The Lost UK Jewels Vol.8 ; TOKYO – Listen To Your Heartbeat
As part of the excellent “The Lost UK Jewels” series, this Vol.8 features TOKYO, a pretty killer band that released a much sought after EP in 1988; “Listen To Your Heartbeat”, here fully remastered alongside other material of the band ranging from 1984 to 1989.
This disc number eight in the series is by Eeighties Pompsters Tokyo, who emanated from the North-West of England and recorded several demos in the years before winning a 1988 “Battle Of The Bands” contest; the prize of which was to record a three-track EP.
Led by singer Mike Dyer, one of the main problems for Tokyo was the revolving door of musicians around him.
The three EP tracks are the best; ‘Listen To Your Heartbeat’ and ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ in particular being strong upbeat AOR of the time with nice guitar parts, Magnum-like keys and Dyer’s distinctive vocals.
Two tracks from 1989 showcases the band going in a rockier direction, ‘Great White’ is faster and heavier than anything else on show, and ‘Five Knuckle Shuffle’ has more of a Van Halen / Dave Lee Roth slant to it, particularly on the vocals.
‘Leave Me Alone’ is from 1984 and is pretty AORish with that lovely synth sounds, ‘True Justice’ and ‘Black Jack’ are a cross between NWOBHM and Pomp somthing many UJ band where doing at the time – and the 1986 tracks ‘Hide And Seek’ and ‘The Losers’ carry Dyer’s Magnum-influences again, something heard in the 1988 too.
The crunchy sound quality of the live ‘Jailbait’ (recorded 1987) shows what a tight live band they were and is actually one of the better songs here.
Tokyo UK got the Melodic Rock chops and the AOR skills, unfortunately never found a chance to record a full length album.
This Limited Edition of 500 copies comes, as usual, complete with a booklet featuring magazine reviews / interviews of the era, rare photos and the history of the band.
HIGHLY Recommended
01 – Listen To Your Heartbeat (EP – 1988)
02 – Satisfaction Guaranteed (EP – 1988)
03 – Sixteen (EP – 1988)
04 – Great White (1989)
05 – Five Knuckle Shuffle (1989)
06 – Leave Me Alone (1984)
07 – True Justice (1985)
08 – Black Jack (1985)
09 – Hide And Seek (1986)
10 – The Losers (1986)
11 – Jailbait (Live – 1987)
Mike Dyer – vocals
Steve Karr – guitar, backing vocals
Mick Clarke – guitar
Martin Anderton – guitar
Ian Marshall – keyboards
Dave Evans – keyboards
Mark Buckle – keyboards
Stephen James – bass, backing vocals
Phil Newton – bass
Pete Dunn – bass
Rod Yates – drums, backing vocals
Pete Martin – drums
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