Lovely Lads - Demo (LP, 2014)

Lionheart Records

With more than a dozen of awesome EP’s under their belt Lionheart Records took the next step up and recently released their first release on 12” vinyl! Just like the previous releases I reviewed from Lionheart this LP already sold out during it’s pre-order fase, but I still wanted to show my support and do a little review about Boston’s gone, but not forgotten, streetrock/Oi! band the Lovely Lads featuring members from other Boston favorites such as XfilesX, The Rival Mob, Battle Ruins etc… etc…

 

This LP features the Lovely Lads’ demo that was originally released by Eating Rats Records in 2005, and all 10 songs from that CD-r release are on the A side of this 12”. I love pretty much every band vocalist Brendan Radigan was, or is, in and the only Lovely Lads album, “The Best You’ve Got” (released in 2006) was killer. No need to say I was stoked from the start when I heard that Lionheart was doing a vinyl release of these hard to find, and if you do find it hard to pay, demo recordings. Because just like the Lovely Lads album these recordings are killer stuff, with eight fantastic tracks of their own and two covers from Rose Tattoo (“I Hard You First”) and Skrewdriver (“Mr. 9 To 5”) to top it off.

 

But the demo isn’t the only thing on this record, because when you flip over to the B side you will find a live set with yet 11 other tracks, which makes it a total of 21 songs on this LP! At first I didn’t really knew what to expect of the live side when it got announced but as soon as I dropped the needle I heard the live recording was for Boston college radiostation WERS so the sound quality of these tracks is excellent as well. The live songs are a mix of tracks from the demo, the “The Best You’ve Got” album and three covers by The Bruisers (“Intimidation”), “The Last Resort (“Violence In Our Minds”) and Stars & Stripes (“Here’s One For The Lads”), awesome!

 

Also I need to mention the beautiful, silk screened, artwork on all three versions that got released by Lionheart Records. One has the original artwork of the demo (170 copies), which looks amazing as a record sleeve, there are also 90 copies with a Eagle Crest logo in gold silkscreen (‘wow-factor’!) and the remaining 40 copies (which makes a total of 300) are with a gruesome looking hatchet man, superb!!!

 

If you didn’t order this, you are sure going to regret this. The music on Lionheart Records’ debut LP release is fantastic and the artwork is stunning. If you still want it, prepare to pay big bucks for it on Ebay or Discogs, but even then it’s still worth every penny! One of the coolest releases of 2014 so far!