Glyder: Black Pearl

Often viewed as the logical successors to the Irish rock legends Thin Lizzy, Glyder are a band who right from their 2006 self titled debut album have consistently delivered quality classic rock, while also offering a whole lot more. The band, who were made up of Bat Kinane and Pete Fisher on guitars, Dave Ryan on drums and Tony Cullen on vocals and bass, released a further two albums in the shape of 2008's Playground For Life and last year's fantastic Yesterday Today & Tomorrow before seeming to call it day.

Instead of running chronologically, the album opens with the impressive Weather The Storm recordings which showed a less straight ahead account of the Glyder sound, with "Brewing Up A Storm" coming on like The Cult jamming with Big Country, "Love Never Dies" hitting home like "Perfect Strangers" era Deep Purple, the title track adding a tinge of slow reggae, while "Lay Down" is a good old fashioned rock 'n' roll number. In fact from the five songs from the WTS EP, only "Fill Your Head With Rock" sounds like an archetypal Glyder number. From there we are treated to the Black Tide Silver Path EP which was released under the band name of H*llyw**d. As you would expect they fall reasonably neatly into the Lizzy inspired rock the band first came to notice playing, however impressively the six tracks still make it completely clear why the band were immediately tipped for success. The excellent quartet of "Stargazer", "Takin Off", "Die Or Dance" and "One For The Lost" were rerecorded for the Glyder album and all four still stand up well some six years down the line, while the laid back EP only pair of "The People" and "Sleeping Gun" may not be quite up to the same standard, but aren't just making up the numbers, instead showing a young band trying to broaden their sound. The debut single pairing of "Lucky Strike" and "Run To The Sun" are an interesting snapshot of a band finding their way and oddly enough it is the smoother and more confident b' side of "Run..." that has aged better. An interesting version of the Simon & Garfunkel hit "A Hazy Shade Of Winter" rounds out the previously released studio tracks in fine style (it featured on a free cover-mount CD for Classic Rock magazine), and again does so in a manner that shows Glyder were never the one-trick-pony some would paint them as. Of the six demos included five also eventually found their way onto the first Glyder album, while "The Merrygoround" ended up on the Playground For Life album. All are surprisingly accomplished for demo efforts and are well worth their inclusion on an excellent album that documents the progress of a band who have always deserved more success than has come their way. Black Pearl not only closes a chapter for Glyder, but is a great starting point for anyone interested in catching up with a hugely under rated outfit as well as being an opportunity for long term fans of the band to plug the gaps in their Glyder collection.

Look out for a fantastic new album Backroads To Byzantium from a revamped version of Glyder which is due to be released in October.

Track Lisintg
1. Brewing up a Storm (Weather the Storm EP)
2. Love Never Dies(Weather the Storm EP)
3. Weather the Storm(Weather the Storm EP)
4. Fill your head with Rock(Weather the Storm EP)
5. Lay Down(Weather the Storm EP)
6. Stargazer (Black Tide Silver Path EP)
7. One for the Lost(Black Tide Silver Path EP)
8. Takin Off(Black Tide Silver Path EP)
9. Sleeping Gun(Black Tide Silver Path EP)
10. Die or Dance(Black Tide Silver Path EP)
11. The People(Black Tide Silver Path EP)
12. Lucky Strike (Debut Single)
13. Run to the Sun (Debut Single B side)
14. Neutral Coloured Life (DEMO)
15. The Merrygoround (DEMO)
16. Saving Face (DEMO)
17. Hazy Shade of Winter (Classic Rock Magazine cover mount CD)

Added: September 13th 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Glyder Official Site
Hits: 2537
Language: english

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