Review | Trapeze – Lost Tapes Vol. 2

Metalville Records

In November 2023 yours truly reviewed the Trapeze-album ‘Lost Tapes Vol. 1’ for this web magazine. The album was compiled by Tom Galley and former Trapeze manager Tony Perry as it was the wish of guitarist Mel Galley, who started the band with drummer Dave Holland and bass player/vocalist Glenn Hughes, and passed away in 2008 that left over material that was recorded during the years would be worked on and released.

Tom Galley (also the man behind the Phenomena project) fulfilled the wish of his deceased brother and spent a lot of time going through recordings and old demos finding enough material to compile that ‘Lost Tapes Vol. 1’ record. At the end of my review which you can read if you use our ‘search’ button and type in artist and album, I wrote that I would not be surprised if somewhere down the line a second ‘Lost Tapes’ album would be compiled and released.

MORE JEWELS IN THE CLOSET

Tom Galley, Tony Perry, and Marcus Galley (the son of Mel Galley) have managed to find more jewels in the Trapeze-closet. Yes, this is first and foremost ancient stuff but it pleases me to be able to conclude that the fifteen songs on this record showcase the more rockier side of Trapeze although some funky influences (that came mostly from Glenn Hughes) are also showcased here like for instance the track ,,Loser’’. During their existence of some ten to twelve years Trapeze featured Hughes and Galley behind the microphone, but also singer Peter Goalby had a decent spell in the band (late seventies before bailing ship to Uriah Heep). The songs have all three of them on board which gives the whole record some extra variety.

ROCKIER

As I said, these songs bring forward a more rockier side of Trapeze like the beautiful opener ,,Homeland’’ with a brilliant Hughes or ,,Hold On’’ where Goalby steals the show. And what to think about ,,Coast To Coast’’, an original Trapeze song, written by Hughes and that you may know from the Hughes/Thrall album that came out in 1982. Even after all these years a beautiful song indeed. The record also showcases what an underestimated guitarist Mel Galley was. Some of his riffs are just fabulous.

TRAPEZE – THE CONCLUSION

Obviously, the recordings are very old and you can hear that. But if you are able to look through that you will be confronted with a very decent record. A record that even holds the last song that Mel Galley ever recorded. Although at the time he was already sick and knew that his time was very limited he recorded ,,Live Fast Die Laughing’’ with Mel on vocals. A bit of a bittersweet rocker if you ask me with a title that was typical for Mel Galley. He wanted just to ‘get on with it’.

I do realize that just as its predecessor ‘Lost Tapes Vol.2’ will be something for the happy few among us, but if you are familiar with Trapeze and a fan of Glenn Hughes in particular these bunch of songs are really good to hear. It is certainly not a release that will make it into the charts but it is a great memory of a band that played its role in their day.

Release date: 15 November 2024