TRAPEZE – Trapeze ’75 [Rock Candy Remastered & Reloaded]

Rock Candy Records has remastered two underrated albums by British cult rockers TRAPEZE that well worth to revisit. This is the self-titled “Trapeze” from 1975, not to be confused with the debut of the band with different line-up.

The British Midlands produced an extraordinary amount of heavy rock bands during the late 60s and early 70s. Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin spring immediately to mind, but of serious note are Trapeze, the group that first introduced us to the extraordinary talent of vocalist and bassist Glenn Hughes.
Developing a fervent fan following, especially in the USA, this killer power trio specialised in a brilliant mash-up of hard rock and funk. All was going swimmingly until Hughes was purloined in 1973 by rock behemoths Deep Purple.

Refusing to succumb to defeat, Trapeze regrouped, this time adding two new members to fill the void left by Hughes whilst founding member (and future Whitesnake) Mel Galley assumed lead vocal duties. ‘Hot Wire’, the resultant album, was an impressive statement, sending out an unequivocal message that the band was far from spent.

For this, their fifth album (confusingly self-titled) the band continued their musical assault, unleashing a record that was more consistent with arena rock of the mid seventies. Released at the end of 1975, produced by Steve Smith (Back Street Crawler, Rough Diamond and Detective) and recorded in London at Island Studios (mixed by an uncredited Eddie Kramer), the record showcases defiant swagger, and riffs to die for.

With most the songs composed by Mel Galley and his brother Tom, “Trapeze” is some kind of departure from the band’s heavy-funk origins, turning more bluesy hard rock, not too far from the sound of the upcoming Whitesnake.
Anyway, there’s two tracks featuring Glenn Hughes on lead vocals (and one co-written) who had remained a staunch supporter of the band.

As happened with all the second-era Trapeze albums, “Trapeze” was really hard to find on CD and as far I know, this is the first remastering treatment received by this really good record.
Rock Candy provided a warm, atmospheric sound here. I am not sure, but I think this is a different mix from the originally appeared on the vinyl LP.
Good vintage, classic hard rock.
Highly Recommended

01 – Star Breaker
02 – It’s Alright
03 – Chances
04 – The Raid
05 – Sunny Side Of The Street
06 – Gimme Good Love
07 – Monkey
08 – I Need You
09 – Soul Stealer
10 – Nothin’ For Nothing

Mel Galley – guitar, vocals
Rob Kendrick – guitar
Pete Wright – bass
Dave Holland – drums
Glenn Hughes – vocals on tracks 3 and 10

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www.amazon.co.uk/Trapeze/dp/B00UI75172