Briar (GBR)

[Horex]

Briar - Take On The World (1986) (Battle Cry Records Edition 2012)















Year : 1986 (Battle Cry Records Edition 2012)
Style : Heavy Metal , Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 89 mb

Bio:

British melodic Metal/AOR band from Birmingham formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1993.Briar were formed in 1979, by schoolfriends Kevin Griffiths (Vox/Guitar), Dean Cook (Drums), Dean Rogers (Guitar) & David Tattum (Bass).In 1982 the line up changed and Darren Underwood & Dave Fletcher were recruited for the departing Dean Rogers, soon after John Smith also left the band and Kevin Griffiths took up bass guitar !, the new lineup was Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Darren Underwood (Guitar & B.V's), Dave Fletcher (Guitar & B.V's) & Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's).By 1992 the lineup had almost totally changed Kevin Billington (Vox), Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's), Mark Carleton (Guitar) & Jez Prosser (Keyboards).

Album:

Battle Cry Records 2012.The great late NWoBHM album from 1986 shows the melodic side of england. In the vein of PRAYING MANTIS, DEF LEPPARD. This cd also includes 2 bonustracks from 1989. Essential for every fan and collector of melodic stuff from the island.It’s a great little album.As you’d expect from a cassette re-master the sound isn’t the best though it’s more than good enough to show what talent Briar had. It’s not straight ahead NWOBHM, it’s more refined than that. Sure, it has the riffs and power-chords and the twin guitarists know how to play with some tight soloing.The title track starts things off and it’ll be in your head straight away. Short, punchy catchy. Things chug along very nicely for the remainder of the album including the two bonus tracks on the CD. The closer (the one before the bonus tracks if you get the CD) Keep on Running is a particular favourite with a great lead in solo over some fine rhythm guitar to back it up.If you like your NWOBHM (or indeed your rock music) to have power, soaring hooks that get right in your head, be a bit melodic but still stuff you can nod your head to, sing along to and play along on the air guitar then get yourself a copy. The CD might be a bit tricky to find however it is available on iTunes for those of you who belong to the Cult of Apple.Take On The World is a real hidden gem from the old days. It’s not unlike period Def Leppard or Praying Mantis I’d say. If you’re a NWOBHM completist or in to your heavy melodic type stuff then it’ll be your bag for sure.

Line-Up:

Kevin Griffiths - Vocals (lead)
Dave Fletcher - Guitars, Vocals (backing)
Darren Underwood - Guitars, Vocals (backing)
Dean Cook - Drums, Vocals (backing) - See also: Machine Boy, SpaceHobo, tenboy, Tiny Rockets, ZZsTOP, ex-Bogus Blooze, ex-Secs Pistols, ex-Tinybluechildren

Production:

All Songs produced and arranged by George Bond

Tracklist:

01. Take on the World 02:48
02. Closing In 04:26
03. Odd One Out 03:00
04. Everybody 03:28
05. Always Gonna Love You 02:48
06. Lorraine 03:08
07. Without You 04:15
08. Keep on Running 04:12
9. Gimme All You Got 04:47 (Bonus Track)
10. Stop me Foolin' 04:08 (Bonus Track)

Tracks 1 - 8 original release on GBB ( Gbb 01 ) Cassette ( 1986 )
Tracks 9 - 10 original release on Shotgun Charlie 7" Single ( SCR 1 ) plus on " Reach out " ( 1988 ) Album Demo




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Briar - Crown Of Thorns (1987) (Japan Edition 1988)















Year : 1987 (Japan Edition 1988)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 94 mb

Bio:

British melodic Metal/AOR band from Birmingham formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1993.Briar were formed in 1979, by schoolfriends Kevin Griffiths (Vox/Guitar), Dean Cook (Drums), Dean Rogers (Guitar) & David Tattum (Bass).In 1982 the line up changed and Darren Underwood & Dave Fletcher were recruited for the departing Dean Rogers, soon after John Smith also left the band and Kevin Griffiths took up bass guitar !, the new lineup was Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Darren Underwood (Guitar & B.V's), Dave Fletcher (Guitar & B.V's) & Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's).By 1992 the lineup had almost totally changed Kevin Billington (Vox), Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's), Mark Carleton (Guitar) & Jez Prosser (Keyboards).

