LovePower And Peace’ is an eclectic but somehow cohesive collection of songs put together by Robin George and Angel Air Records in aid of charity. Uniquely, all the proceeds from its sales will go to the 3 charities of choice here.

George is joined by the great and the good from the UK’s rock, metal and soul scenes, underground movements all, but simply bursting at the seams with talent.At random:- Daniel Boone, Ken Hensley, Pete Goalby, Pino Palladino, Pete Way, John Wetton and Brian Tatler.

As you might expect, there are several choice cuts from George’s back catalogue, plus reworks of pop/rock standards. All in all, 17 cracking tracks.The real highlights are the sinuous, soulful title track, sung by Jacki Graham and Ruby Turner and ‘Pride’, a George/Turner co-write with a smouldering, seductive groove, liberally sprinkled with Motown magic, again sung by Turner.

There’s plenty of room too for George’s tech rock, though it’s unusual hearing Sean Harris singing his very own version of ‘Cocoon’ and Charlie George singing ‘Bluesong’. ‘Wasted Time’ is an old Asia demo from the eighties, dug out and dusted down by Wetton and George. They turn it into a deeply satisfying – if slightly dated - Tech Rock / ELO pop hymn.

Elsewhere, Daniel Boone’s achingly eloquent vocals wring out every ounce of pathos from ‘Another Lonely Night’, a song originally written by Boone and George for Alvin Stardust. But we won’t hold that against them. George’s breakthrough song, ‘Heartline’ pops up again, densely constructed in the studio with Nick Tart contributing a suitably hard rock vocal performance.

Ribboned with melancholy, Phil Lynott’s tribute to Elvis,‘Kings Call’ gets another outing, an ode from a giant of rock who went too soon to a giant of rock who went too soon.

Charity albums are often an indulgence, where unwritten excuses are made for second rate performances, but this stuff is dynamite. An outstandingly good rock album in its own right. And for the casual fan, a highly entertaining voyage of discovery.

The 3 charities are : Compton Hospice in Wolverhampton; Haven House in Essex and the Birmingham Centre For Arts Therapies.All 3 have websites. Take a look
http://www.compton-hospice.org.uk/  http://www.havenhouse.org.uk/ http://www.bcat.info/

Brian McGowan www.midlandsrock.co.uk

Things move fast in the Music biz and when guitar legend Robin George was touched personally by the hospice movement and also saw your old scribe's piece about Music therapy and the arts therapies , he went into action. Opening his address book, which looks more like a Who's Who of contemporary music, Robin pulled together the critical mass of talent that now makes up the LovePower project. A clever combination of studio time fitted around everyone's busy tour schedules, with skillful drop-ins from those on the other side of the world, result in a set of masters (you can't call them 'master tapes' in the digital age) of musical excellence and diversity that would add up to a masterful talent showcase even if there wasn't a higher purpose.

'C' is for 'Cocoon', one of Robin George's tunes from his 'Life' catalogue. 'Pride', track 4, by Ruby Turner could stand up as a motown great (reminiscent of Stevie Wonder's productions). 'Kings Call' invites comparisons with the Travelling Wilburys; written by Phil Lynott and Robin George, it was an evolution beyond Thin Lizzy and deserved more attention than it got at the time, so this release might do the trick.

Help From My Friends?

Regular readers might expect the old scribe to supremely cynical about yet another rendition of this Lennon/McCartney classic, which is so often cheesily covered. This straight cover avoids dairy product comparisons, sentiments are never cheesy (a bad thing) and guitar solos never yogurty (good or bad depending on context). A singalong classic that gets respectful treatment from

1. Ruby Turner, Jaki Graham & The LovePower Band: Love Power &Peace
2. Seven Golden daffodils: Seven Golden daffodils
3. Sean Harris & Howard Scarr: Cocoon
4. Ruby Turner & The lovePower band: Pride
5. Charlie george & The lovePower band: Bluessong
6. The lovePower band & Friends: World
7. The lovePower band: Kings Call
8. David Byron & The lovePower band with Roger Flavalle: Tired Eyes
9. The lovePower band & Friends: Another Lonely night
10. The lovePower band & Friends: With A littel Help From My Friends
11. Pete Goalby & Robin George: Mona Lisa Smile
12. John Wetton & Robin George: Wasted Time
13. Damage Control with 'Fast' Eddie Clarke: Alice
14. Marshall law with robin George: No Justice
15. Life with Nick Tart: (sounds like a TV show title) Heartline
16. Robin George & Friends: Next To You
17. Robin George & Friends: Angelsong

