Accept: Accept (Platinum Edition)

I'm not sure many albums from classic, ground breaking metal or hard rock acts have lay as dormant in my collection as the 1979 self titled debut from German metal titans Accept. Metal Heart was my starting point with the band back in 1985, so everything prior to that was retrospectively and insatiably gobbled up until I stumbled across the notoriously difficult to find debut from the band. It was an album that stopped me in my tracks. Unfortunately not because it authoritatively lays down the big, bold metal blueprint they would perfect as the years rolled on. No, Accept the album, gives little indication of what was to come, instead being a limp offering that attempts, but never quite manages, to capture the spirit of NWOBHM which was setting Britain alight at the time with its innovate, if sometimes aggressively simple, attack.

This reissue comes with a quick aural recounting from the band's then singer Udo Dirkschneider of how the album came together. Something that I can only guess is included as a bonus cut here due to a lack of vintage music sitting in the vaults. It's an interesting, once only, listen that is in all probability him reading out what would have been the liner notes. Oddly, it's a process not repeated on the other three reissues in this set (I'm A Rebel, Breaker, Restless And Wild), which doubtless (I'm reviewing from a download, so haven't seen the CD booklets) finds the details contained in the packaging instead. Which probably would have been the preferred option here too.

However he tells of how the band suddenly found themselves 'men down' as recording was due to start on their debut, Gerhard Wahl jumping ship and Michael Wagener heading to the US where he'd become a hugely respected record producer. Leaving the band as Udo behind the mic, guitarists Wolf Hoffman and Jörg Fischer, bassist Peter Baltes and drummer Frank Friedrich, the five-piece proving reasonably tight on what is an uninspired selection of songs. Udo had found neither the bark or the bite that would go on to make him one of the voices of the 80s (and beyond), while the rest of the band are so restrained it feels almost like they are reading the music from charts as they record it. The occasional guitar solo hits the mark, as it does on the otherwise polite "Sounds Of War", while opener "Lady Lou" at least has a chorus you can sing along with. However with the likes of the faux prog of "Seawinds" sounding more like it got lost in the oceans (and an attempt to capture the majesty and scope of fellow countrymen Scorpions, which it doesn't) and "Glad To Be Alone" merely plodding along, if there's one thing the Accept album is quite remarkable for, it's that it in no way suggests the band were destined for glory.

See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!

Track Listing
1. Lady Lou
2. Tired Of Me
3. Seawinds
4. Take Him In My Heart
5. Sounds Of War
6. Free Me Now
7. Glad To Be Alone
8. That's Rock'n'Roll
9. Helldriver
10. Street Fighter
Bonus Track
11. "The Early Years Of Accept" – (Spoken Commentary by Udo Dirkschneider)

Added: April 15th 2017
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Accept at AFM Records
Hits: 1690
Language: english

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