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LABELS
:
UK : Cherry Red Records - 3 CD -
HNECD223T (October 25, 2024)
Warrior
is :
Vinnie Cusano / Vinnie Vincent (lead vocals, guitars)
Hirsch
Gardner (drums)
Jimmy Waldo (keyboards)
Gary Shea (bass)
Mark Slaughter (lead vocals on "Thrill Of The Chase")
NOTES :
The demo's are recorded
at The Record Plant, Los Angeles.
The rehearsals are (mainly) recorded at S.I.R. studios, Los
Angeles.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (by
Cherry Red Records) :
The
WARRIOR story goes back to 1982 when New England members
Jimmy Waldo on keyboards, bassist Gary Shea and drummer Hirsch
Gardner were searching for a replacement for recently departed
guitarist, John Fannon. A then unknown guitarist Vinnie Cusano
was recommended by KISS’s Gene Simmons (both bands were
represented at the time by manager Bill Aucoin). Cusano was a
prolific songwriter, and sent some of his song ideas to the
Boston based
NEW ENGLAND for consideration. So impressed was the trio
with Cusano’s song-writing abilities that they agreed to
relocate to Los Angeles where the guitarist was based, and the
band
WARRIOR was born.
Recording began at the famed Record Plant with serious interest
from CBS Records, but the band were also diligent enough to
record demos and rough ideas on a more modest set-up, capturing
the fledgling band on cassette.
Unfortunately for
WARRIOR, Vincent Cusano’s talents meant that the guitarist
was snapped up by KISS in 1982 to replace Ace Frehley for their
“Creatures Of The Night” LP, their last in make-up, where he’d
be rechristened Vinnie Vincent.
Those
precious WARRIOR recordings gathered dust until
HNE released a collection of them in 2017. Later on more tapes,
some of significantly better quality were found and released as
a 2CD set of
WARRIOR recordings in 2019.
And again, for this release, subsequently,
more tapes, some of significantly better quality, have been
unearthed from Gary Shea’s personal archive.
Shea and Waldo would remain in Los Angeles, soon joining up with
Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnet to form Alcatrazz with Yngwie J.
Malmsteen.
This 2CD set is a treasure trove for all those who loved the
power, quality and sheer momentum of the first “WARRIOR”
album, “Warrior II” adds to the band’s legacy and legend.
Extra NOTES :
"Back On The Streets" is also
recorded by the band 3 SPEED in 1984 for the "Voyage
Of The Rock Aliens"
soundtrack album.
The same year Frehley's Comet demoed "Back On The
Streets".
"I Need Love", apart from being a Warrior
demo, this song would be demoed, along with other Vinnie Vincent
material during Vinnie's recording career with KISS. Parts of
this song would be recycled into the Vinnie Vincent Invasion
track "Shoot U Full Of Love".
"Baby Oh Why" would be re-written as
"Baby-O" for inclusion on Vinnie Vincent Invasion's
1986 album.
"Thrill Of A Chase" was first roughly demoed by Steven Rosen and
Jimmy Waldo.
When Vinnie Vincent heard that demo, he loved the song so much
that he was keen to do his own version of it. That's why Warrior
and Vinnie Vincent (as well as singer Mark Slaughter) went into to studio in 1988 (6 years after
the band split up) to record the song.
A different version (without Vinnie Vincent's vocals and
guitars) appeared on Jimmy Waldo & Steven Rosen's "Voices
Of The Past" (2018).
(Copyright registered in April 1988)
For more details on these recordings check out
MetalTalk.net, which page contains interviews with
Hirsch
Gardner,
Jimmy Waldo and
Gary Shea.
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