STAMPEDE: Hurricane Town LP PROMO, mint condition. Top NWOBHM. Check audio “The Other”, “The Runner” + video review of the album

Outstanding post-NWOBHM melodic rock gem

Released in 1983, Hurricane Town was the debut and only studio album from British rock band Stampede, one of the more melodic bands to emerge as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) scene was winding down. The band was originally known as Lautrec, but it was as Stampede that they got attention from a major label.

Hurricane Town fits perfectly alongside the British melodic rock sound of that era, especially bands like Lionheart, Heavy Pettin’ and Praying Mantis. Stampede had just enough metal edge to go with their keyboards (courtesy of Magnum’s Mark Stanway), catchy melodies and great vocal harmonies. Reuben Archer’s vocals are strong and clear, and Laurence Archer’s guitar work was quite impressive. Stampede put together a very polished, radio-friendly rock album, and one that still has a lot of charm. Unfortunately Polydor didn’t promote them much and the band fell apart not long after Hurricane Town’s release.

They may not have been a success story, but Stampede is still a band that’s well worth discovering if you’re a fan of NWOBHM or the early ‘80s UK melodic rock scene (or better yet, both). Fans of bands like Saracen, Heavy Pettin’, Tobruk, Lionheart and especially Praying Mantis will definitely want a copy of Hurricane Town in their collection.

.

the best stampede album to get actually is the live bootleg (also on sale here at Yperano Records) from 1982. God what a smoking record that was; anyway this album came out in the spring of 1983 but sadly by the time this was released on polydor I felt the production was watered down from what these tracks should have sounded like, still I cant give this amazing classic less then 5 stars because after all with Clive Edwards on drums and the Archer brothers handling the guitar duties this band was a force to reckon with. I think what hurt sales on this album was the polished production, had the production been left more raw this could have been as good as Saxons’ “power and the glory” lp from the same year. Regardless songs like Mexico still came out amazing and the band was so tight.

I would stop shy of calling this a metal record, more a very killer great hard rock record is what this is and back in 83, everyone worldwide was kind of catching on to what had been going on in the uk since 1978/79 with the nwobhm explosion hitting full force by 1980 in the uk.

I highly recommend this. God this album brings back such great memories; it is always great to hear this. Give this a shot if you have never heard it!!!