Conclusions

If this had arrived as a compilation showcasing the talents on a record company roster, from Soul greats like Ruby Turner & Jaki Graham, and Jaqui Williams, to a roll call of legendary rockers (including apearances from band members of Asia, Uriah Heap, UFO, Bad Co., AC/DC, King Crimson, Qireboys, Hanoi Rocks, UK Subs, Diamond Head, Trapeze, Magnum, Life, Notorious, Climax Blues Band, Tina Turner, Giorgio Moroder, Manfren Mann, The Who, the God of Hellfire Arthur Brown, Steve Hunter, Robert Plant and Jools Holland) and sax breaks from the man whose solos have graced the Rolling Stones, and your old scribe would have been well disposed to the content. Your old scribe loves a good compilation and this is certainly that, and well recorded despite having to be constructed from components in some places, because of the impossibility of getting this line up in one place at one time.

Those with elephantine memories will remember Robin George from his 1985 debut album ‘Dangerous Music’, possibly the greatest soft-rock album ever written; or maybe from the ‘History’ EP which preceded it, or from Ted Nugent’s cover of ‘Go Down Fighting’; or maybe from his production credit on Diamond Head’s second single. Whichever, the guy’s a genius with a lengthy track record although has never really focussed enough on any one direction to gatecrash the big time.

George’s latest offering ‘LovePower And Peace’ is a charity album with a split personality. The first ten tracks are a mix of originals and covers and feature the LovePower band – Robin George (guitars and vocals), Jacqui Williams (vocals) Pete Haycock (guitars), Mel Collins (sax), Charley Charlesworth (bass) and Charlie Morgan (drums) – aided and abetted by a host of luminaries including Ruby Turner, Ken Hensley, Sean Harris, David Byron and Morgan Fisher. Amongst the scattergun of rock, blues and soul, the pièce de résistance is undoubtedly the eight-and-a-half minutes of ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ which allows the guest guitarists (including Brian Tatler, Dom Brown, Eddie Clark and Conny Bloom) to flex their muscles. The LovePower Band’s take on Phillip Lynott’s ‘Kings Call’ is a worthy effort too, and it’s great to hear David Byron on such good form on ‘Tired Eyes’.

After that come another seven cuts featuring just Robin George and assorted guests: Marshall Law romp through their own ‘No Justice’; the Pete Way/Robin George composition ‘Alice’ sounds like a track from ‘Dangerous Games’ as remixed by Kurt Cobain and features Eddie Clarke once more; and yet another version of George’s greatest solo hit ‘Heartline’ pops up, although the reworking and vocals courtesy of Diamond Head’s Nick Tart don’t really do it any favours this time around.

All profits go to Compton Hospice, Wolverhampton, Haven House, Essex, and the Birmingham Centre for Arts Therapies, and the album has such broad appeal there’s bound to be something on there you’ll like. So go buy a copy now.

Whilst Robin George may not have become the household name he surely deserves to be, a quick glance at the amount of names willing to offer their contribution to this album goes a long way to showing just how much respect he has in the music world. His latest album for Angel Air Records LOVEPOWER AND PEACE was recorded and released with the intention to give one hundred per cent of the profits to three charities which is a fantastic effort really considering just how much work has gone into creating it.

This has been a labour of love over the past couple of years for Robin George as he has assembled a set of top draw musicians and vocalists to appear on this charity album. Before you even mention the guest musicians, the LovePower Band itself features such names as Pete Haycock (Climax Blues Band/ELO Part 2), M People’s Jacqui Williams and respected saxophonist Mel Collins, who has worked with Bad Company, Camel and the Rolling Stones amongst many others.

The songs on here come from all of Robin George’s solo and band output to date including Life, Notorious, Damage Control and Marshall Law are present with ‘No Justice’, as Robin George produced one of their albums. Even those that are sadly no longer with us like David Byron, have their original vocal backed by a modern band recording.

