Description
Black vinyl with gatefold cover. Limited 350 copies
Live 1983 is an early live recording with Trouble featuring Eric Wagner on vocals. This recording has actually already been released on a vinyl bootleg album called “In The Beginning” (on Slow Death Records) featuring a nice Rodney Matthews cover artwork. However, the sound quality of this totally illegitimate release was so poor (stemming from an x-generation analogue tape) that it was rather hard to figure out the individual songs. This new official version was mastered form the original tape, so no sound troubles there at all. The songs were recorded on February 5th 1983 at the Deaf Club in Aurora. Trouble guitarist Rick Wartell remembers: “We played there twice. It was a club for deaf people. As it turns out, they really liked Trouble because of the low tuned tones we have. Around 100 to 150 people attended the show. By then, we had already found our own style. I think we were signed at the time but had not recorded our debut album ‘Psalm 9’ as yet.” It’s Metal history that it was Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records who signed the band to his label but have there been other offers as well? Rick Wartell reflects: “Yes, I remember Combat Records and possibly one other label.” Brian Slagel himself did not watch Trouble live before signing them to Metal Blade: “No, he did not see us live in person before offering the deal. He signed us from hearing the 1983 live show on cassette tape that Wade Brooks (a friend) sent to him”. Brian Slagel himself is a huge N.W.O.B.H.M./Euro Metal fan, so maybe he liked the fact that Trouble played two covers on the night: “Son Of A Bitch” by Accept and “Confused” by Angel Witch. These were only two of several covers the band played live and at rehearsals. Rick comments: “We really liked Angel Witch at the time, but I dont think they were an influence as much as a band we liked. Sabbath was our influence.” In fact “Children Of The Grave” was also performed on the 5th of February 1983 at the Deaf Club (as the closing number) but couldn’t make it onto the album as the sound engineers had run out of recording tape. Such is life! Rick Wartell is not sure, if “Live 1983” is the earliest surviving Trouble live recording (the band formed in 1979) but it had the widest circulation, that’s for sure. Rick confirms that Trouble’s influences in the early days were “probably more British than any other” but occult ’70’s act like Black Widow, Atomic Rooster or Coven (US) did not play a role. At the time Trouble came into being, there was only a handful of American bands that played a similar style, namely Death Row/Pentagram, Saint Vitus and very few others. That’s in contrast to the N.W.O.B.H.M. with numerous doom/occult acts such as Witchfinder General, Witchfynde, Pagan Altar, Angel Witch, Demon, Desolation Angels, Widow/Ritual and Hell.
Track list:
1. Bastards Will Pay
2. Gideon
3. Son Of A Bitch-Accept cover
4. Victim Of The Insane
5. Fear No Evil
6. Confused-Angel Witch cover
7. Bruce solo/Assassin
8. Death Wish pt.1
9. The Tempter
10. Wickedness Of Man
11. Psalm 9
12. Death Wish pt.2
13. Endtime/drum solo
14. The Last Judgement
15. Revelation Life/Death