Following his departure from Gillan in 1981, guitarist Bernie Tormé seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. With the release of his 1982 album Turn Out The Lights and the single ‘The Beat’ it seemed like the world was ready for another guitar hero to shape up against Eddie Van Halen, Ritchie Blackmore, the Schenker brothers and their ilk. The follow up Electric Gypsies continued Tormé rock meets, pop meets, punk approach as they searched for mainstream approval and a major label deal. Those first ventures into a solo career where covered on HNE/Cherry Reds first archive set Lightning Strikes – Volume One (1982-1983) and now comes part two Tormé covering the period between the 1985 release of Back To Babylon up to 1993 when he retuned to his power trio format and eventually released Wild Irish in 1997, accompanied by Chris Jones and John Pearce of The Anti Nowhere League.
Volume two encompasses his next three studio albums, Back To Babylon, the prophetically titled Die Pretty, Die Young (1987) and Demolition Ball (1993), the later now includes a whole additional disc of associated tracks and demos, as well as the 1987’s Official Bootleg live album recorded at Hammersmith’s Clarendon Ballroom. Following the Electric Gypsies project Bernie Tormé had decided that it was time for a break from covering both guitar and lead vocals, so he set about putting a “band” together. He had already recruited Chris Heilman via a recommendation from fellow Gillan member, bass player John McCoy who unfortunately had his hands full working on his own solo efforts (but did find time to produce Back To Babylon) as well as Ian Whitewood for his live band and was just in need of a suitable vocalist to front the new outfit. Step forward former Girl vocalist Phil Lewis who himself was in a state of flux following the demise of his own glam/hard rock troupe. The result was Back To Babylon an album which uses a mixture of Lewis’s glam swagger and Tormé’s punk rock attitude that is sometimes successful, as on ‘ All Around The World’, ‘Star’ and ‘Hardcore’ which fit quite comfortably in a scene of Asylum era Kiss or ‘Family At War’ and ‘Mystery Train’ which, with the assistance of another old Gillan pal, Colin Towns guesting on keyboards show another, more direct side to the band. My overall opinion of Back To Babylon though is of a band searching for a direction (which it probably was) with sleaze (‘Burning Bridges’) and hard rock (‘Front Line’) adding to the glam/punk melting pot. When it does gel… boy does it gel, as demonstrated on ‘Arabia’ a song which seems to light the path to Lewis’s future move to L.A. Guns. The bonuses are just as diverse with the “Glitter Band” glam on ‘T.V.O.D’ and ‘Love, Guns And Money’, plus the full on punk of ‘Kerrap’ from 1986’s So You Wanna Be A Star E.P. sharing space with a cover of Cameo’s ‘Word Up’ (move over GUN) and a dance (???) take of ‘Bo Diddly’. The two live tracks (Tormé 1984 single, ‘My Baby Loves A Vampire’ and Gary U.S. Bond/Gillan cover, ‘New Orleans’) are a very welcome addition. Two years on and with many road miles behind them the bands second effort, Die Pretty, Die Young was a much more cohesive piece of work. Lewis had settled in to his new roll and Tormé had dialled back the flash and enhanced his sound with some powerful riffage on tracks like ‘The Real Thing’, ‘Sex Action’ (no relation to the L.A. Guns track of the same name), ‘Memphis’ and ‘Ghost Train’, sure he was still prone to let loose at times on ‘Ready’, ‘The Way Of The East’ and the emotional ‘Crimes Of Passion’, but combined with the lo-fi “living room” production this adds a comfortingly gritty feel to proceedings. Eight bonus tracks boost the track listing and once again it is the live offerings (‘Crimes Of Passion’ and ‘Memphis’) from the album, this time recorded at the legendary Marquee that are the cream of the crop. Still unable to raise any interest from the majors and with Phil Lewis being lured to L.A. to join former Guns ‘N Roses six stringer Tracii Guns in L.A. Guns, Bernie followed suit and relocated to the States, but not before putting out Official Bootleg. The 1986 London show finds the line-up at their most comfortable blasting