Description
Black vinyl with 6 page insert and poster. Limited 350 copies
Truffle was one of the one-hit wonders of the wonderful N.W.O.B.H.M. movement. They released one 7″ single in 1981 (coupling “If you really want” with “Round Tower”) but never got round to releasing a full-length album. Up until now that is! This album consists of the two songs from the 7″ single plus five songs from the band’s 1983 demo. Truffle recorded those five tracks with Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry but the material never got published. Drummer Pete Patterson explains why: “We were recommended to Ray by an agent friend of ours (Chris Hogg). He saw us play and invited us to his studio in Hindhead to record some of our songs. We had no plans to release the recordings at the time, we just thought it was fun and they would help us get more gigs. It wasn’t long after we finished them that Ray called us and suggested doing what was going to be the album. Ray was a great bloke, really laid back and full of advice and ideas. He helped us a lot. We recorded the whole of the album in two weeks but after finishing mixing Ray said he was pleased with the outcome but asked if we would mind doing it all again and this time taking our time and really making it work? Unfortunately for us, Ray’s own situation was changing and he started gigging a lot with Mungo Jerry again. Between his gigs and our gigs we got halfway through one song of the new album and it all kind of fizzled out.” The mentioned 7″ single was released in 1981 on the Chestnut label. Pete talks about the single: “It was a self-financed thing and was recorded at Chestnut studios, so they used their own label. We had all packed in our day jobs and were practising and gigging an awful lot, chasing the dream of being a rock star! We were doing between 100 and 150 gigs a year at that time and we had written a lot of songs. So we just asked all our friends and people at gigs which were their favourite songs we played and ‘Round Tower’ and ‘If you really want’ were the two winners at that time. As far as I can remember, a run of 1,000 copies was manufactured which was kinda standard in those days. We should have pressed more as we still get asked for them now. Someone from the USA called back last year and said they would buy everything we had … unfortunately we had none left! I remember when we got them all delivered, it was such a great feeling to have your first record out. Of course, people did actually buy singles in those days!” Truffle was far from being a brand new outfit when their first and only single was released back in 1981: “The band had been going for a few years playing covers locally and in Germany on the American air bases. Then after a few line up changes we decided to start writing our own stuff. I joined the band in 1979 and the single came out in 1981. It was our very first time in a recording studio and we really didn’t know what to expect. The ‘Round Tower’ track never had keyboards on it until the engineer in the studio suggested it! He then played them for us.” At the time the single was released, Truffle had a small article in Kerrang! in the “Armed and Ready” section, which gave the band a little boost: “Kerrang! had just started and was great then, and yes, it did help us and lots of bands like us from an advertising point of view. For the 1983 demo, Truffle experienced with keyboards and had a new line-up. Pete elaborates: “That was Ray Dorset’s idea, we had never had a keyboard player at that point but it did kind of show us that keyboards offered a whole lot of light and shade and different textures to what we were writing. The band since 1979 had basically consisted on myself, Richie Stopforth and Russ Horton and one other guitarist. We seemed to change the fourth member on a weekly basis! Recording is a very unforgiving medium. It’s great fun, I love it, but it shows up every flaw in your musical technique.
Track list:
1. Thunderbird
2. Street Fighter
3. God Of War
4. Death Or Glory
5. Satans Slave
6. Round Tower
7. If You Really Want