Highlights? Being totally honest the whole damn album! But to cherry pick a few great top hear Pete Goalby (ex-Uriah Heep) again on ‘Mona Lisa Smile’. There is a mini-Fastway reunion on ‘Alice’ with ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke hooking-up again with UFO’s Pete Way – Spike of the Quireboys shares the lead vocal on this one with Robin. There is a superb run through ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ where Robin is joined by Sean Harris (ex-Diamond Head) and Jacqui Williams (boy can she hit the high notes!). Former Mott The Hoople man Morgan Fisher and Conny Bloom (The Electric Boys) are amongst the backing musicians. ‘Seven Golden Daffodils’ is worth a listen for the sublime harmony vocal parts. Finally, ‘Heartline’, Robin’s biggest solo hit, gets a reworking with current Diamond Head vocalist Nick Tart singing on this one. At first it sounds very strange but it soon grows on the listener and gives the original a good run for its money.

A winner in two ways – a good resume of Robin George’s work to date and all the profits go to three worthy charities.

*****
Classic Rock/Jason Ritchie Review

You can’t blame Robin George for his desire to play safe after two of his promising endeavors have been thwarted by ailing singers, David Byron and Phil Lynott who chose substances-fuelled deaths over life. Both are present here, on the guitarist’s star-studded project from which all profits fuel three British charities -- all in the name of life.

There’s Lynott’s spirit in the LOVEPOWER BAND’s take on his Elvis’ tribute "King’s Call", in George’s hands a moving, acoustically framed lament for THIN LIZZY’s singer himself, while Byron’s own voice carries another twilit ballad, "Tired Eyes". That highlights the leader’s MO: a careful use of existing tracks for additions and overdubs. Yet it never sounds like a recycling, as DIAMOND HEAD’s Sean Harris breathes fire in LIFE’s "Cocoon" and Jacqui Williams’ voice completely transforms old chestnut "Seven Golden Daffodils", rough in DAMAGE CONTROL’s version and totally transcendental now. One of the latter group’s recordings, "Alice", forms a part of the bonus section of the CD, "Friends of LovePower" alongside gems from Robin’s archives featuring, among others, more URIAH HEEP’s members, Pete Goalby and John Wetton, but the bulk of it rides on the back of new songs.

It starts with a title cut which grows from an acoustic roll into a gospel hot-air balloon soaring on Ruby Turner and Jaki Graham’s soulful belting and floating with Mel Collins’ sax, Ken Hensley’s Hammond and a mighty choir. The same package lies in the foundation of the grooving, slide-smoothed "World" where Arthur Brown joins the "Emmerdale" actress Freya Copeland Vix and Robin George at the idiosyncratic mic. And, of course, there’s his shining guitar in the center of it all, but the veteran’s only happy to share the spotlight even in these stakes, so "Bluesong" cradles Steve Hunter’s solo. What with the seriousness of it all, "Pride" is a jolting slab of funk to shake up one’s mood, and "Another Lonely Light" harks innocently back to the early ’60s. Perhaps, "With A Little Help From My Friends" seems a bit hammy as a closer to the main part of the for more veterans – from MOTORHEAD, MOTT THE HOOPLE and more - and, in the end, it is what it does when an artist calls for the indifferent kindred spirits to get there for the right reasons. Listening is taking part in this one success of an endeavor.***
Dmitry Epstein http://dmme.net

Notorious – Radio Silence (Angel Air)
Robin George is one of those nearly men, both in the sense that he has collaborated with some of the biggest names in rock and metal (Phil Lynott, Glenn Hughes, John Wetton, Robert Plant, David Byron) and also in the sense that a lot of the projects he’s been involved with nearly got an album released! In recent years Angel Air Records have made it one of their goals to collaborate with George to allow much of this hidden and unreleased material to see the light of day.

The latest in this line comes in the shape of ‘Radio Silence’ by Notorious, which was the name for George’s collaboration with the at the time just departed lead singer from NWOBHM legends Diamond Head, Sean Harris. George had produced the song ‘Sweet & Innocent’ on the Head’s classic ‘Lightning To The Nations’ album, so when Harris departed the band it didn’t take long for the pair to pool their talents and record the quick fire set of songs that make up ‘Radio Silence’.  Instead of, as they were advised, releasing the album straight away in its rough and ready state, two years were wasted going from studio to studio and through countless producers trying to make the songs absolutely perfect. Perfection though never appeared and the chance was gone, with these fifteen songs ending up gathering dust for twenty five years.

