In the days before CDs were stuck to magazine covers, you had to pay record companies to do their marketing. In 1983, I sent off £1.25 plus postage and packing for the Neat Records compilation, 60 Minute+ Metal. I was curious to hear what these bands that I had been reading about in Kerrang! over the previous year or so sounded like.
I soon (well after around 28 days or so) found out - they were rubbish. Well, they were all rubbish apart from one. Bursting Out by Venom was an utter mess that sounded like it had been recorded in the drummer's bedroom, but it didn't sound like anything else on the tape, or anything else that I had heard, and it gave me a liking for Venom that I've never really lost.
That's because it had been recorded in the drummer's bedrom. Jess Cox had a hand (probably still does have a hand) in all things Neat. His version of Piece Of The Action by his previous band Lionheart was a standout track for me; then again it had got pedigree - written as it was by the venerable John Lockton.
ReplyDeleteI like Piece of the Action too. I have the Lightnin' to the Nations 4CD box set which is very Neat-dominated and the quality holds up there a good bit better than it did on this tape. Thing is, if you're going to put our a sample tape and then ask people to go to the trouble of sending in money (plus a SAE) for it, you should at least put the band's best song on it. Fist and Venom, to name two had much better stuff than what was on the tape.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember this offer. Generally I had a lot of time for Neat Records, I still consider the LEADWEIGHT compilation is a slice of fried gold. Includes the wonderful song Soldiers of War by the Dundonian band Satan's Empire (what a great name for a band). Oh yeah
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