Goalby, Peter: Easy With The Heartaches

Peter Goalby is probably best know for his three album stint with UK legendary rockers Uriah Heep, his time with the band producing the much loved Abominog release and the more AOR inflected Head First and Equator. The latter two may not be held in quite such high esteem, but Goalby’s performance on both - and the heavier Abominog - is nothing short of excellent. Prior to that the singer and guitarist made a key contribution to the much loved Trapeze as that band wound down, but the real travesty is that other than a few appearances on backing vocals with lesser known UK acts such as Tigertailz and Shy, Goalby’s last venture into the rock world was the aforementioned Equator, which saw the light of day back in 1985.

Fans of Goalby have long asked the singer to release some of the recordings that he put together as a solo artist just after he left the Heep and now, some 35 years or so later, we finally get Easy With The Heartaches. In terms of style, the eleven tracks gathered together fall firmly into melodic rock territory, with many favourable similarities to the likes of Foreigner, Bad English, Wings Of Heaven era Magnum and Shadow King. Goalby himself penned all of the songs on this album, with three of them being co-writes with the hugely underrated Robin George, who was also just coming off the back of a chart hit in the shape of “Heartline�. An accomplished guitarist in his own right, Goalby also plays much of the six-string to be found on all of these tracks, with Eddie Morton adding the solos, while Paul Hodson (Ten, Hard Rain, Bob Catley and whose Hodson album, This Strange World, is rather tasty as well) providing keyboards and bass/drum programming.

Thankfully, Easy With The Heartaches proves to be well worth the long wait, the songs and performances, while immediately leaving no doubt of their vintage, grabbing you from the off and never once letting go. It’s the title track that opens the charge, a hook laden chorus digging in deep before the likes of “Chance Of A Lifetime� infuses an infectious energy into proceedings. It and the excellent, atmospheric, “Mona Lisa Smile� are two of the three Robin George co-writes, and having long been a fan of both of those involved, they unsurprisingly turn out to be real high points on this release. Impressively though, their album mates live up to that standard, “They’ll Never Find Us (Running For Our Lives)�, for example, being the type of fare that catapulted many an 80s movie soundtrack to huge music chart success. Goalby is in simply fantastic vocal form throughout, his expressive delivery instantly likeable, but with a real depth in his voice and hugely characterful expressiveness, he’s able to take songs that are already excellent and raise them even higher.

It may have taken more years than we care admit to for these recordings to finally get the airing they’ve so long deserved, but there’s no doubt that our patience has been well and truly rewarded. Easy With The Heartaches not only lasts long in the memory, but fully illustrates just what a vocal talent Peter Goalby was as it does so.

Track Listing
1. Easy With The Heartaches

2. Hold The Dream

3. I Found Real Love

4. Chance Of A Lifetime

5. Mona Lisa Smile

6. They’ll Never Find Us (Running For Our Lives)

7. I Used To Be Your Lover

8. Take Another Look

9. Perfection

10. I Built This House

11. The Last Time

Added: March 22nd 2022
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Peter Goalby @ Cherry Red
Hits: 952
Language: english

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