So with George’s blessing ‘Radio Silence’ is silent no more and what a surprising mix it is. I suppose with the electro-AOR sound of much of Robin George’s solo material, I shouldn’t be surprised that there are many of those same influences on show here, but I had expected Harris to bring a more metal based edge to proceedings. On the strength of the opening title track, that proved to be the case, with a gritty riff and some excellent layered vocals, it is a rip snorting beginning to the album. However it all goes off at a tangent from there, with everything from Richard Marx and INXS, to The Police and the drum sound of Fine Young Cannibals being evoked across a set of songs that never quite lives up to the harder hitting, more straight forward approach of the opener. George is superb, if a little too deep in the mix and Harris brings more commercial sheen to his delivery than his previous work had ever suggested, with the mix of rock, AOR, funk and eighties synth, being an obvious attempt to gain some chart success. In truth, I’m not sure that these songs are really quite sharp, or smart enough to have broken Notorious big, but they are enjoyable enough, even if very of their time.

Whilst not essential ‘Radio Silence’ is a further interesting chapter in the colourful story of Robin George’s vast and eclectic musical journey and for that alone, it is well worth a listen.

Steven Reid Fireworks

 Steven Reid

Robin George (the archetypal nearly man) recorded this album together back in 1985.
George's outstanding solo album, 'Dangerous Music' had gone under with its bankrupt record label. Harris had just broken with Diamond Head.
Young, ambitious, tenacious, with 'Radio Silence' they aimed to "revolutionise the world of rock".
 
The cruel historical fact is that it didn't. But the truth is that it could have.
They laid down 15 tracks full of raw emotion, searing imagery and two performances from the heart. This original recording was just brimming over with great songs and benchmark performances.
The Record Company execs wanted a more polished, pristine sound. As is often the way, the many recording sessions in countless studios emasculated the duo's original sound, resulting in a stillborn version of the album.
25 years on, Angel Air have given George and Harris the opportunity to let the world experience their original vision, with the release of that first recording.
 
And what an album this is. Harris is an absolutely outstanding vocalist. His voice has such an emotional range. It can soothe, it can rip up the scenery.  It can do rugged, it can do seduction. It can do rock, pop, funk.
George's sturdy, sinuous melodies, frequently set to thunderous riffs and wailing axes are perfect for Harris's dynamic, dominant vocals. The title track, 'Radio Silence' inherits George's Tech AOR sound, while the magnificent 'The S'Walk' might easily have been the prototype for INXS's funk/groove/rock recordings that filled dance floors and dominated Top Forties in the eighties and nineties.
By the time you get to third track, 'Arianne', a commercial poprock monster of a song - eerily echoing Lloyd Cole - you wonder why the execs ever thought any of this needed fixing.

The sweet, wordy 'Better The Devil You Know' has an air of innocent wonder, full of jangling guitars and oohing, aahing bgvs, borrowed from the fresh, immediate pop of the sixties, and there won't be many whose pulse isn't quickened by 'It's Energy's booming, arena friendly hook.
The sudden swing to the thumping Westcoast rock'n'soul of 'Do Like A Man' might be a little hard to take, but at a minimum it demonstrates this duo's versatility.
And that notion clearly pulses loud and proud at the heart of this album. Two young musicians with enormous talent who can turn their hand to anything.
It released to enormous critical acclaim.
But guess what?
Within the year of release, the label folded and the album was deleted.
Thank God for visionaries like Angel Air, exposing us to the fleeting genius of Notorious.

Written by Brian Revelationz Mazgazine

The silence may come after defeaning thunder - and two heavy stalkers provide it here in exquisite spades.

Another album marked by a Robin George curse, which means it sunk on the original release to be ripe for rediscovery and revaluation two decades on. This time the guitarist's partner in crime was Sean Harris from DIAMOND HEAD whom George produced, but what the pair delivered had a pronounced commercial edge. Perhaps, not too commercial for the late '80s to make it big time, though the bubbly shuffle of "The S'Walk" was a neat chart-biter with its P-Funk gloss instead of metal one could expect from its masterminds, while "You Need More" is an upbeat, if airy. ballad up there with the best from the hairy royalty of its decade.

Here, re-sequenced and expanded, the songs punch the bag from the title cut, that has a bluesy slide lick squeezed between the funky jive and harmony choruses, to the swaggering closer "Good Times" that sums up the hour spent with this album. Even when the flow is loose, like in the bass-shaking and harmonica-riding "Do Like A Man", it goes straight to the nerve as does the silky, strings-wrapped blues "I Believe In You" which showcases Harris' soft spot rather than hard place - but "The Game's Up" recycles the "All Right Now" riff for the umpteenth time, while "It's Energy" feels too generic to ripple a soul. The Philly-sounding brass and guitars mix of "Soul On Fire" rectifies that, yet "Radio Silience" still remains a product of its time, a nice one with it.

