MelodicRock.com Reviews


DAVID GLEN EISLEY
THE LOST TAPES
Frontiers FRCD 088
Produced by: Various
Released: August 20 / Website
Relatives: Giuffria, Dirty White Boy
GENRE: AOR
OVERALL: 87%

  1. Stand Up
  2. Are You Ready
  3. Shot Down In Love
  4. Don't Turn Away From Love
  5. Slip Of The Tongue
  6. The Ballad*
  7. Lay Down Your Love*
  8. Back Of My Hand*
  9. Boot Hill Blues (Live)*
  10. One Love
  11. Jealous Heart
  12. Golden Town
  13. Pleasure Palace

This is one of the more interesting 'archive' AOR releases in a while.
This is a wonderful collection of unreleased tunes featuring one of the genre's best vocalists.
David Glen Eisley started out as vocalist with the much loved Giuffria, before fronting the harder edged Dirty White Boy, before again moving into a more metal direction, only to return to his melodic roots in recent times.
There will be some debate however, over whether this album should have been credited as a DGE solo release.
The unreleased tracks on this album are from two different bands.
9 of the 13 tracks are from the sessions that were under way for a third Giuffria album. Those sessions would later result in the debut House Of Lords album, albeit with a change of line up and vocalist.
The other 4 tracks are from the sessions that lead to the debut Dirty White Boy album. That was Earl Slick and David's baby, so I see no problem including them here. For the record, those DWB tracks are marked with a *.
But the other 9 tracks are essentially an unreleased Giuffria album, with the songs co-written by the guys in the band at the time - Greg Giuffria, Lanny Cordola & Chuck Wright.
Regardless of the politics of the matter, this is a fantastic collection of pure 80's melodic rock tunes. I am great fan of both Giuffria/House Of Lords and Dirty White Boy and I suggest that any other fans of the bands will get a huge kick out of this.
The production is excellent, with all tunes well mixed and mastered and the performances and song quality match those of the first two massive AOR Giuffria albums and the harder, bluesier debut Dirty White Boy album.
If anyone (me included) always wondered about the huge production/style difference between Giuffria's Silk & Steel album and the debut House Of Lords album - here is the missing link that makes the jump a lot clearer!
For good measure, three tracks that were actually used on the House Of Lords album are included here - Slip Of The Tongue, Pleasure Palace and Jealous Heart. David sings them with all the passion he can muster and it is interesting to hear them with a different vocalist - as they first started out.
The Ballad is also somewhat familiar - that track evolved into You Give Me Love from the DWB album.
It should be noted that the production quality of this album is beyond what I expected. It is very good indeed.
BOTTOM LINE: Like I said - this record is primarily 4 demo's from the DWB sessions and 9 from the album that fit between Silk & Steel and House Of Lords.
That means that it is a collection of monster melodic rock tunes featuring one fine vocalist and a bunch of great and highly influential musicians of this genre. My only problem is that they go largely uncredited.
Still, as a piece of AOR history, this release is highly worthy and quite important in the scheme of things.
I mean no offence to David, but this album is actually a better and more enjoyable release than his previous solo debut from last year.
PRODUCTION: 88% SONGS: 95% VIBE: 85%ATTITUDE: 80%
ESSENTIAL FOR: All fans of Giuffria, Dirty White Boy and David Glen Eisley.
DISCOGRAPHY:Giuffria; Dirty White Boy; Murders Row; Stream; Solo - War Dogs . Stranger From The Past . The Lost Tapes



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