BLACK ROSE UK – Boys Will Be Boys ’84 [35th Anniversary Expanded Edition remastered] *HQ*

A couple of days ago we featured the reissue of the second album by British Eighties band BLACK ROSE, now it’s very cool to hear their first, 1984’s ‘Boys Will Be Boys‘, in its 35th Anniversary Expanded Edition remastered done by ProgAOR Records and their ‘Dyamond Roxx Series’, including as bonus tracks a single B-side and their 1983 mini-album. Complete with 20-page booklet with lyrics, band photos of the era and liner notes by Steve Bardsley himself, this is the very first release of this album on CD.

BLACK ROSE (UK) is one of NWOBHM’s most cherished bands – they never achieved major success but their brand of early ’80s metal with melody was pretty original, and good. In its origins the group was known as ICM, and changed to Black Rose around 1980 and obviously, the name was taken from the classic Thin Lizzy album going by that name.
After some demos the band recorded songs for compilations, continued to play the local circuit relentlessly and supported bands like Diamond Head, Saxon, Raven, and finally the band got a deal with Bullet Records, who released the first self-titled EP in 1983. The EP also moved the band into a more melodic writing approach. The use of harmony vocals and catchy choruses was introduced into Black Rose music.
In 1984 the first album came out called ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ and it showed a natural progression and development of the songwriting with yet stronger songs and more memorable melodies. It is also obvious that Black Rose were honing their craft and slowly getting better at what they did. It was quite far off the raw heavy metal of the first demo and 7” single.

BLACK ROSE formed in 1980 with the original line up consisting of Steve Bardsley (Vocals / Guitar), Kenny Nicholson (Lead Guitar), Marty Rajn (Bass) and Mark Eason (Drums). They played gigs all over the North East of England with a mixture of covers and self penned songs, gaining a large local fan base that followed them everywhere they played.
In 1981 they recorded a live demo featuring six tracks at the renowned Impulse Studios in Wallsend, Newcastle the home of Neat Records. The six tracks were – Alright On The Night, Biker, Killer, Loveshock, Ready Aim Fire and Raised In Hell, which featured in both local and national rock playlists with Killer also getting into the Bailey Bros. top 10 playlist and featured in KERRANG! magazine.

The line up changed over the next year or so and now only Steve Bardsley remained from the original line up and he was joined by Chris Watson (Lead Guitar), Mick Thompson (Bass) and Mal Smith (Drums). In 1982 they released their first single on the local Teesbeat label, a track called No Point Runnin’ which bacame a bit of an anthem for the band b/w Sucker For Your Love.
A local buisnessman, who was also a local music promoter called Jim Sculley, became the bands manager and apart from organising gigs and promoting the band, he also struck a deal with a Staffordshire based independent record label called Bullet – who in their early days were an exporter of UK rock music records – to release their first album ”Boys Will Be Boys” in 1984.

The LP received very good reviews and was the main reason why they ended up being tagged as part of the second wave of NWOBHM that was very popular within the UK heavy rock scene at the time.
A couple of major record labels started taking interest in the band, most notably Atlantic and Bronze records, but sadly the signing of that major deal never came to fruition.
The band toured all over the UK and played three times at the legendary Marquee club in London as well as playing over in Europe where they headlined and also supported some of the biggest rock names from the 1980’s including Diamond Head, Budgie, Raven, Spider, Vardis and Terraplane (who later became Thunder) to name but a few.

‘Boys Will Be Boys’ is a very cool record with that typical NWOBHM twin guitar attack and melodic arrangements, however Black Rose put focus on harmony vocals as well. 10 tracks of good British traditional metal.
The bonuses include a single B-side and the band’s self-titled 1983 EP ‘Black Rose’, which in fact was a demo, hence sound quality isn’t the best. Additionally, the original tapes were lost. But the remastering does its best to obtain a decent quality.

In part due to their frustrations and legal issues due to an American band put together by Cher (yep!) with the same name halting sales of their second LP ‘Walk It How You Talk It’ in the U.S. (and K-tel Records abandoning the band and the album) BLACK ROSE split up in 1989. The band did a comeback in the 2010’s, but that’s another story.

01 – Boys Will Be Boys
02 – We’re Gonna Rock You
03 – Just Wanna Be Your Lover
04 – Baby Believe Me
05 – No Point Runnin’
06 – Fun And Games
07 – First Light
08 – Burn Me Blind
09 – Stand Your Ground
10 – Knocked Out
BONUS TRACKS:
11 – Liar (B-side)
12 – We’re Gonna Rock You (’83 EP version)
13 – Used & Abused (’83 EP version)
14 – Red Light Lady (’83 EP version)
15 – Stand Your Ground (’83 EP version)

Lead and Backing Vocals, Rhythm Guitar – Steve Bardsley
Guitars, Backing Vocals – Chris Watson
Bass, Bass Pedals, Backing Vocals – Mick Thompson
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Malla Smith

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