Let it Rock DME music site

One of the interesting things about specialist reissue label Angel Air is that a number of their releases are by artists who could be classed as "nearly men"; ones who almost made that all important breakthrough but for reasons of record company politics, management incompetence, poor timing or simple bad luck it never worked out. That could certainly be said of Notorious, the band assembled by Robin George and former Diamond Head vocalist Sean Harris who cut these recordings back in 1985 only to see them gather dust for two years by which time their moment had passed.

Life - Cocoon (CD, Angel Air, Pop)
Reissue of Life's 1997 album (actually recorded in 1995 but released in 1997) remastered...with bonus tracks. This band was the project spearheaded by guitarist/vocalist/producer Robin George working with vocalist Nick Tart (from Diamond Head). Cocoon has a big, thick, arena rock sound that incorporates elements from 1970s progressive rock with 1990s heavy metal. Plenty of big keyboard sounds and fast noodly lead guitars here. Fifteen tracks including "Dangerous Music," "What Goes Around Comes Around," and "The End of the Line."

Damage Control are a power trio formed by Robin George…what you get on Raw is good old fashioned blues rock. One of the joys of the album is, as the name implies, the raw sound of George’s guitar; its rough edge dominating this classic sounding album.

Classic Rock Society Magazine 

Formed by Robin George, with Pete Way and Chris Slade, this powerhouse trio rocks the blues.
Mojo

 Only a moron would dismiss an album that pools the pedigree of Robin George (ex-Thin Lizzy), Chris Slade (ex-AC/DC) and Pete Way (ex-Ozzy). The three warhorses of Damage Control stare defiantly from Raw’s back cover with snarls and sunglasses. Needless to say these guys can all play- George’s beefy, British sounding guitar, in particular would thrill even if he was playing Three Blind Mice…

A British Rock Supergroup, Damage Control produces an album of bluesy hard rock..although at times the sound takes on a surprisingly grungy edge.

The three musicians involved are all undoubtedly skilled veterans of the rock scene and Robin has plenty of nice licks up his sleeve.

Heavy Magazine

The name LIFE Robin George, then a young guitar slinger, first used for his debut single in 1980 and revived this four-letter word in the early '90s when, having gained a great experience as a sidekick for THIN LIZZY's Phil Lynott and URIAH HEEP's David Byron and a producer, he came up with a band of his own in the company of Nick Tart on vocals. The group toured intensively recording this album along the way, but in the times of grunge reign this kind of melodic hard rock, fashionable half a decade earlier, didn't find a listener, yet now, in expanded form, it proudly stands its ground.

It's a strong work, the George-Tart co-write "The Language Of Love" boasting a catchy blues jive and a lot of funk, whereas the titular song is gospel-tinged and "Oxygen" flows as a soulful ballad. Some songs on the record had obviously been in place before the band came to be: the opener, "Dangerous Music", riff-rich and adorned with John Young's keyboards, originally was the title track for Robin's 1985's album, yet here it has much more grit - which must have made a live favorite - and provides the base for the more loose "Don't Come Crying". Still, while the leader's guitar playing is excellent throughout, tracks like "Losing You" are strictly of their era and today sound dated; at the same time, "Let It Burn" and "Rush" rage very contemporarily.

Sadly, LIFE's life wasn't long - "The End Of The Line" bids farewell on an exquisite acoustic passage - but with George still active and Tart fronting DIAMOND HEAD, "Cocoon" has both historic value and emotional zip to be viable in this day and age.

***

http://dmme.net/reviews

With an album entitled Cocoon we might have expected the Life project to make their first release on the Chrysalis label.
"Oh no!" groan plebs, stage left, "the old scribe's CD reviews are prompting punnilingus"

Robin George, the guitarist and driving force behind this project, has produced or remixed many of the Angel Air releases and notably played on the Damage Control supergroup project. A lifestyle more workaholic than rock and roll seems to have overcome middle aged rockers as their greater experience and increased skill makes possible those ideas they may have carried half-formed for years. naturally the psychological aesthetics of the middle aged writers and performers are more likely to strike a chord with middle aged listeners like your old scribe. This is good news for such performers as we're a disc buying public not a file sharing public and we tend to demand the higher quality that journeyman honed skill creates. Another winner is Angel Air Music who are a small independent record company not a multinational entertainment conglomerate who would be more interested in the reality show quick buck.

