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From the Midlands’ vaults
Cherry Red Records is releasing on November 24, 2023, a Glenn Hughes and Robin George collaboration album Overcome, originally recorded back in 1989.
A chance meeting between Glenn Hughes and Robin George eventually resulted in an invitation for Glenn to sing backing vocals for Robin and Sean Harris’ Notorious album, which lead to a full collaboration between Robin and Glenn. The album started life as a solo Robin George record and developed into ‘Overcome’, complete with four songs co-written by the pair; ‘Number One’, ‘Sweet Revenge’, ‘Don’t Come Crying’, and the title track.
Such was the faith and strength in the new recordings, that a major label deal was struck but fell through, leaving these recordings to languish in the vaults. Glenn is on fine form on the album, and among the 13 tracks of melodic, and occasionally funky, hard rock, one special treat is the track ‘Haunted’, essentially recorded by a reformed Trapeze, featuring Dave Holland, Mel Galley and Terry Rowley.
Over the years, Robin George has collaborated with many musical legends, from Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, Thin Lizzy’s Philip Lynott, Uriah Heep’s David Byron, UFO’s Pete Way, John Wetton & Asia, Daniel Boone, Raymond Froggatt and the Quireboys’ Spike. As a native of Wolverhampton, it’s no surprise that a musician of Robin George’s caliber would cross paths with local heroes Trapeze.
Track listing:
- Flying
- Overcome
- I Want
- Haunted (featuring Trapeze’s Dave Holland, Mel Galley & Terry Rowley)
- Number One
- Sweet Revenge
- The American Way
- Machine
- Steal My Heart
- Things Have Gotta Change
- Don’t Come Crying
- Loving You
- War Dance
The album can be pre-ordered via the label.
Thanks to BraveWords for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
‘Haunted’ was part of the Highlander II movie OST. It’s a number that in my ears cries more “Liverpool!” than “Wolverhampton!”. It sounds nothing like Trapeze really.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i89QtsGGjY
The version of Robin George is less lush in production than the soundtrack one (him and Glenn played on that too however), I like it better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4uen_Lxspg
10 of the 13 songs have been available before on a low key release by Krescendo Records in 2008 under the title ‘Robin George/Glenn Hughes – Sweet Revenge’, of those 10 songs Glenn only had a co-write on three tracks (but he sings lead on all). ‘I Want’, ‘Steal My Heart’ + ‘Loving You’ are first time available, I can’t say anything about those.
When Glenn collaborated with Robin on this, he was still fully in addiction (which didn’t mean that he couldn’t sing as those recordings amply prove). And wearing pink shorts which perhaps helped with the high notes a little.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHACC0VCEMI
The music?
– A bit of Hughes Thrall (but not as clever),
– a bit (actually more than a bit!) of The Power Station (this being a Purple forum: the mid-80ies disco rock project by Duran Duran and Chic people featuring Robert Palmer on vocals), but not as fashionable, time had moved on in the intervening years,
– a bit like Glenn’s AOR solo album ‘From Now On …’ and
– a bit like Glenn’s later solo album ‘Feel’ too (the funk influence).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAZ7lt4Jb0w
Those of you who already reach for their Oxycontin when Glenn sings ‘This Time Around’ with Mk IV will probably not be scrambling for this in droves. For all the others: Glenn sings excellently and Robin George can can write a tune or two (making for more immediately accessible melodies than on most Glenn Hughes solo albums):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DehY47uHMHo
The late 80ies keyboards and the production date this recording, but hey, not everything was bad about the 80ies. I for one liked Duran Duran, Billy Idol, The Power Station and these guys from Belfast!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqpe_NCE4yk
I digress, where were we?!
The project with Glenn was the predecessor to what Robin George did next (your hunch that Glenn’s addiction might have been the culprit for its failure is as good as mine), namely get a hold of Sean Harris from Diamond Head (Glenn was still featured on backing vocals though) and with the aid of John Kalodner and perhaps some/a lot of inspiration from INXS (our Aussie subscribers will no doubt be pleased to note!) released this under the moniker of NOTORIOUS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maFhAgA_d-U
We all know what happened next, some moody kid in Seattle named Kurt picked up a guitar and the course of rock history was changed forever …
That said (great big sigh!), I really miss those 80ies vids with assorted models languishing through every scene with no apparent deeper meaning, but easy on the eye.
