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Fans Reviews
Last Modified On 28 Jan 2008
(News ones always welcome)
This document is organised as follows. The more recent additions first.
Most album reviews are now incopatrated in the Discography pages but here are some that didn't fit.
Live and Singles Bootleg by Richard Gillyon
Praying Mantis - Walthamstow - London- 25th
Oct 1995 by Georgios Sidiropoulos
Live and Singles Bootleg by Richard Gillyon
After receiving my Live+Singles bootleg a few weeks ago, I thought people might benefit/be mildly annoyed by my review. So here goes:
Packaging: this is a boot, so packaging is a bit basic. Look for the front cover (an impossible band photo) on Jon's website; inside cover shows the covers of four singles: Cheated, Praying Mantis, Soundhouse Tapes, and the original Turn The Tables. I said it was basic... :)
The tunes: we start with six songs from the Reading Festival '82, with Bernie Shaw on vocals. This is some of the best stuff Mantis have ever done IMO, with songs like I Know It (later renamed Time Slipping Away), Enough Is Enough (later recorded by Stratus) and Turn The Tables, it is hard to go wrong. At this point I think the Troys were at the height of their songwriting talent.
Bernie's style may not be to everyone's taste, but he is very proficient, and the band are tighter than a very tight thing. I've had a tape of this for 15 years and it never becomes boring. Superb stuff. Next up are three songs from Soundhouse Tapes and two from the Praying Mantis single. Captured City reminds me of early Def Leppard...the bad production, the young, unaccomplished voices, the tinny guitar sound. When The Ripper started I thought it was Rocks Off, and other tracks I was reminded of were Answer To The Master and Overture. I know, weird...
The songs off Soundhouse Tapes are very enjoyable, if a little basic, and Praying Mantis fits right in there, with the vocal harmonies a little more developed. Unfortunately High Roller, the B-side, is very poor, redolent of a '50s rock'n'roll song. Yuk...
The next three are from the Cheated 7". Needless to say the boys had learned their trade by this time, and if you don't have these tracks, get the boot.
The final three are from the Turn The Tables 7". Once again Shaw on vocals, a great version of TTT despite the overbearing keyboards. Tell Me The Nightmare's Wrong is a syrupy ballad, with the crackles from the vinyl a bit obvious in the intro. A bit *too* sugary, but still a reasonable song. We close with an excellent instrumental, A Question Of Time, enjoyable once again *despite* the excessive keyboards.
In summary, this CD is worth buying if you are missing the singles or the Reading Live stuff. If you don't have either, its a bargain! Only one poor song and intriguing stomp through PM's history.
The address for Lost Horizons, a trustworthy source of this CD, is on Jon's website. What are you waiting for?!
Praying Mantis - Royal Standard (Walthamstow - London)- 25th Oct 1995 by Georgios Sidiropoulos
Georgios has some Greek Metal Hammer PagesI have seen Praying Mantis in Royal Standard (Walthamstow - London) on the 25th of October 1995, after an unsuccessful attempt to watch them, a mare 4(?) days prior to this gig, playing in an elusive far away-exotic place in Acton that no cab driver or any one local to the area didn't know about. We could not find, this place even though we were going around and around, and we were also asking all the local people we could meet Praying Mantis in Royal Standard (Walthamstow - London) on the 25th of October 1995t, in order to get some information.(The Troy brothers told me later that this gig never took place, anyway!).
When I learned that they were playing this venue which I have visited in the past, and after confirming over the phone with the owners of the venue, that Praying Mantis WAS going to play, (the band has been announced as Praying Mantis, in both this, and the Acton [non]event !!), that I just made the travel to North London. Who could I afford to miss the legends after all? (For your information they were playing this gig as a warm up, for their (then) forthcoming Japanese tour).They played well, concentrating in the newest material, (but they also played some old material, sending shivers to my spine), and I had the chance to speak to the best drummer that the N.W.O.B.H.M "movement" has spawned, the fantastic Mr. Clive Burr. He turned out to be a very, very polite and nice person. I was trying to find him immediately after the show has finished, in order to show him my appreciation for his drum playing (and ? you've guest it ,to have his autographs). I could not find him anywhere, but Dennis Stratton has managed to find him for me, and started introducing me, by saying :
"here is a guy who want to speak to you". (Bear in mind I was not officially a member of the Hellenic Metal Hammer at that moment, and I was just visiting as a fan, not as a reporter).At the moment he was drinking beer with a female (friend or relative), been seated on one of the tables. I could not believe that he jumped up to give me his hand and start signing everything I was giving to him.
He was so nice to me that in a way I felt bad, and after a point I've stopped giving him albums to sign. (I have only given to him to sign what I have considered to be "of immediate priority"). He must have had a big surprise when I have given to him the first Samson single, where he used to play, prior to his career with the then almighty Iron Maiden. He went:
"Oh dear!" and then, "where did you get this??", and started to look at the cover of the single in disbelief, and slightly embarrassed I guess, laughing all the way through (the time that it took him to sign and make the dedication). Immediately after, I've started telling him that I consider him to be the best N.W.O.B.H.M drummer and that only Duncan Scott the first Diamond Head--Gods!!!!-- drummer comes close, as far as I'm concerned. He was very shy about that. He gave me the impression that he was thinking that I was going a little bit over the top with my statement, and then he told me that "I should have played better today though?" What a modest guy!! I'm playing the drums myself, and believe me, he was really great on the night. Talking about a perfectionist, shy, and very humble person? I guess so!
All the best, Georgios Sidiropoulos.
(London Correspondent for Hellenic (Greek) Metal Hammer)