Cherry Red [Release date 13.02.26]

The two Wild Horses’ studio albums were arguably the last gasp of seventies’ hard rock before it went under.

Glaswegian forces of nature, Brian Robertson and Jimmy Bain, guitar and bass (and vocals), had jumped ship from Thin Lizzy and Rainbow respectively, after recent live album successes.

Their reputation went before them…hard drinking, hard living, hard rock. It came through in the music.

And they weren’t going down without a fight… the albums were a one-two punch that represented everything that was great about the genre musically, from a band that was over almost as soon as it began.

Trailing a decade of hard and heavy rock behind them, they founded Wild Horses in 1978, adding drummer Clive Edwards (Uli Jon Roth, UFO) and multi-instrumentalist Neil Carter (UFO, Gary Moore) to the line up.
They were soon snapped up by the EMI record label.

Once again, kudos to Cherry Red. This boxset again reveals another significant feat of research and logistics.

The songs written for those albums : The First Album (1980), produced by Trevor Rabin, and Stand Your Ground (1981), produced by Kit Woolven, present the base material from which this boxset is constructed.

CD1 : The First Album Original Mix, plus The First Album Remixed and Remastered (w/2 bonus tracks).
CD2 : Stand Your Ground Original Mix, plus Stand Your Ground Remixed and Remastered.
CD3 : The First Album Bonus Tracks (16).
CD4 : Stand Your Ground Bonus Tracks (13).
CD5 : Live At The Marquee
CD6 : Live In Tokyo 1980

Over less than a handful of years then, the band laid down around fifty studio tracks that we know about. Impressive. Worthy of applause.

But it’s the songwriting, the production craft, and the songs’ gritty emotional honesty that make this work.

There are unmistakeable echoes of Thin Lizzy (Face Down / Blackmail). The music here is arguably leaner and tougher, but just as heavily melodic. The song titles reflect the mood and the life Robertson and Bain were living – ‘Dealer’, ‘Nights On The Town’, ‘Women’, to name but three from the debut.
This is the big city sound of the street, put to music.

And while the slicked up sound on the second half of CDs 1 and 2 emphasises the commercial appeal written into the music, Rabin and Woolven deserve credit for the strength of the original production.

Robertson’s lyrical axework and the beautiful descending chords of ‘Fly Away’, written by him with Phil Lynott, are uplifting. This is rock music with ambition and panache.

‘Street Girl’ has Rabin’s fingerprints all over it, recalling his Can’t Look Away solo album, while ‘Criminal Tendencies’, the second single, is a cool little pop song.

Nothing from the second album quite competes, but the soulful ‘Precious’ and the freewheeling blues rock of ‘I’ll Give You Love’ run it close.
Elsewhere, the basic ingredients are present and correct, but lack studio TLC.

But in fairness, it’s on Discs 3 and 4 that things start getting interesting, with 29 unreleased tracks from the band’s short but explosive lifespan.

The rough mixes of ‘Reservation’ just smoke. Robertson’s guitarwork bites and stings. The sparky, new wave-ish rough mix of ‘Top Mod’ (later to become ‘Face Down’) promised something different, not realised on the final version.

There’s so much more here to discover.

What they did was put it all on record as an example of how professional precision can successfully walk hand-in-hand with free falling indulgence.

Recent research, analysing the career trajectories of successful Hard Rock bands, determined that their average life expectancy is around seven years, Wild Horses lasted for two.

But the studio recordings and the live music they delivered in that short period were just brimming with brilliant performances, done with wonderfully rocking and occasionally funky, bluesy arrangements, and most of all, enough heart and soul to thrill any rock fan. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 26 January 2026

JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR Hell Or High Water (Journeyman Records)
TY FREEMAN One Way Love (indie)
GREY DAZE Monster You Adore (indie)
HOKKA Death By Cupids Arrow (Nuclear Blast Records)
PURPLE DOTS Stared At The Sun (Kycker)
SAINT AGNES Song For Mia (Spinefarm)
STREETLIGHT Shake That Feeling (Frontiers)

Featured Albums w/c 26 January 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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