September 7th, 2023 at 23:4910 of these tracks came out in 2008, the album was called Sweet Revenge and is on Apple Music in the UK
September 8th, 2023 at 09:25Read about Robin George & a few older interviews with him as I thought I had heard of him somewhere from years gone by. With David Byron of course, there are some good songs there also. George has worked with some some talented musicians from times gone by. “and with the aid of John Kalodner and perhaps some/a lot of inspiration from INXS (our Aussie subscribers will no doubt be pleased to note!” No they will not, well at least one will not. I loathed that band & I know a few others who also had no time at all for them. Cheers.
September 9th, 2023 at 21:44Mastered from the original tapes,so it says elsewhere. Happy to plug a hole in my GH collection, with three unheard tracks. It’s a pity that Glenn won’t authorise a release of his ‘unreleased Warner Brothers album.I have read that Robin George is on that album along with Pat Thrall,Dave Holland & Mel Galley.
September 10th, 2023 at 16:33I didn’t even know he had a say in that “lost Warner Brothers album” being released or not. He hasn’t been that particular in the past about stuff being released if you think of Four On The Floor, his sessions with Geoff Downes or Tony Iommi or the Incense & Peaches release. There must be an unreleased comeback album with Pat Thrall somewhere in the can too.
https://getreadytorock.me.uk/blog/2020/04/feature-albums-that-time-forgot-hughes-thrall/
The reasons given by Glenn why it never got finished and released (basically: “We were both too busy and on different paths.”) don’t sound very convincing.
September 10th, 2023 at 21:25@1…Good set of videos & tunes Herr Uwe !
There was a lot going-on in the 1980’s, & it’s always seemed funny to me that people said “Disco sucks”, & “Disco is dead” etc etc, & yet imo, it discretely reinvented itself through video, MTV, & the big radio hits of the decade via new synthesizer sounds & production techniques. It was like everyone was still milking the same “disco cow”, but instead of calling it milk, it was chocolate, banana, strawberry or whatever you want, flavoured-drink…What a milk-shake hey ?…
INXS were no different, they just happened to get lucky & became internationally recognized, & to their credit, delivered hit after hit, milking that cow. If there’s any disliking them here in Oz, it’s probably because they spent more time overseas than here at home perhaps ?…I don’t mind them, & they actually played some good rock in the late 1970’s, but chose the gravy-train road perhaps. Bills have to be paid. Here’s a clip to a great song called “Don’t Change”, & what did they do ???…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLm3Khusq_8
The GH & RG album sounds quite good too, with GH singing & playing really-well, gauging from the clip posted.
Peace !
September 11th, 2023 at 09:19‘Overcome’ has been released now and I have listened to my copy repeatedly, it’s excellent. The sound quality is much better than on the previous 2008 release which was based on mp3 sources Robin George sent around for demo purposes, this now sounds pristine, albeit it lives and breathes 1990 of course.
If you like the poppy/AOR side of Glenn’s work (Hughes Thrall, From Now On …), this is no doubt for you, it’s a bit like a more organic, danceable version of what Asia did around the time. Or perhaps even Queen and INXS, that type of pop rock.
And for the Glenn naysayers here: He goes out of his way to sing “nice” on this album and skips the falsetto histrionics mostly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHtmGWLZzFU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY06FxEp7lk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tm9RsWmpu8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl2jpGwvA6c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhS8aq8bEao
AND I (dramatic pause)
ONLY REALIZE THIS NOW (holds breath …)
VIA ROBIN GEORGE’S INSTRUCTIVE LINER NOTES:
This is in fact that long-lost “Warner Bros album” that Glenn Hughes fans have always been salivating about and on which the HS wrote here:
“Sometime during 1990
Glenn Hughes
People involved
Glenn Hughes (vcl/bss?); together with others.
Hughes recorded an entire album for Warner Bros sometime during 1990. So far it hasn’t been released. Someone’s bound to know why. In any case, tracks from these sessions surface once in a while on various pirates/bootlegs. Track titles include “Dangerous Music”, “Welcome To The Real World”, “Sweet Revenge”, “Homeland”, “The American Way”, “Flying”, “Haunted”, “Things Are Gonna Change”.”
The bass (and all other instruments) were played by Robin George. It was essentially a Robin George solo album where Glenn took all the vocals and co-wrote four songs.
Recommended.
December 4th, 2023 at 15:43