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Read the James Christian interview
What’s the 4-1-1?
The reunion of four-fifths of the classic House of Lords lineup
captured live at Firefest in Nottingham, England in November 2005.
Genre
Hard rock / 80s metal
The Good
When the band first hit the national stage in the 1980’s, they had
a decidedly keyboard friendly sound. Some would say TOO friendly. The band’s
sound in the here and now of this recording comes off far better than when
I saw them live in concert more than a decade ago. It showcases the powerful
vocals of singer James Christian, while drummer Ken Mary, guitarist Lanny
Cordola and bassist Chuck Wright all churn out some righteous hard rock sounds
without interference from the keys.
The band’s two biggest songs “I Wanna Be Loved” and the cover
of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” are included
in the performance. I loved both songs when they were originally released and
they come off well here, but they didn’t end up as my favorite tracks from
the performance. I really liked how the band pulled off “Pleasure Palace” and “Talkin’ Bout
Love.”
I always thought “Pleasure Palace” came off as kind of trite even
for the now unfairly derided 80’s metal genre. The band makes the song
far better than it’s beginnings here. It’s got a real kick in the
pants delivery and the same goes for “Talkin’ Bout Love”.
I loved the guitar work from Lanny Cordola on “Mind Trip,” particularly
on the outro. Christian’s voice had a much more soulful groove on the vocals
for the song. The band really stood out on the track “Slip of the Tongue”.
It’s a balls-out rocking performance. It’s got a highly energetic
performance with slicing guitar rhythms and that rapid fire vocal delivery I
enjoy so much when it’s done properly.
The Bad
The sound of the recording comes off slightly muffled. I’m chocking
it up to being a live recording instead of a standard studio CD, but it’s
worth noting.
The studio track included as a bonus “for the fans” is “Havana”.
The song was originally included as a bonus track on the Japanese version of
the band’s CD The Power And The Myth. While I think the song is adequate
enough, there’s nothing overly special about it. If they were going to
put something on the CD as a bonus, I would’ve hoped either for something
new, or at least more interesting.
The Verdict
While I liked the band’s first two CDs, the keyboards from Greg Giuffria
were always threatening to overwhelm the rest of the music. I’m happy
to report that the sound here, without the over-reliance on those keyboards,
with Giuffria pulling out of the reunion at the last minute, comes off with
a much harder rocking sound.
The hardcore House Of Lords fans will love this album, and I think even the casual
fans of the band will find the slightly tweaked sound appealing as well. The
album continues my resurrected interest in the band as they move forward with
this harder edge sound.
Did You Know?
House of Lords opened up on tour for the pop rock duo Nelson. They broke
up originally after the conclusion of that tour.
Drummer Ken Mary performed all the drum tracks for the two criminally underrated
albums from the band Fifth Angel. He is focuses a lot of his time now on his
production work. You can check out his credits at SonicPhish.com.
James Christian now leads a new lineup of the band that released the superb World
Upside Down album in 2006.
Rating:  out
of 5
Related Reviews:
House of Lords - World Upside Down
James Christian - Meet the Man
-- Jay Roberts
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HOUSE
OF LORDS
