‘Live In Texas’ would be British band Trapeze’s last album before calling it a day.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Trapeze
ALBUM: Live In Texas (Dead Armadillos)
LABEL: Aura
SERIAL: AUL-717
YEAR: 1981
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Pete Goalby – lead vocals * Mel Galley – guitars, backing vocals * Pete Wright – bass * Steve Bray – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Back Street Love * 02 Hold On * 03 Midnight Flyer * 04 You Are The Music We’re Just The Band * 05 Black Cloud * 06 Way Back To The Bone
WEBLINKS: NA
Background
‘Live In Texas’ would be British band Trapeze’s last album before calling it a day. The band were a busy and popular draw on the 70’s circuit and were anchored by singer guitarist Mel Galley. By 1981, the lineup had changed, with long-term drummer Dave Holland departing for Judas Priest in 1979 taking over from Les Binks. The replacement drummer for Trapeze was Steve Bray, previously with the Byron Band, Toyah and The Lambrettas.
‘Live In Texas’ is a relatively short album containing just six tracks. Nearly all of these tracks are songs lifted from their early 70’s albums from ‘Medusa’ through to ‘Hotwire’. The brief recorded set was from a gig in Austin TX during May 1981 and released two months later in July 1981. The Armadillos reference in the album title is connected to the Armadillos Music Hall in Austin TX where the gig was held.
The Songs
Despite just the six tracks there’s a whole heap of fire in the belly. The hard hitting ‘Back Street Love’ which is the lead track off ‘Hot Wire’ has a riff straight out of the 70’s era Whitesnake playbook. Great to hear Pete Goalby revving up the audience. ‘Hold On’ is a more recent Trapeze cut, taken from their 1978 album. There’s a fair bit of audience participation here. ‘Midnight Flyer’ is also lifted from ‘Hot Wire’ and struts its way like a cockney Rebel parading up and down Carnaby St.
‘You Are The Music We’re Just The Band’ came from the third 1972 Trapeze album – it’s the title track. It’s a funky upbeat number from the Glenn Hughes era of the band. Great stuff. ‘Black Cloud’ is the lead off from the 1970 set ‘Medusa’ and is the longest track at a touch over 9 minutes. Trapeze dust off the history books for this one. It does undulate, but the hard rockin’ parts are super.
‘Way Back To The Bone’ also from the third album is another boisterous funky affair, Galley’s riff perhaps an inspiration for Eddie Van Halen to borrow it on Van Halen‘s track’ Outta Love Again’ from ‘VH II’.
In Summary
Trapeze had signed with British label Aura Records back in 1979, who had in fact repackaged their 1978 album ‘Running’ and then reissued it the following year under the title ‘Hold On’. ‘Live In Texas’ would follow two years later but I’m still quite surprised that it only contains six tracks and no more than that. After Galley folded the band, several live albums would be released as a historical record of the band decades later.
Beyond this album, Mel Galley would go onto stints with Whitesnake and then form his own AOR project called Phenomena which kicked off in 1986. Pete Goalby of course would go onto Uriah Heep and release three albums with them up until 1985.
In Summary
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
