Reservation
Face Down
Blackmail
Flyaway
Dealer
Street Girl
No Strings Attached
Criminal Tendencies
Nights On The Town
Woman
When they hooked up in the short-lived Wild Horses, party animals Brian ‘Robbo’ Robertson (ex-Thin Lizzy) and Jimmy Bain (ex-Rainbow) wrote songs that were unashamedly built on the Lizzy template.
The eponymous debut (1980) is the strongest of the band's two albums, founded on over a year of touring with a line-up completed by Neil Carter on guitar and keys, plus drummer Clive Edwards. With infectious rockers such as Reservation, Face Down, Dealer and Criminal Tendencies, the album might even have edged out Lizzy’s Chinatown (1981), but Bain was no match for Phil Lynott as a singer.
Despite being released for the then-bargain price of £3.99 and receiving some (begrudging) press praise (“I hope there’s a future in all of this,” wrote the journalist Sandy Robertson in Sounds), and the band playing some live dates with Ted Nugent and Rush, Wild Horses and its singles all failed to get a sniff of the charts.
“We were happy to continue gigging, because no matter how many people turned up each night, we ended up winning them over”, Bain told Classic Rock in 2007. “But I doubt that EMI were too impressed.”
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Other albums released in April 1980
- Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
- British Steel - Judas Priest
- Empty Glass - Pete Townshend
- Hypnotised - The Undertones
- Seventeen Seconds - The Cure
- Heaven and Hell - Black Sabbath
- Flush the Fashion - Alice Cooper
- Go to Heaven - Grateful Dead
- Give 'Em Hell - Witchfynde
- Growing Up in Public - Lou Reed
- Los Angeles - X
- Marauder - Magnun
- Middle Man - Boz Scaggs
- Sky 2 - Sky
- Snakes and Ladders - Gerry Rafferty
- Waters Edge - Sweet
- Solo In Soho - Phil Lynott
What they said...
"Wild Horses have risen brilliantly to the challenge of producing something more than just a pale-faced Lizzy impersonation. Exceeding all expectations, they made the doubters eat their words. Sadly for all of us, this splendid album proved not to be the beginning of another success story, as many hoped it would be." (The Rocktologist)
"The Wild Horses' debut didn't exactly scream 'supergroup.' Rather, it was a pretty tepid, uninspired affair, offering mostly generic commercial Brit-rock that played it much too safe for its own good." (AllMusic)
"Jimmy Bain’s vocals are weak, and when you have a key weapon in the shape of the guitar talents of Brian Robertson, you let him lose instead of keeping him in second gear. Reservation is OK and Face Down sounds like Thin Lizzy, though for me the rest of it – bar perhaps No Strings Attached – is a huge misfire. It’s like they couldn’t decide what kind of band they wanted to be, and bar the occasional flashes, Robbo’s axe is firmly in its holster." (New Wave of British Heavy Metal)
What you said...
Mark Herrington: Wild Horses' debut is unfortunately a bit of a disappointment. As so often with hybrid bands, comprised of big band ex- members, they can deliver the form, but not the formula.
The occasional musical echoes of their parts in huge classic albums only emphasise what this album is not. Whilst there are good individual elements, particularly guitar work, much of the rest is pretty average, such as the vocals.
Other incarnations, such as Black Star Riders, have produced better work than this. Overall, a very middling score.
Nigel Mawdsley: I remember the mediocre review of this album, I think it was from Record Mirror, so I didn't bother 'tracking it down' at the time. So, nearly half a century later, I've finally listened to it!
I've actually played the album twice over the last few days, and enjoyed it more on the second play; it's not bad, but I don't think I'll be revisiting it again.
For me, there are no standout tracks, and the production has that 'cheap studio vibe' when played side by side with other more notable rock bands from the same era.
I was bordering between 6 and 7 out of ten, but then the last track on the album Woman is just dreadful, so it's an overall 6 from me. (A better mark than the Record Mirror review!)
Mark Veitch: Dull ‘70s plod rock.
Robby Jackson: Started out sounding like a band jamming away, then after three songs just sounded like studio musicians for hire. Makes for pleasant background noise while doing house chores.
Brian Carr: Man, do I love learning new things. I’ve been marginally familiar with Jimmy Bain since Dio’s Holy Diver album was released. In more recent years, I’ve dabbled more and more into Thin Lizzy, whom I love and believe to be excruciatingly underrated in the United States. But I had no clue that the band Wild Horses existed, or that both sang lead.
