WILDFIRE: Summer Lightning CD w. Iron Maiden, More, Praying Mantis, Statetrooper, Tank members! Check videos

Description

Paul Mario Day – Vocals (Iron Maiden, More, Sweet, Crimson Lake)
Jeff Summers – Guitars (Weapon, The Headbangers, Flex, Legs Akimbo, The Loudshirts, Paddy Goes To Holyhead, Snatch, Statetrooper)
Martin Bushell – Guitars (Statetrooper)
Jeff Brown – Bass (Statetrooper, Dumpys Rusty Nuts)
Bruce Bisland – Drums (Praying Mantis, Statetrooper, Sweet, Tank, The Wandering Crutchless, Weapon, Lipservice)

Reissued on CD in 2002 with “Jerusalem” as a bonus track.
1. The Key 04:41
2. Summer Lightning 04:28
3. Gun Runner 04:16
4. Give Me Back Your Heart Again 04:08
5. Nothing Lasts Forever 03:43
6. Natural Selection 04:52
7. Fight Fire With Fire 03:33
8. Blood Money 03:54
9. Passion For The Sun 05:18
10. Screaming In The Night 04:03
Total playing time 42:56 + “Jerusalem” bonus track.

“Wildfire! Another one of those precious gems that has been lost to the sands of time! Wildfire was a NWOBHM band that belonged on a major label! Summer Lightning was Wildfires second and final album. Consisting of infectious metallic hard rock with enchanting vocals by one time Iron Maiden and More vocalist Paul Mario Day, Summer Lightning brings good tidings and hints of warm summer breezes, red skies at dusk, and a cold brewsky in your palm. Days ability to craft great vocal melodies bordered on genius, and the four players behind him delivered with aplomb on cut after memorable cut. If head banging metal is what you’re after, Summer Lightning is not for you. Wildfire were all about the song, and were not particularly heavy. Fans of The Michael Schenker Group or Vandenberg will certainly take interest in the great Wildfire. Its a tragedy that Summer Lightning (and Wildfires 1983 masterwork Brute Force And Ignorance) are virtually unknown by all but a handful. It is bands and albums such as these to which this site is sincerely dedicated.
My score: A”

5.0 out of 5 stars A Band That Deserved Far Greater Success,
Every now and then, one is reminded of bands from the past that could have and should have become bigger stars than they were. Wildfire is such a band. Although they only recorded two albums and one non-LP single, Wildfire show on this, their second and final full-length release that they deserved to fill stadiums with their stellar brand of traditional and connectable English heavy metal.

Summer Lightning is one of those almost-flawless, righteous headbangs. The album starts out with a brief instrumental called “Prelude In F Flat Minor”, which ends up catapulting the following track, “The Key” over the walls of the fortress in the same way “The Hellion” did to “Electric Eye” on Judas Priests Screaming For Vengeance. Only the awkward power ballad “Give Me Back Your Heart”, the somewhat out-of-place popster “Nothing Lasts Forever”, and a slightly muddy production job make this gem less than perfect. However the records high points hide these blemishes well. The aforementioned “The Key” with its razor-sharp, steel-piercing, double-harmonized riff, the bounce and strut of the title tune, the driving assault of “Gun Runner”, and the magnificent chorus of thundering anthem “Fight Fire With Fire” are only part of the magic that makes Summer Lightning a minor classic. The second half of the equation lies in the fabulous throat of Iron Maiden alum Paul Mario Day, who sounds reminiscent of Dee Snider yet with far greater range, power, and class.

Mausoleum recently reissued this unsung work with a bonus track titled “Jerusalem”, a heavy and serviceable take on the old standard which was released as a non-LP single, and predates Bruce Dickinson’s superior version by about 15 years.

Summer Lightning is a fine piece of vintage British steel that can bring a smile to a seasoned rivet-heads face and also a frown due to the realization that a group of potential legends burned brightly for such a short period of time and were noticed by so few.