Album:

Third full-length album.What do Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Dickinson and the late Lemmy have in common? The three of them, in the second half of the 80s, kind of sponsored Briar, and pictures in the booklet of "Crown of Thorns" don't let me lie. Originally released in 1987, the third and penultimate studio album of the Englishmen has just got a beautiful CD edition - with slipcase and booklet with lyrics and photos - in Brazil by Classic Metal Records.Although the name Briar is often associated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal - not for nothing, since the band was born in 1979 in Birmingham,"Crown of Thorns" presents a sound much more related to the American hard rock, and its repertoire includes songs of party character and covers of the kind "love it or hate it" that are the proof that, for Kevin Griffiths (vocals and bass), Dave Fletcher (guitar), Darren Underwood (guitar) and Dean Cook (drums), the fun had no limits.At the time, backed by CBS / Columbia, the quartet remade songs like "Frankie", by the disco music strongman Sister Sledge, and "La Bamba", by Ritchie Valens, with distorted guitars and, in the case of the latter, scratching in Spanish. These two, along with the fart that is track 11 - correctly named "Fart" - make up the fourth I won't say dispensable, but that doesn't help itself in the mission of being well-liked by the listener either.In the remaining eight tracks, two more covers, only on these the band hit the nail on the head. "Just Another Day in the Life of a Fool" by Verity and the anthem "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy - dedicated to Phil Lynott, who died a year before - stand out not only for the energy applied in their performances, but for being proof that sometimes the best version is the one closest to the original.In the authorial half, it is impossible not to highlight the winning refrains of "Back and Wild" and "Everyone's Going Crazy" and the melodic metal prototype that makes "Spirit of the Wood" not only the best of the repertoire, but a strong candidate to the best song of Briar's career. In the lyrics, an elderly citizen remembers when he was "just a boy" and life was "just a toy" to then realize that everything was just a breath and that not even higher powers, such as the spirits of the woods or the night mentioned in the verses, have the answer to everything. To paraphrase the humorous slogan of twenty years ago, "it's a lot of heads in the game".

Line-Up:

Kevin Griffiths - Vocals (lead)
Darren Underwood - Vocals (backing), Guitars
Dave Fletcher - Vocals (backing), Guitars
Dean Cook - Drums, Vocals (backing) - See also: Machine Boy, SpaceHobo, tenboy, Tiny Rockets, ZZsTOP, ex-Bogus Blooze, ex-Secs Pistols, ex-Tinybluechildren

Tracklist:

01. Crown of Thorns 05:00
02. Frankie (Sister Sledge cover) 02:56
03. Just Another Day in the Life of a Fool (Phoenix cover) 04:15
04. Back and Wild 04:16
05. La Bamba (Richie Valens cover) 02:53
06. One Foot Back in Your Door (Roman Holliday cover) 03:45
07. Spirit of the Wood 04:00
08. The Boys Are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy cover) 04:21
09. Empty Words 03:33
10. Everyone's Going Crazy 03:58
11. Fart 00:02




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Briar - Reach Out - The Lost 1988 Album (1988) (PROGAOR Records Edition 2018)















Year : 1988 (PROGAOR Records Expanded Edition 2018)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 166 mb

Bio:

British melodic Metal/AOR band from Birmingham formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1993.Briar were formed in 1979, by schoolfriends Kevin Griffiths (Vox/Guitar), Dean Cook (Drums), Dean Rogers (Guitar) & David Tattum (Bass).In 1982 the line up changed and Darren Underwood & Dave Fletcher were recruited for the departing Dean Rogers, soon after John Smith also left the band and Kevin Griffiths took up bass guitar !, the new lineup was Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Darren Underwood (Guitar & B.V's), Dave Fletcher (Guitar & B.V's) & Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's).By 1992 the lineup had almost totally changed Kevin Billington (Vox), Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's), Mark Carleton (Guitar) & Jez Prosser (Keyboards).

