NIGHTWING: Black Summer LP (vinyl in mint condition). Legendary UK Hard rock / NWOBHM 1982. Check Audio.

Description

Nightwing   Black Summer
Label: Intercord  INT 145.055
Format: Vinyl in mint condition, LP, Album
Country: Germany
Released: 1982
Style: Hard Rock / NWOBHM
Tracklist
A1 Overnight Sensation
A2 Bird Has Flown
A3 Carry On
A4 Long Hard Road

B1 Searching
B2 Evil Woman
B3 Black Summer
B4 Don’t Want To Lose You

Bass, Lead Vocals, Vocals [Harmony], Producer Gordon Rowley = ex-Strife, ex-Razorback
Drums Steve Bartley = ex-Alec Johnson Band, ex-Razorback
Keyboards Kenny Newton
Lead Vocals, Vocals [Harmony], Guitar [Guitars] Alec Johnson

Recorded at Amazon Studios, Liverpool, Morgan Studios, London
Mixed at Spindletop Recorders, Los Angeles
Other (Label Code): LC 1109
Other (Rights Society): GEMA

Gordon Rowley : Vocals, Bass
Kerry Beswick : Keyboard
Barrie Roberts : Drums
Steve Bartley : Drums, Back Vocals

Album opener “Overnight Sensation” is a high-octane rocker with some tastefully sporadic keyboards, which is what NIGHTWING do best. Some songs meander into your typical 80s Rock territory, not unlike Canadian commercial rockers TRIUMPH (especially the guitar playing). Black Summer is a cool mix of 70s Rock and moderate Prog that (for me) is a welcome change of pace… and bassist/vocalist Gordon Bowley looks like an even more maniacal Dave Chandler – a definite selling point!
PS: Listen for the spectacularly jazzy, subtle guitar solo near the end of “Don’t Want To Lose You” – awesome!

Its a heavy album, with a somewhat more sinister overall feel than most melodic rock albums from that era, and has a sound that channels elements of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Magnum, Kansas, Rainbow, and Axe. Even though the band included a prominent use of keyboards, Black Summer was an undeniably heavy rock album that is not too far removed from what the metal bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) were releasing at the time.