In addition to being a skilled producer Robin is a versatile first call guitarist who seems to be able to produce any style and any tone at will. This is what has kept him earning and perhaps what has kept him safely away from becoming public property; guitarists with a one-trick sound often become more famous with the record buying public who recognise the style as a brand and dislike anything new or different. A public whose loyalty to those types of players is not unconditional; such superstar fan loyalty is 100% dependant on the artist sticking to familiar product, even to the extent of shouting 'Judas' in one famous Manchester Free Trade Hall incident incident suggesting religious mania seizing those who demand the same old stuff from performers. Robin George doesn't offer that at all; in 1988 I had the same reaction to Jeff Healey the first time I saw him perform (at Nottingham's Rock City) that he was too versatile to become a guitar hero and was more a music lover's musician than the potential object of a musical personality cult. The chameleons of sound, who can match their playing to any material sound fresh every tune but can't be predictable enough to inspire mindless worship. This rambling preamble is to prepare you not to expect the same as Damage Control or Robin's work with David Byron (hence nor of Uriah Heap), so what should audiophiles expect of this new CD?

Robin plays safe with the opener by using Dangerous Music, title track of his '85 album and possibly the least challenging track on this album, described as "a typical cheesy intro" by my 15 year old son. The second track guitar sounds like so like Free we have to ask what kind of deal Robin struck at the crossroads... and if Robin George has much of the deceased Koss about him, singer Nick tart is scarily comparable to the probably still alive Robert Plant, emphasised by Robin's production which does at time resort to emphasising this resemblance.

"This is a REAL STEREO website" challenge plebs, stage left, "Track by track obsessions are surely the province of Music Nerds and their ilk."

There are tracks equalling the best of Red hot Chilli Peppers (comment by 17 year old son) or Alice Cooper (ditto), but it's not that he's too generic; the opposite is true, Robin George is almost not generic enough (the 17 year old's view again). This is an album without fillers. While Cocoon lacks a consistent identity (perhaps your old scribe was brought up on too many concept albums) it also lacks fillers. Despite the handy remote control there's no temptation to skip.

This CD holds the listener's attention with consistent musicianship and sound quality until the closing track; perhaps too much compression on individual instruments for audiophile tastes, overall compression is much less than typical these days. The final The End of the Line track is well cranked up, relying on production skill for dynamic shading, and succeeding.

Life's Cocoon is immaculate and I'm beginning to suspect Robin George has OCD in the control room, an occasional mistake might roughen the texture like Viktor Schlovsky's Ostranene.

TNT MAGAZINE

The secret weapon of British guitar army shoots with both his barrels.

Mostly known as a sidekick to the stars, it's on his own that Robin George gets a real kick out of the music he plays; it's not vanity, though, it's the fact that the guitarist's own voice - not pretentious but pleasant vocals - doesn't distract from his instrument. Here's the whole package, then, on these two discs, with 10 years between them, the studio and concert one.

The earlier, "Dangerous Music Live", has a period charm but transcends it thanks to the angular riffing and fiery solos, so the commerical gems "Heartline" and "Showdown" come counterbalanced with spiky groovers such as "Spy", which Robin would re-cut two decades later with his new band, DAMAGE CONTROL, that picked up where DANGEROUS MUSIC left off with this set. It rocks hard, bonus tracks underlining the power of "No News Is Good News", where the rhythm section, RENAISSANCE's Jon Camp and MAGNUM's Ken Gorin, propel the main man's axe to rage wildly together in "History", with the title track and "Go Down Fighting" packing the best punch.

"Crying Diamonds" is much more mature work, infused with a sense of tragedy from losing two friends: URIAH HEEP's David Byron, the guitarist's partner in shaping up the muscular bluesy funk of "Learn The Dance", and Phil Lynott who George co-wrote the titular Beatlesque song with and whose "King's Call" he re-imagined acoustically to make it a valediction to the THIN LIZZY man. But the memorable chorus of "Face To Face" bubbles with vitality, while "Cocoon", the soulful would-be axis of Robin's next band's album, sees the master foray into the Brian May harmonic solo territory. Unlike many other guitarists who made their names in the '80s, Robin George, also known as a skilful producer, never overplays, and his work is tasty on each of the 14 tracks, plus four additional cuts including a couple recorded in his own time by Robert Plant; yet there's no classic rock slant to the record, what with the alternative edge of "Whatever Goes Around Comes Around" that presages the due recognition its author is getting now. A little classic.