Album:

This album is basically the project for the 1988 album that the band hoped to be released by CBS/Columbia, when they signed with the major label.The management and label choice at the time was to send the band to record cover versions so the "Crown of Thorns" album was born as a marketing strategy for major radio airplay and cause an impact in the mainstream Pop/Rock scene. So the band's plan to get released the "Reach Out" album was suspended. The band never liked the idea of having their best songs written to date put on hold while a covers album was being released in several countries, but finally after 30 years, these songs will be released by PROGAOR. This is BRIAR's finest hour, the band was at the top of their game with superb songwriting skills creating a collection of 9 songs that all melodic Rock fans should have in their collection. Released for the first time on CD, this will include a detailed band history, several band pictures, song lyrics and liner notes by Dean Cook (Briar drummer). Like if wasn't enough, we also offer as bonus tracks the 1990 demo and 4 live tracks recorded in 1991 and 92.

Line-Up:

Original line-up:

Daren Underwood - Vocals (backing), Guitars
Dave Fletcher - Vocals (backing), Guitars
Kevin Griffiths - Bass, Vocals (lead)
Dean Cook - Drums, Vocals (backing)

Additional line-up:

Dean Cook - Vocals (backing) (tracks 10-17), Drums (tracks 10-17)
Kevin Billington - Vocals (lead) (tracks 10-13, 16, 17)
Mark Carleton - Guitars (tracks 14, 15)
Kevin Griffiths - Bass (tracks 10-17), Vocals (backing) (tracks 10-13, 16-17), Vocals (lead) (tracks 14, 15)
Darren Underwood - Guitars (tracks 10-13, 16, 17), Vocals (backing) (tracks 10-13, 16, 17)
Dave Fletcher - Guitars (tracks 10-13, 16, 17), Vocals (backing) (tracks 10-13, 16, 17)
Jez Prosser - Keyboards (tracks 10-17)

Tracklist:

01. Gimme All You Got 04:46
02. Stop Me Foolin 04:08
03. Everybody Needs 04:16
04. Show Me the Way 04:24
05. Gettin Stronger 03:31
06. Reach Out 03:58
07. I Wanna Know 04:03
08. Stop Me Now 03:14
09. Party All Night 04:27
10. Love Comes Down (Cleveland House Demo December 1990) 04:29 (Bonus Track)
11. Someone for Everyone (Cleveland House Demo December 1990) 03:56 (Bonus Track)
12. Take On the World (Cleveland House Demo December 1990) 03:38 (Bonus Track)
13. To the Moon (Cleveland House Demo December 1990) 03:48 (Bonus Track)
14. All She Wants (Live at Cardiff Bogiez Sept 1992) 03:20 (Bonus Track)
15. Show Me Now (Live at Cardiff Bogiez Sept 1992) 03:47 (Bonus Track)
16. One More Chance (Live at Coventry General Wolfe June 1991) 04:18 (Bonus Track)
17. Some Day (Live at Coventry General Wolfe June 1991) 03:38 (Bonus Track)




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Briar - Hard Times (1992) (Mighty Monster Records Edition 2015)















Year : 1992 (Mighty Monster Records Remastered Edition 2015)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 132 mb

Bio:

British melodic Metal/AOR band from Birmingham formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1993.Briar were formed in 1979, by schoolfriends Kevin Griffiths (Vox/Guitar), Dean Cook (Drums), Dean Rogers (Guitar) & David Tattum (Bass).In 1982 the line up changed and Darren Underwood & Dave Fletcher were recruited for the departing Dean Rogers, soon after John Smith also left the band and Kevin Griffiths took up bass guitar !, the new lineup was Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Darren Underwood (Guitar & B.V's), Dave Fletcher (Guitar & B.V's) & Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's).By 1992 the lineup had almost totally changed Kevin Billington (Vox), Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's), Mark Carleton (Guitar) & Jez Prosser (Keyboards).

