Sean Harris and
Robin George (the archetypal nearly man) recorded this album together back in 1985.
George's outstanding solo album, 'Dangerous Music' had gone under with its bankrupt record label. Harris had just broken with Diamond Head.
Young, ambitious, tenacious, with
'Radio Silence' they aimed to "revolutionise the world of rock".
The cruel historical fact is that it didn't. But the truth is that it could have.
They laid down 15 tracks full of raw emotion, searing imagery and two performances from the heart. This original recording was just brimming over with great songs and benchmark performances.
The Record Company execs wanted a more polished, pristine sound. As is often the way, the many recording sessions in countless studios emasculated the duo's original sound, resulting in a stillborn version of the album.
25 years on,
Angel Air have given George and Harris the opportunity to let the world experience their original vision, with the release of that first recording.
And what an album this is. Harris is an absolutely outstanding vocalist. His voice has such an emotional range. It can soothe, it can rip up the scenery. It can do rugged, it can do seduction. It can do rock, pop, funk.
George's sturdy, sinuous melodies, frequently set to thunderous riffs and wailing axes are perfect for Harris's dynamic, dominant vocals. The title track,
'Radio Silence' inherits George's Tech
AOR sound, while the magnificent
'The S'Walk' might easily have been the prototype for INXS's funk/groove/rock recordings that filled dance floors and dominated Top Forties in the eighties and nineties.
By the time you get to third track, '
Arianne', a commercial poprock monster of a song - eerily echoing Lloyd Cole - you wonder why the execs ever thought any of this needed fixing.
The sweet, wordy
'Better The Devil You Know' has an air of innocent wonder, full of jangling guitars and oohing, aahing bgvs, borrowed from the fresh, immediate pop of the sixties, and there won't be many whose pulse isn't quickened by '
It's Energy's booming, arena friendly hook.
The sudden swing to the thumping Westcoast rock'n'soul of
'Do Like A Man' might be a little hard to take, but at a minimum it demonstrates this duo's versatility.
And that notion clearly pulses loud and proud at the heart of this album. Two young musicians with enormous talent who can turn their hand to anything.
It released to enormous critical acclaim.
But guess what?
Within the year of release, the label folded and the album was deleted.
Thank God for visionaries like
Angel Air, exposing us to the fleeting genius of Notorious.
Written by
Brian Monday, January 24, 2011
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