TRAPEZE – Don’t Stop The Music: Complete Recordings 1970-1992 [Cherry Red 6xCD Box Set remastered] (2023)

Cherry Red Records an association with Purple Records are releasing “Don’t Stop The Music: Complete Recordings 1970-1992“, a brand new 6 disc Box Set of TRAPEZE, featuring a young Glenn Hughes.
Including the first three albums from Trapeze circa 1970-72 recorded for the Threshold label plus a previously unreleased 1973 live set recorded in Dallas, Texas, along with their intimate Borderline show from 1992, this remastered box is a must for for fans of classic rock from Deep Purple to The Dead Daisies.
Especially of interest is the unheard Trapeze’s major stronghold in the States in Texas, from where the unreleased recording of their show in Dallas while promoting their third record hails. It’s vibrant, lively, with all members inspired.
Glenn Hughes would leave Trapeze soon after that show to join Deep Purple, leaving Mel Galley and Dave Holland to fly the Trapeze flag for the remainder of the 1970s, which will be captured on the second Volume of Trapeze’s complete recordings.
Trapeze periodically reformed this classic three-piece line-up, most notably in May 1992 at London’s Borderline, captured here on CD 6 as ‘Welcome To The Real World’.

Sown from the seeds of two Midlands bands, Finders Keepers, featuring Mel Galley (guitar/vocals), Dave Holland (drums) and Glenn Hughes (bass/vocals), plus The Montanas’ John Jones (vocals/trumpet) and Terry Rowley (keyboards/guitar/flute), Trapeze were discovered by 60s beat supremos The Moody Blues, snapped up for their own Threshold label for whom they recorded three albums, the first two of which were produced by The Moody Blues’ John Lodge.

Sown from the seeds of two Midlands bands, Finders Keepers, featuring Mel Galley (guitar/vocals), Dave Holland (drums) and Glenn Hughes (bass/vocals), plus The Montanas’ John Jones (vocals/trumpet) and Terry Rowley (keyboards/guitar/flute), Trapeze were discovered by 60s beat supremos The Moody Blues, snapped up for their own Threshold label for whom they recorded three albums, the first two of which were produced by The Moody Blues’ John Lodge.

The influence of John Lodge and The Moodies is all-pervasive on the debut LP, particularly on the brash The Giant’s Dead Hoorah!, the adventurous Fairytale, the melodic It’s My Life and the psychedelic ballad Send Me No More Letters, the band’s debut single.
Elsewhere, the influence of psychedelic-period Beatles is detectable on Over And Suicide, both delightfully representative of their period and genre. The meandering, folky, Am I and the acoustic Another Day – some wonderful harmony vocals here – both remind me of the nascent Bowie and, for the aptly-titled intro and outro tracks, It’s Only A Dream, it’s pretty clear that Trapeze had been listening closely to what Syd Barrett and his Pink Floyd buddies had been up to.

Even at this early stage, it’s clear that Trapeze were accomplished instrumentalists. Dave Holland’s drums are solid and confident-sounding, Hughes’ bass underpins everything – as it should – and Mel plays some delightful guitar, particularly when he picks up his acoustic.
Trapeze was a promising debut album from a band that seemed poised to follow in the steps of their Moody mentors.

Their self-titled debut veers closer to the late 60s psychedelic rock and progressive pop of their Moody Blues mentors than the blues and soul infused hard rock that Trapeze are better known for, as evidenced on their second album, ‘Medusa’, which saw the band scaled down to the power trio of Galley, Holland and Hughes, where they finally found their definitive sound.

Right from the first bars of opening track Black Cloud – itself, arguably the band’s peak achievement – Trapeze are on fire, and the pace never lets up. The multi-themed Jury switches effortlessly from quiet contemplation to a full-bore heaviness that would leave even Black Sabbath trailing in its wake, Your Love Is Alright is tight and soulful – almost to the point of being funky and, continuing along that same road, Touch My Life is more soulful still.
Blues gets a look-in on Seafull, a song with strong similarities to Led Zeppelin’s Babe I’m Gonna Leave You – and Mel Galley throws in a soaring guitar solo – whilst Makes You Wanna Cry is exactly the kind of strutting rocker that drew young men into heavy rock in their droves during those heady early-seventies days. And, for dessert – how about that peerless title track in which Hughes sets the template for every heavy metal vocalist who follows and Galley embellishes his Brontosaurus riff with a set of stunning solos.

Trapeze released their third album ‘You Are The Music • We’re Just The Band’. Produced by Neil Slaven, the album includes a number of notable guests, including B. J. Cole on steel guitar, plus Rod Argent on electric piano.
For this, the band’s third album, John Lodge relinquished the producer’s chair in favour of Neil Slaven and BJ Cole and Rod Argent were amongst the guests brought in as Trapeze sought to complement the funk-rock that had become their signature style with the occasional foray into softer, melodic, often soulful territory.
Glenn Hughes, on his last album before his defection to Deep Purple came up with five of the album’s eight songs, with the remaining three being chipped in by Mel Galley and his brother Tom.

