Here lies one of the great archival/from-the-vaults releases of 2023, titled Lost Tapes, Vol. 4 from the great British act Trapeze. Noteworthy for being the breeding ground for Glenn Hughes, Mel Galley, Dave Holland, and also Peter Goalby, all of whom wound up going on to bigger things with acts like Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Uriah Heep, and Black Sabbath, among others. This collection pulls together 14 long-lost recordings from throughout their career and will be a complete revelation for any longtime Trapeze fan. Though information in the booklet is quite scarce and not much information is given on dates and personnel, nor are the tracks sequenced chronologically, loyal fans will probably be able to tell the line-up from each song. That's Peter Goalby on vocals for the groove-laden and crunchy "Cool Water", kind of a silly song lyrically but it rocks, and was probably recorded around the Hold On era of the band in the late '70s before Goalby went and joined Uriah Heep. "Lover" brings their funky hard rock sound and is a different version of "Dat's It" from their compilation 'The Final Swing", but here with Galley on vocals. "Breakdown" is a complete heavy rock crusher, recorded possibly during the band's brief early '90s reunion, and the guitars are thunderous and Hughes is as fiery as ever on lead vocals. "Don't Let Them Push You" is a bluesy rocker with some nice lead guitar work, Galley again on vocals and sounding like it might be from the Hot Wire or Trapeze era, somewhere around 1975. The more heavily produced "Destiny" is clearly from the early '80s, featuring a great Hughes vocal and not uncommon with what we heard on the Hughes-Thrall album or even Phenomena.
"Lights of Tokyo" again sees Galley on lead vocals, a good rousing, groovy hard rocker with some meaty guitar licks, and "Chances" is more of a soulful ballad...my first instinct is to say its Glenn on vocals, but the more I hear it I think it's Mel actually, whose voice isn't that different from Hughes anyway. "Bad Kid From School" is the early trio, locked in and heavy, Glenn on lead vocals, while "Catching Up On You" also feels like it's from that same era, and one of my favorites here, so heavy & funky, the guitar riff lethal, and Glenn screaming up a storm. Pretty safe to say that "Do You Understand" also came from these same sessions, and check out the huge bass grooves from Hughes on this lively number. "Enough is Enough" is another apparent '80s track (or maybe from the '90s?) with lots of synths and layers of vocals...possibly both Galley and Hughes on lead vocals. "You've Got It" features another appearance of Goalby, but it's a pretty cheesy pop tune and easily the least interesting song here, but that's followed by another ripper "Who Do You Run To", sung by Goalby and should be easily recognizable to fans of the Hughes-Thrall album as an early version of "Who Will You Run To". Closing out the set is an alternate take of "Going Home" off the Hot Wire, bluesy and quite heavy, with a roaring Mel Galley vocal and crushing guitar riffs.
As a big Trapeze fan, this collection came out of nowhere and brightened up my world in the latter portion of 2023. Don't miss out on Lost Tapes, Vol. 1, and hopefully part two is in order at some point.
Track Listing
1. Cool Water
2. Lover
3. Breakdown
4. Don’t Let Them Push You
5. Destiny
6. Lights Of Tokyo
7. So In Love
8. Bad Kid From School
9. Catching Up On You
10. Do You Understand
11. Enough Is Enough
12. You’ve Got It
13. Who Do You Run To
14. Going Home
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