So what did I think of the record? It was decent. Love the guitar playing. The songs and vocals are good, but not exceptional. I like the vibe, but it is difficult to avoid the comparisons: this song reminds me of UFO, these are certainly Thin Lizzy-influenced. I was recently introduced to early era Robert Palmer and was surprised how funky it was - Nights On The Town hit me the same way: funky groove with killer guitar. The First Album isn’t definitive, but there’s enough there to make me listen again.
Adam Ranger: The first couple of tracks are very reminiscent of Thin Lizzy. No surprise there. Brian Robertson's guitar sound was a big part of their sound. And not a bad thing either to my ears!
Trouble is, the rest of the album is forgettable. It's a good listen and some nice touches, but built around a vehicle for Robbo's guitar (no suprise their, either), the results are somewhat flat and uninspiring to me. Nice album, enjoyed the listen, but won't be in a hurry to play it again.
Greg Schwepe: So, just last week, I was getting my classic rock fix reading Classic Rock magazine online. And there was an excellent interview with Brian Robertson, which touched upon his after-Lizzy project, Wild Horses. “Hmmm… I need to listen to that and check it out.” And lo and behold, someone was listening, as The First Album got chosen for this week’s review. So here we go…
First impression: it’s a decent hard rock album that sits nicely next to anything else released in 1980. You’ve got the guitarist from Thin Lizzy and the bassist from Rainbow. Nice mix and match of rock pedigrees.
By the time the second track, Face Down, comes across the speakers and if you had no idea what band this is, anyone with a passing knowledge of guitar tones would easily say, “man, that has got to be Brian Robertson.” Or at least half of the Thin Lizzy harmonised twin guitar attack.
Of the remaining tracks, Dealer and Night On The Town are probably my favourites. I find the vocals kind of “blah,” nothing bad, just not enough grit to keep it really interesting for me.
I was always big on buying albums that were side- or after-projects, where the band split up or a member left. And when there was a used record store, there was something about not paying full price for some of these albums. I liken this to one of those used record store finds; buy and listen a bunch of times. Then never buy anything again from the band if they put out anything else. Also, think about it, have any of these “after projects” like this ever made a big splash? Actually, a few, and we’ve reviewed them!
It will probably be the same outcome here. This was a nice listen, but I won’t be exploring any more of the Wild Horses catalogue. 7 out of 10 on this one for me. Interesting tidbit I found in doing some internet sleuthing: the album was produced by Trevor Rabin, who'd join the invigorated Yes 90125 lineup a few years later.
Sam Martin: Underwhelming considering the talent involved.
Jan Eriksson: Big disappointment.
John Davidson: I had high hopes for this. Jimmy Bain is the bassist behind Blackmore, Ozzy and Dio, and Robbo played with Lizzy in their absolute prime, but something doesn't quite gel on this album. It's good. But it's not a classic.
Reservation, Face Down, and Blackmail in particular could have come off a Thin Lizzy album, but neither Bain nor Robertson has Lynott's charm when it comes to vocal delivery. It also lacks the harmonised backing vocals that elevated the best Lizzy songs to sing-along classics.
Musically, it's very solid, with some fine licks and solos from Robbo and good basslines from Bain, but the overall vibe is of second-hand songs, particularly the ones written with Lynott and Gorham, which sound like offcuts from Chinatown.
Richard Slee: Flyaway is a great song. There's nothing else of interest on this average-sounding album.
Philip Qvist: The album started off OK with Reservation and Face Down, as you immediately get hit by the Thin Lizzy influence, courtesy of Brian Robertson. The momentum continues a bit on Blackmail, but begins to fade with Flyaway, and that is when Wild Horses started to lose me.
None of the songs after that were memorable enough for me to take much notice of what was playing on the album, and Side Two was nothing more than average. The musicianship is good enough, but the real saving grace is that the album is only 36 minutes long.
Considering who was involved in this project, I expected a lot more than the final offering. The album could have done with a good singer and lyricist as well. It doesn't deserve a 5 or less, but it doesn't deserve much more than a 6 either. Distinctly average and definitely not memorable.
Mike Canoe: An album I had never heard of by a band I never heard of, although I recognise principals Jimmy Bain and Brian Robertson from previous work. The First Album sounds like a power pop Thin Lizzy, unsurprisingly given their respective resumés. The production appears aware of new wave "skinny tie" dynamics without sounding desperate. The real surprise to me is that Jimmy Bain is a decent singer. Same, to a lesser extent, with Robertson, who sings lead on two songs. Still, while good on their own merits, they lose in a direct comparison to Phil Lynott because they can't match his warm and inviting delivery and don't have his knack for storytelling. Favourites include Reservation, Face Down, and No Strings Attached. I'm glad I heard it, even if most of it won't stick past this week.
Final score: 5.47 (34 votes cast, total score 186)
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