You Are The Music… is an excellent, well-produced album that captures a band that is maturing and progressing into something that is really quite special. Some of the band’s longer-term fans may have had trouble adjusting to the mellower material on offer, but the critics certainly loved the album with Billboard, Rolling Stone and the British inkies all publishing highly positive reviews.
The heavy rock is still there, notably the thunderous Feelin’ So Much Better, a sound shot at the good-time rock that Bad Company did so well and Loser, a straight-ahead, no-nonsense rocker, but the decibels are tempered by a couple of tasteful, soulful ballads – the nice-and-easy Coast To Coast, a relaxed, mellow song topped off with some delicious pedal steel from BJ Cole and the gorgeous Will Our Love End, a slow ballad with lots of presence, some amazing sax from Jimmy (brother of Pye) Hastings and what might just be the best guitar solo that Mel Galley ever committed to vinyl.

But, most of all, You Are The Music… is, I’d suggest, best remembered for its dalliances with funk. The anguished soul ballad, What Is A Woman’s Role and the raucous Way Back To The Bone both owe as much to Nile Rodgers as they do to his namesake Paul, and the wonderful (part) title track, You Are The Music is surely the best mix of funk and heavy rock ever – the verses are pure Studio 54 and the chorus is solid British steel.

And that’s just the studio-derived part of this extensive package.
Discs 4 & 5 to this set are the home of that previously unreleased 1973 live show from Dallas. The tapes are clearly culled from a radio broadcast and the lack of any post-production adds to the excitement of the recording.
The sound quality is pretty good too – certainly far superior to bootleg quality – and Trapeze are on top form.

Although the band will have been promoting You Are The Music… at the time of the recording, the setlist leans more heavily upon Medusa, with six of the nine tracks spread across the two discs coming from that source.
The theatre audience are obviously up for it, and the atmosphere is electric as Trapeze deliver show-stopping versions of You Are The Music, Jury, Seafull and, particularly, Black Cloud. I suspect that it’s these live discs that will attract most of the die-hard Trapeze fans to this set and, I can guarantee, they won’t be disappointed.

Those same fans will be far more familiar with the contents of Disc 6, the In The Real World live album recorded at London’s Borderline in May 1992 and originally released in 1998.
It’s a far smoother affair than its Dallas brother and it’s clearly evident that the band members have all got a few more years of performance experience under their respective belt. Ex-Buggle Geoff Downes sits in on keyboards and adds to the richness of the sound, particularly on the softer, mellower numbers such as Welcome to the Real World and Touch My Life.
Glenn’s vocals have matured, too, and any trace of the harsh edges that may have been present with his earlier attempts at soul vocalizing are gone. In fact, here he gives Steve Marriott – or even Marvin Gaye – a run for his money…

The version of You Are The Music, the album’s opening track, is sublime and the heavy rock element of the fanbase is catered for more than adequately with great versions of Midnight Flyer (from the 1974 Hot Wire album) and Homeland.
Inevitably, the band fall back to Medusa for the songs to conclude their live set and both Your Love Is Alright and, of course, Black Cloud are once again, excellent, enhanced and sonically upgraded for the nineties.

As well as forging a compelling solo career, Glenn Hughes would eventually form Hughes / Thrall, join Black Sabbath, collaborate with artists as varied as Gary Moore, Joe Lynn Turner and the KLF, found both Black Country Communion and California Breed, as well as fronting The Dead Daisies.
Cherry Red have done it again and, with ”Don’t Stop The Music: Complete Recordings 1970-1992”, they’ve made ’70s classic hard rock fans very happy.
Great box set with a complete covering of this seminal rock band.
Highly Recommended

DISC 1 – TRAPEZE (1970)
1 It’s Only A Dream
2 The Giant’s Dead Hoorah!
3 Over
4 Nancy Gray
5 Medley: Fairytale/Verily Verily/Fairytale
6 It’s My Life
7 Am I
8 Suicide
9 Wings
10 Another Day
11 Send Me No More Letters
12 It’s Only A Dream

DISC 2 – MEDUSA (1970)
1 Black Cloud
2 Jury
3 Your Love Is Alright
4 Touch My Life
5 Seafull
6 Makes You Wanna Cry
7 Medusa

DISC 3 – YOU’ RE THE MUSIC, WE’RE JUST THE BAND (1972)
1 Keepin’ Time
2 Coast To Coast
3 What Is A Woman’s Role
4 Way Back To The Bone
5 Feelin’ So Much Better Now
6 Will Our Love End
7 Loser
8 You Are The Music

DISC 4 – LIVE IN DALLAS – PART 1 (1973)
Recorded live at the Majestic Theatre, Dallas, Texas, USA, 27th April 1973
Previously Unreleased
1 Way Back To The Bone
2 You Are The Music
3 Jury
4 Seafull
5 Your Love Is Alright

DISC 5 – LIVE IN DALLAS – PART 2 (1973)
Recorded live at the Majestic Theatre, Dallas, Texas, USA, 27th April 1973
Previously Unreleased
1 Medusa
2 Black Cloud
3 Keepin’ Time
4 Touch My Life

DISC 6 – WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD (1992)
Recorded live at The Borderline, London, 16th May 1992
1 You Are The Music
2 Way Back To The Bone
3 Welcome To The Real World
4 Coast To Coast
5 Midnight Flyer
6 Homeland
7 Touch My Life
8 Your Love Is Alright
9 Black Cloud

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www.amazon.co.uk/DONT-STOP-MUSIC-RECORDINGS-1970-1992/dp/B0BLSYGBN9