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Ghost Canyon

Title - Arrows: The Complete Collection [2CD]
Artist - Arrows

The Arrows were a band based in London, England. The group, which formed in 1974 and disbanded in 1977, included American singer/bassist Alan Merrill, American guitarist Jake Hooker and English drummer Paul Varley (original drummer Clive Williams was replaced by Paul Varley).

They had UK chart hit singles in 1974 and 1975 with Touch Too Much and My Last Night with You, produced by Mickie Most on RAK Records and they wrote and recorded the original version of I Love Rock N Roll, later covered by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.

Arrows: The Complete Collection is a lovely 2CD, 29 track box-set featuring everything released by the much-beloved ’70s pop legends

Along with including the UK hit singles ‘A Touch Too Much’ (No. 8) and ‘My Last Night With You’ (No. 25), it also features their only album, First Hit, plus the original version of the self-composed (and aforementioned, now rock standard ) I Love Rock N Roll, amongst a bevy of others.

Guest’s on the album include Rock legends Chris Spedding and Cozy Powell and the booklet features detailed liner notes by Phil Hendriks who played on 2004 tracks recorded with vocalist Alan Merrill.

CD 1: First Hit
1. Once Upon A Time
2. First Hit
3. Thanks
4. What’s Come Between Us
5. Boogiest Band In Town
6. Don’t Worry ‘Bout Love
7. Let Me Love You
8. Feelin’ This Way
9. Love Child
10. Love Is Easy
11. Gotta Be Near You
12. Dreamin’Bonus [Bonus MICKIE MOST SESSION Track]
13. Wake Up [Bonus MICKIE MOST SESSION Track]
14. Bam Bam Battering Ram [Bonus MICKIE MOST SESSION Track]

The first of two discs is their First Hit album, where the Arrows offered a reinvention of themselves, to be fair, and one aimed firmly at the same AOR territory as RAK labelmate’s Smokey; who were carving out for themselves, their very own path. I mean, even the title track boasts a sound-alike husky vocal, which works for for it, no doubt, but wasn’t exactly straying too far form what they were obviously programmed to play.

That aside, it really is not a bad album, and still holds up today, I’d like to think, given all the unintelligible crap that is out there in the charts! What Comes Between Us is a nice slower burner, with some tasteful guitar, an anthemic chorus, and a smart steal from I’ve Been Loving You Too Long over the fade, while both Thanks and Don’t Worry ‘Bout Love have a hint of Bad Company around the edges.

The opening Once Upon a Time, meanwhile, was one of several tracks that were surely modeled after the kind of grand ballad that the also-beloved Walker Brothers might have considered, so overall, it’s a really good album - nice melodies, raspiness, and all brought together with some rockin’ and tasty vocals by Alan Merrill and the band.

CD 2: The Singles
1. Touch Too Much
2. We Can Make It Together
3. Toughen Up
4. Diesel Locomotive Dancer
5. My Last Night With You
6. Movin’ Next Door To You
7. Broken Down Heart
8. I Love Rock N Roll
9. Hard Hearted
10. My World Is Turning On Love
11. Bring Back The Fire [Bonus ARROWSVISION Track]
12. Love Rider [Bonus ARROWSVISION Track]
13. Faith In You [Bonus ARROWSVISION Track]
14. Dare You Not To Dance [Bonus ARROWSVISION Track]
15. Movin’ Next Door To You (Version 2) [Bonus ARROWSVISION Track]

The second disc is aptly-named The Singles, and brings us a tasty selection of ten tracks that showcase the band at their finest. OK, sure, the Arrows had already shot their bolt (sorry, couldn’t resist) by the time their debut album was released, a string of under-performing 7 inch singles prefacing the appearance of the aforementioned LP, but when the songs hit, they stayed stuck.

Much like the Disco-punk-rocker Diesel Locomotive Dancer, the George Thorogood-esque Movin’ Next Door To You, their impassioned I Love Rock N Roll, and both the free flowing beauty of Hard Hearted and the funky, jangling guitars of Toughen Up, and here we even get five cuts from their ARROWSVISION days, the stand outs being both the psych rock of Love Rider and the smoothly-sculptured, double vocal track Faith In You.

Official 2CD Purchase Link

www.cherryred.co.uk





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