to vinyl (this song) will undoubtly become an HM collector's classic", eh? A quote lifted from a December '79 article of mine and, damn my sieve-like memory, until the words turned up in the current Samson music press advertisement it had not only slipped my mind that I'd written them, I'd also completely forgotten what the number sounded like.

Not having heard the tune for six months, since that near legendary Chelsea college gig, I sat on the edge of my seat as the needle hit "Head on"'s first side groove, fully prepared for the"Vice versa" version to be about as blockbusting as an episode of Little house on the prairie and my already shaky critical reputation to be blown straight out the window.

But YEAAARGHH and WOAAARGHH (not to mention PHEW), I should have had more faith. "Vice versa", as the Godz might have it, rocks yer sox auf, gives you bare feet blisters and burns out of the speakers like Johnny Storm through a Baxter Building wall. As you've probably surmised, it's the albums stand-out track. A more than somewhat sexist tale of a girl who could 'say things to astound the dirties mind' and looked great from the outside. "Vice versa" cunning combination of melodic subtlety and heavy duty grandeur, the whole caboodle executed with some considerable degree of technical accomplishment.

In fact ace musicianship is an outstanding feature on "Head on". Although the so-called NWOBHM has given us plenty of excitement over the past few months, it must be said that whether due to lack of or just devil-may-care enthusiasm good singing and good playing has hardly been in abundance. Samson, with guitarist Paul, vocalist Bruce Bruce, bassist Chris Aylmer and of course drummer Thunderstick have a finer pedigree than most (is this why they've never been amongst the trendiest of the new metal bands?) and although they occasionally take things at a slower, more deliberate pace than is the these-days norm, you can't help but admire their all-round hard rocking abilities.

Worthy of particular commendation is Paul Samson's imaginative and immensely fluid guitaring, together with Bruce Bruce's gut-busting vocals. Surely the best HM singer to emerge in years, Bruce dominates the album with the effortlessness of a Paul Rodgers of old, using his voice with such supreme assurety that his occasional lapses into hackeyed Gillanisms can be excused.

And coincidentally, if Samson's music requires a reference point then Deep Purple is it, although considerably updated and refurbished for an early Eighties environment. Pay close attention to "Hard times" and "Take it like a man" and you will see what I mean.

To my mind Samson are at their best peddling toons containing traditional HM subject matter, making "Manwatcher" ('pushing harder, feel the pain'), "Too close to rock" ('You spend your lectures just drinking in the college bar') and "Walking out on you" (even with touches of 'opera') the tracks to listen out for.

Their sword, sorcery and sci-fi songs are less successful however, meaning that I don't go a bundle on "Hammerhead"'s laboured "Rapid fire"-style imagery and the 'Watcher of the skies/look into my eyes' contained within the CE3K-inspired "Take me to your leader".

Elsewhere we have "Thunderburst", an anthemic instrumental that makes "La villa strangiato" sound like "Stranger on the shore", "Hunted" with perhaps the most cataclysmic chorus of all time. 'Nobody understands me/Don't talk to me I can't see/You're nailing my brain to a tree/Why can't you just let me be'...

More metal than the Eiffel Tower? More than the entire fleet of Russian battleships I'd say. And although there once again appears to be a plethora of over-the-top album reviews in this week's issue, "Head on" is nonetheless fully deserving of the five star accolade and is already up there alongside "Wheels of steel" and "Kiss Unmasked" as an album of the year. It isn't out until mid July, so save your shekels.

Geoff Barton

A Review of "Shock tactics" from Metal Hammer

Live at Reading Festival 1980.

It was mainly thanks to this album that UK band Samson (only Paul Samson remains of the original line-up), were hailed as the big hope of the NWOBHM during 1981-'82. Apart from the fact that you find no duff tracks on this piece of vinyl, and despite being pretty basic, "Shock tactics" is still the best product ever recorded by Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson. Despite numerous highlights on "The number of the beast" later he still sounded more desperate, stronger, and less compromising during this late Samson period.

Impressive tracks are Russ Ballard's opening composition 'Riding with the angels', the underground classic 'Earth mother' and the ruff 'n' ready 'Bloodlust', tracks you'll still regularly hear bursting out of my speakers. Paul Samson, one of the world's most underrated guitarists, rips through the air with his cutting riffs and tight solos. I reckon if Brucie hadn't left Samson when he did the band would have easily made the big time with the release of the next LP.

"Shock tactics" is pretty hard to get hold of these days, and a true collector's item - If you ever lay your hands on a copy, ignore the cost, it's worth every penny! Otherwise, get hold of the Samson compilation "Head tactics", where you can hear some of the songs in remixed versions.

The Samson-character works as roadie for the band and this irritates the local securitycrew, guys in orange coloured overalls who communicates with each other by burping loudly, who doesn't like him at all. The feelings are mutual and in the middle of a show he attacks them when they are beating up some headbangers from the audience.

The securitycrew knows a woman and the plan is that she is supposed to seduce him and cut his hair off in the middle of the night, after he's fallen asleep, which she does. Then his strength disappears. But he gets his revenge by tearing down an enormously high stack of Marshall-speakers over them all in the end of the film.

The music that's played are the songs Hard times and Vice versa and the versions are differently mixed and edited from those on the album. The film was supposed to be used as a support feature to the film "Breaking glass" and was to be shown squeezed in between the commercials and the main attraction, but was only used at a handful of cinemas.

It was financed by GTO films and directed by Julien Temple. It was released on video by MMG Video in 1985 and is really hard getting your hands on these days. An interesting note could be that a segment of "Vice versa" appears in the horror-movie Incubus.

"Thunderburst" has an acoustic guitar intro which is not on "Ides..." and the songs are in different keys. One chord in the riffpattern is altered in "Thunderburst" and a choir-like thing is added on the end of the song.

Steve Harris is credited for co-writing on "Thunderburst" while Steve takes the credits himself on "The Ides of March".

Issue #1 features an exclusive interview with Bruce Dickinson. Issue #2 features a report on Paul Samson activities at present. Price: £ 1.59 UK, £2 Europe, £2.50 Rest of the World (All prices includes Postage & Packaging) The Paul Samson Fanzine can be subscribed from: Joe Geesin Street End Lane Broadoak Heathfield East Sussex TN21 8TU United Kingdom

1. Samson used to have an old Ford transit that they called "Mr Heath", named after the British primeminister. It was an absolutely lethal veichle to enter, especially the backseat. If you weren't carefull the springs could shoot up through the seat and pierce your bottom.

2. The cage that Thunderstick insisted upon using was too big to fit in the venues that Samson were playing, but it was used a few times, among them the Reading festival 1980 and the Biceps of steel-video.

3. Paul came up with the riff to the track "Riding with the angels" when he played the riff to the Motor's song "Phoney heaven". This song used to be a part of Samson's live set in the early eightees.

4. The artwork for Samson's 1981 album Shock Tactics inspired Metallica when they were to choose the sleeve design for their 1988 album, "...And Justice For All" A quote from drummer Lars Ulrich; "I would be lying if I said that I didn't look at this cover when we were thinking of ideas for our own sleeve!"

5. There is a 2nd mix of Don't Get Mad Get Even. The producer (Pip Williams) kept a copy of an acetate of the alternate mix.

   There is also a white label test pressing of the normal mix + a test pressing of a slightly speeded up version (the run off groove is therefore a little wider, and the messages are missing), both in a proof sleeve.

6. Back in 1983/84 Paul played on 2 solo LPs by John McCoy, which have just been released on a single CD called Think Hard Again.