The David Byron Band

This is enjoyable rock; great vocals, great guitar and good keys feature…A little slice of history.
Classic Rock Society Magazine

David Byron Band - Lost and Found (Double CD, Angel Air, Rock/pop)
Most of us only know David Byron as the lead vocalist in the 1970s progressive rock band Uriah Heep...and that is most certainly what he is universally remembered for. David's high range wailing was one of the trademarks of the Uriah Heep sound...along with the ultra-big keyboard sounds of Ken Hensley. After several years of major success with Heep, apparently Byron and Hensley started having interpersonal problems...and David ended up leaving the band. Sadly, in 1985 he ended up dying from what were apparently complications related with alcohol consumption. Lost and Found sheds light on Byron's post-Heep music. The double disc set features material recorded from 1980 to 1982 with Robin George. The tracks on this album are much more like direct shots of rock and blues than what was offered by Uriah Heep. This is an interesting snapshot showing what could've been if David had survived. In addition to studio tracks, the second CD also includes eight cuts recorded live in Liverpool in 1980.

Baby Sue Rock Reviews

Boasts great guitar lines from Robin George and might be today regarded as a minor classic if only it had been released at the time. An interesting release I certainly enjoyed listening to. 

Heavy Magazine
David Byron Band  – Lost And Found  - Angel Air
The late David Byron deserved a better lot in life, but like too many others before him he died of a lifestyle;  succumbing  to his battle with alcoholism in 1985 only a month after his thirty eighth birthday. Byron of course made his mark as the charismatic front man for Uriah Heep who between 1969 and 1976 churned out ten albums which included such classics as Demons & Wizards and The Magician’s Birthday. However by 1976 his problems had escalated to the point where Heep were forced to sack him. Without the security of Heep, and more importantly without a strong songwriting partner like Ken Hensley or Mick Box, Byron’s various post-Heep projects and solo career never really got off the ground.

Lost And Found is double CD re-release from Angel Air Records that gathers together David’s demo recordings, rehearsals, and portions of a live show recorded in Liverpool in 1980. Disc one concentrates on original recordings from 1982 and features the young baby faced guitarist Robin George trying his best to rev up what unfortunately amounts to a bunch of tepid sounding rockers, although Byron does turn in a very poignant vocal on the final track “One Minute More”. The second disc only fairs slightly better, as it begins by taking the listener through a rather ragged sounding London rehearsal from 1981.The set concludes with the energetic Liverpool show, which sees the band, which in addition to George also featured sax man Mel Collins, concentrating primarily on new material from his then yet to be released On The Rocks album. Songs like “Bad Girl” and “Start Believing” definitely comes across better in the live setting, and in general the material here has more of an edge to it than the studio versions. Byron doesn’t abandon his past entirely either as they offer up a couple of Heep classics in “July Morning” and “Sweet Lorraine” to keep the punters happy. Is it enough to make this collection a worthwhile purchase? Well I’d say if you’re a casual fan then you can probably afford to take a pass on Lost And Found. If on the other hand you’re a diehard fan of both Heep and David Byron’s solo work, then you’ll probably want to add this one to your collection, even though it definitely feels like it’s aimed at the completist.

    -Ryan Sparks

Unearthed from the personal archives of guitarist Robin George, Lost and Found covers the era of the David Byron Band from the early 80's and is issued as an expansive two disc set via Angel Air. Disc One offers the bands demos from 1982 for an album that never ultimately saw the light of day; the charismatic Byron was clearly still singing well even at this point in his career and in Robin George he had found an ideal guitarist to give the material a more contemporary edge. George contributes some smooth blues based riffs and "Bad Girl" and "Fool For A Pretty Face" would both have made ideal singles. Disc Two is split between band rehearsals from 1981 and eight songs from a live show in Liverpool in 1980. The latter is of particular interest as an example of just how tight the band were at the time and inevitably the Uriah Heep classics "July Morning" and "Sweet Lorraine" are the highlights and made all the more memorable by some sprightly sax from Mel Collins.

Detailed sleeve notes and previously unseen photographs make this a very worthwhile package and one which hold significant appeal for fans of the golden age of Uriah Heep and provides an excellent reminder of what a star performer David Byron really was and how much he is missed.