Short Reviews [Peter Goalby - 2021 - "Easy With The Heartaches"]

At the beginning of the Eighties one of the UK’s premier rock bands were in severe troubles, as Mick Box was the only member of the band left and although he owned the name and a contract, what was he going to do? He reached out to old friends, one of whom was Peter Goalby who had previously been singer in Trapeze, and the newly formed band released what in many ways was their most important album, ‘Abominog’. If that had failed the band may well have been over, but it’s more American stylings were a massive success (I still love it today), the result being that the band are still touring all over the world. For some weird reason I have only ever seen them play once, and that was on the ‘Equator’ tour and I thought they were amazing. That was Goalby’s last album with the band, although he did provide “Blood Red Roses” for their ‘Raging Silence’ release, and since then he has been relatively quiet and is now retired from the scene. However, it was known by fans that he had written and recorded material, which was blocked from release, but finally that has now been available. All the songs were written by Goalby, apart from three he co-wrote by Robin George. There is no doubt he has a great voice, but the issue with this album is that not only is it very much of its time, but there too few standout tracks. They are the melodic rock numbers which one would expect, but it is when it starts to get that little but heavier where it stands on its own and “I Built This House” definitely has its moments, but this is little and far between. I am sure this album will be greeted warmly by fans of Goalby, but it would have had far more impact if it had come out when it was supposed to as this is not something which has aged incredibly well.