Description

Silverwing presented first in this video!

That is a really great album that became immediately a classic. Years after the N.W.O.B.H.M movement was over, this song remained one of the all time favored of the fans and the Kerrang! reviewers that really knew a thing or two about N.W.O.B.H.M. In the 10 year special of the N.W.O.B.H.M movement Geoff Barton, the guy who has conned the term N.W.O.B.H.M mentioned in Kerrang!: “”I loved this band and I wrote a series of hysterical articles on the band in the pages of Sounds, must for the sheer hell of it. Silverwing ultimately metamorphosed into PET HATE and then reverted back to Silverwing. I leave you with a few lyrics culled from the band best remembered song “”Flashbomb Fever””: “”No hicks from the sticks, gonna take you higher, we get our kicks seeing Simmons breathe fire!”” Amen to that!””]

Macclesfield mascara boys Silverwing release their debut album on Bullet Records on June 20. It called ‘Alive And
Kicking’ and includes their last two singles together with live versions of their ‘Rock And Roll Are Four Letter Words’ vinyl debut and Japan ‘Adolescent Sex’, recorded at the recent Salford Glam Rock Festival.
(Sounds, 18/06/83)

SILVERWING – ALIVE AND KICKING LP
Bullet
BULP 1
1983

Tracklist:

Kicking: Studio Side
A1 That’s Entertainment 3:25
A2 Sittin’ Pretty 3:48
A3 Teenage Love Affair 3:34
A4 Flashbomb Fever 2:38
A5 Love Ya 3:03
A6 Everybody Singing 3:12

Alive: Live Side
B1 Everything Happens At Night 3:00
B2 Soldier Girl 4:07
B3 Adolescent Sex Written-By – D. Sylvian* 3:26
B4 Rock And Roll Mayhem 3:45
B5 Rock And Roll Are Four Letter Words 3:22

© 1983
Made in France
Published by Big Jim Music Ltd except ‘Adolescent Sex’, published by Chadwick Nomis Ltd

Side A: Studio Side
All Studio tracks recorded at Revolution, Cheadle, Manchester, between October ’80 and May ’82.

Side B: Live Side
Live tracks recorded at the Salford Glam Fest, Manchester, April ’83 with the Revo Mobile Unit.

Matrix / Runout (Side 1): BULP 1 A1
Matrix / Runout (Side 2): BULP 1 B
Other: STRAWBERRY

Dave Roberts (V,B)
Alistair Terry
Stuart McFarlane
Steve Roberts

Rock And Roll Mayhem. It goes:
“Rock and roll mayhem tonight
Turn up the music
And switch out the light
Rock and roll mayhem tonight
Turn up the music
And switch out the light
Tonight”

Background
I remember these guys getting loads of ink in Kerrang! and Sounds and indeed just about everyone involved in the scene at the time, including our own Dave Reynolds got a big thank you on the back of this album cartoonish sleeve. Unfortunately the Silverwing story didn’t end as well as many hoped. Immersed in all things Glam, particularly KISS; Brothers Dave and Steve Roberts dabbled in a variety of band situations, finally getting serious around 1979 just in time to ride the crest of the NWOBHM movement. Appearing on the excellent 1980 comp ‘New Electric Warriors’ which included such luminaries as Buffalo, Vardis, Dawnwatcher and Rhabstallion; the band released a DIY three song EP the same year which sold exceedingly well and at this point Silverwing developed into a sturdy live act which included a well-received tour with Diamond Head. A second single was recorded in 1981 for the financially unstable City imprint and predictably never saw the light of day. Bad luck or just poor decision making, either way the boys from Cheshire lost some serious momentum from which they never fully recovered. Two self-pressed singles in 1982 on the band Mayhem label failed to create a spark and by the time ‘Alive And Kicking’, their first and only LP was hit the shelves a year later; Silverwing were all but finished.
________________________________________
The Songs
Released on Bullet Records which was an extension of Bullet Mail Order; the company put out some pretty cool stuff including glam-gods Wrathchild, Chrome Molly, Black Rose, Le Griffe and an EP from Danish faves Pretty Maids. ‘Alive And Kicking’ is a split between unreleased demo tracks and live material recorded at the alford Glam Fest’ in July 1983. A neat bill that also featured Wrathchild, Cloven Hoof and the short-lived but excellent Sacred Alien; man I wish I had been there. Anyway, Silverwing with a proper producer and a label with respectable cash flow could have gone places in my opinion as there no shortage of loud, high wattage riffola to be found on the studio side. Opener and very Slade-ish ‘That Entertainment’ and ittin’ Pretty’ with its big chorus are jaw-dropping good fun. A bit of proggy synth on the ballad ‘Teenage Love Affair’ reminds me of Praying Mantis and is a bit out of place although its heads down in-your-face NWOBHM all the way on ‘Flash Bomb Fever’ and despite the overall bad recording quality, the punkish power popper ‘Love Ya’ shows these guys absorbed their ’70s influences like a glitter-speckled sponge. The live side isn’t quite as strong but there is a moment or two of brilliance including a cover of Japan ‘Adolescent Sex’ which sounds more like The Clash then they probably cared to admit.

CHECK:

SILVERWING: That’s Entertainment + Flashbomb Fever. 7″ Double A sided single. Limited Posterbag Pic Sleeve 1982. .

SILVERWING: Sittin’ Pretty 12″ N.W.O.B.H.M 1982. Really good. Check video presentation