through “the hits” (‘Turn Out The Lights’, ‘All Around The World’, My Baby Loves A Vampire) alongside album cuts and crowd pleasers ‘Star’ and ‘New Orleans’. Add two bonus live tracks and this really is the best disc of the Lewis years. Completing the set is an extensively extended two CD version of the Demolition Ball album. Back in the UK following his time abroad, which included a stint with Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider in Desperado, Tormé hooked up with vocalist Gary Owen (TNT, Samson) to continue a liaison initially triggered following Phil Lewis’s exit, as well as John Pearce on bass and Chris Jones on drums, chasing a rawer sound for his next release… and that is exactly what he got. Owen is a more than capable vocalist but doesn’t compete with Tormé in the slightest making this a full throttle, balls to the wall, HEAVY METAL! guitarfest. ‘Fallen Angel’ kills, ‘Black Sheep’ and ‘U.S. Maid’ have Motley swagger, ‘Action’ is raptastic, ‘Ball And Chain’ is pure pop metal plus he really channels his exasperation at the way Desperado ended on ‘Walk It’, ‘Let It Go’ and the stadium ready ‘Draw The Line’. This time around from the first note to the very last (‘Man O’ Means’ is stunning), guitar is God. Just the way it should be in the hands of such a talent. But heavy metal was old news and Nirvana and Soundgarden were now a thing, so in spite of its quality Demolition Ball disappeared without trace. The final disc supplies a complete offering of demos to enhance your experience of Demolition Ball with very different approaches to many of the albums fine tracks and more (‘Shoot The DJ’ would eventually appear on White Guitar Trash in 1999). Comprehensive sleeve notes are supplied by music journalist Rich Davenport and include many touching tributes an amazing guitar-man. Cue Volume Three.
Bernie Tormé went on to have a very full and varied musical future playing with Silver with Gary Barden (MSG), Ginger Wildheart, ex-Thin Lizzy and fellow Irishman Eric Bell and his old sparring partner, the ever present John McCoy in Guy McCoy Tormé (G.M.T) as well as releasing a string of fine solo albums prior to his sad passing in March 2019 just a few days prior to his 67th birthday. Bernie Tormé… he should have been a ‘Star’ and now he is. Burn bright.
- Reviewed By Peter Brockwell.
- The Bernie Tormé Archives Vol 2: 1985-1993 (5CD Set) is released via Cherry Red Records/HNE Recordings on 26th July 2024.
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Track List:
Disc One – Back To Babylon (1985)
1. All Around The World
2. Star
3. Eyes Of The World
4. Burning Bridges
5. Hardcore
6. Here I Go
7. Family At War
8. Front Line
9. Arabia
10. Mystery Train
Bonus Tracks:
11. T.V.O.D
12. Kerrap
13. Love, Guns And Money
14. My Baby Loves a Vampire (Live at The Marquee)
15. New Orleans (Live at The Marquee)
16. Word Up (Cameo Cover)
17. Bo Diddly
Disc Two – Die Pretty, Die Young (1987)
1. Let It Rock
2. The Real Thing
3. Ready
4. Sex Action
5. The Ways Of The East
6. Killer
7. Memphis
8. Louise
9. Crimes Of Passion
10. Ghost Train
Bonus Tracks:
11. All Around The World
12. Chain Gang
13. Mystery Train
14. Let It Rock (Alternate Take)
15. Crimes of Passion (Live at The Marquee)
16. Memphis (Live at The Marquee)
17. Born To Rock (Demo)
18. Mystery Train (Demo)
Disc Three – Official Bootleg (1987)
1. Frontline
2. Turn Out The Lights
3. Hardcore
4. Star
5. Burning Bridges
6. T.V.O.D
7. My Baby Loves A Vampire
8. New Orleans
9. Love, Guns And Money
10. All Around The World
11. Mystery Train
12. Frontline
13. Come The Revolution (Live at Brunel)
14. Arabia (Live at Brunel)
15. My Baby Love A Vampire (Studio Version)
Disc Four – Demolition Ball (Disc One, 1993)
1. Fallen Angel
2. Black Sheep
3. Action
4. Ball & Chain
5. Slip Away
6. Long Time Coming
7. Spinnin’ Your Wheels
8. Don’t Understand
9. Industry
10. Draw The Line
11. U.S. Maid
12. Let It Go
13. Walk It
14. Man O’ Means
Disc Five – Demolition Ball (Disc Two, 1993)
1. Monkey Business
2. My Darlene
3. Coast to Coast (Band Demo)
4. Can’t Stop The Rain (Band Demo)
5. Action (Demo)
6. Shoot The DJ (Demo)
7. Coast to Coast (Demo)
8. Snakeskin (Demo)
9. How Long (Demo)
10. The Last Time (Demo)