Album:

New Wave Of British Heavy Metal era band Briar re-released their album Hard Times through Battle Cry Records/Mighty Monster Records on January 18, 2016. Hard Times can be purchased directly from Battle Cry Records.The group’s press release states (with slight edits): “Briar formed in 1979 in Birmingham, UK. Founding member and Briar drummer Dean Cook recollects: “Briar started as a school band, at school myself Dean Cook & Kevin Griffiths were into Motorhead, UFO, Black Sabbath, etc and all our mates were the same so we decided to start a couple of bands, just really to play in the school hall… The band myself & Kev started was I think called Emerald or Lucifer; can’t remember which… but we went through both of those names at some point. I’ve gotta be honest I can’t remember the names of the people in that original band but we became a band (kinda) for real when we got our mates David Tattam (bass) & Dean Rogers (guitar) involved.” In 1982, the line-up was solidified with the classic line up when Darren Underwood and Dave Fletcher joined the band and Kevin Griffiths switched to bass. That was just before releasing the first 7” “Rainbow In The Skies/Crying In The Rain”. The classic line up was Kevin Griffiths (bass & vox), Darren Underwood (guitar & background vocals), Dave Fletcher (guitar & background vocals) & Dean Cook (drums & background vocals). Just before that, Briar teamed up with manager George Bond that helped out through the band’s entire carreer and it was a very important moment for the band. The first big break came when Briar won a competition in Birmingham called “The hottest band in town.” The win caught the attention of Wolverhampton based label FM Revolver and their subsidiary Heavy Metal Records. The debut album Too Young was recorded and released in 1985 and it was very well received by fans and media alike. Hot on the heels of Too Young, they put out their sophomore effort Take On The World in 1986 on the GBB label (re-issued on CD by Battle Cry Records in 2012) which was a great album filled with ’80s metal flavoured by pop melodies and choruses. This album landed Briar a major label deal with Sony/CBS Records. Through them, the classic third album Crown Of Thorns was released in 1988 and spawned a hit single in “Frankie” that saw rotation on MTV. To show they had more in store, Briar immediately went into the studio and recorded another full album worth of material called Reach Out which remains unreleased to this day.Briar Hard Times original CD coverUnfortunately, the deal with Sony/CBS fell through and after another 7” single, the band recruited lead singer Kevin Billington and keyboard player Jez Prosser making the band a six man band. The six bonus tracks on Hard Times were recorded by that line-up. However that line-up fell apart in 1992 and Kevin Griffiths took back the mike and guitarists Dave Fletcher and Darren Underwood were replaced by Mark Carleton. The eight track album Hard Times was released in 1992 in a very limited number.Dean Cook remembers the recording process: “Hard Times represents the final chapter and an important part of the Briar story. To be honest, the band had got to the point where we all felt we were starting to try and play what people were buying as opposed to what we actually wanted to play!… We had written and recorded the tracks with our longtime manager & producer George Bond in our own studio, initially as a demo but a few people had heard it and loved it so we eventually put out some promo CDs and cassettes. At the time, it was a minimal release but sadly pretty soon after that, the band had truly run its course and in 1993, we played our last show!” With this joint release by Battle Cry Records/Mighty Monster Records, some justice will finally be done. Hard Times is packed with melodic hard rock with huge hooks and meodies to die for. Although there is a more frequent use of keyboards, you will instantly recognize that this is Briar. Remastered and repackaged with lyrics, pictures and linernotes spread over an eight page booklet. The power chords, the pop melodies, the riffs are all there finally for everyone to enjoy!”

Line-Up:

Kevin Griffiths - Vocals (lead)
Mark Carleton - Guitars - See also: Daylight Robbery
Jez Prosser - Keyboards
Dean Cook - Drums, Vocals (backing) - See also: Machine Boy, SpaceHobo, tenboy, Tiny Rockets, ZZsTOP, ex-Bogus Blooze, ex-Secs Pistols, ex-Tinybluechildren

Tracklist:

01. Hard Times 03:34
02. Breaking Away 03:42
03. Chance in a Million 04:34
04. All She Wants 03:31
05. I Know You're Lyin 04:11
06. Burnin Down 03:06
07. To My Door 03:31
08. My Generation 03:13
09. Take the Money (Cleveland House Demo 1990) 04:10 (Bonus Track)
10. Let It Fade (Cleveland House Demo 1990) 05:13 (Bonus Track)
11. Mona Lisa (Cleveland House Demo 1990) 04:21 (Bonus Track)
12. Rip It Down (Live at Cardiff Bogiez 1992) 04:14 (Bonus Track)
13. To the Moon (Live at the Birmingham Irish Centre 1990) 03:44 (Bonus Track)
14. Love Comes Down (Live at the Birmingham Irish Centre 1990) 04:19 (Bonus Track)




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/