It's an unalterable law of physics: the longer an eighties' melodic rock album is unavailable on CD, the greater its legend (and the more the LP changes hands for on Ebay).
One such is Agentz' 1986 release '
Stick To Your Guns', now digitally remastered and released on CD for the first time, thanks to the endeavours of Jose Ferro, bass player, producer and co-songwriter (with vocalist Patrick Dubs).
'Stick to Your Guns' is very much of its time. Of that there can be no doubt. Lyrics that may have seemed acutely observational at the time now sound innocent and sentimental. But hell, there's nothing wrong with that. They were there simply to provide a vehicle for the music and the performance.
What the album has in abundance is ambition. The melodies strive hard to be memorable, the arrangements shimmer and sparkle, and the production takes a full tilt swing at realising the band's major league dreams.
It's a disposable album and proud of it, saved from triviality by a bright, neon lit energy and that same sense of urgency possessed by bands like
Icon and Strangeways.
It's also a debut album of considerable poise and confidence. All the necessary ingredients are there. Staccato keyboard riffs, ringing guitars and thumping, bass heavy rhythms. The melodies and vocals join all of these co-ordinates together, capturing the unironic joy and charismatic charm of all good eighties'
AOR . Just because you're joining the dots doesn't mean you can't paint a pretty picture.
The title track,
'Stick To Your Guns',
'Don't Tread On Me' and '
Time Will Tell' open the album with verve and pace, light on their feet, hitting us hard with compact choruses and neat hooks.
Dubs' vocals are strewn with theatrical overtones, but he force fits them to the needs of each song. Arguably, they're tailor made for tracks like '
Take a Chance' and to a lesser extent, '
When The Axe Falls'. Both have an epic, mock heroic quality that predates symphonic metal by a decade.
For once, we're hearing an album that's undiluted by pregrunge corporate excess and untainted by post grunge cynicism.
The old ones are the best.
Written by
Brian Friday, September 22, 2006
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