Never a band to reach the highest level of fame, they should still be noted for having two members among them that would later join Uriah Heep (Sloman) and UFO (Chapman) respectively. Unfortunately, this band would split up just a year after this concert and would just release two albums in the 70s until a unreleased album came to light in 1999.
Read on!
Lone Star
Hampstead
Concert review by Geoff Barton
AFTER A couple of false starts, Lone Star’s headlining tour of Britain finally got under way last Friday, at Hampstead’s scruffy little Westfield College. And, in general, the band proved that the faith put in them by various factions of the music business last year — John Peel, Alan Freeman, yea, even SOUNDS itself — was not misplaced.
Even taking into consideration a power cut mid-way through the band’s set, Lone Star presented a smoothly organised, ultra competent performance. Their new vocalist, one Paul Sloman, has been with them for three weeks, but the expected rough spots did not occur, indeed he carried himself remarkably well throughout.
Lone Star opened with ‘A Million Stars’, one of the most hard-hitting numbers from their debut Epic album. The front men – Sloman, together with guitarists Tony Smith and Paul Chapman — came across as a supremely confident trio (perhaps overly so). Sloman, with his Scott Gorham looks, has a strong voice and phrases his words well, although his range may not be as great as his predecessor’s, Kenny Driscoll. Smith and Chapman exchange licks and solo neatly, both proving themselves to be exceptionally fluid players.
The remainder of the band — Rick Worsnop (keyboards), Peter Hurley (bass) and Dixie Lee (drums) — was just as impressive, especially the rhythm section, both empathic and Hurley’s bass work nicely dominant.
‘Lone Soldier’ was undoubtedly the most outstanding number of the evening, bettering even the immaculate She Said’. It probably had a lot to do with the over-the-top stage effects show, something bound to win this particular writer over regardless (almost).
During the song’s ‘battle sequence’ strobe lights flashed and synthesised bomb whistles and explosions made their way from one side of the PA to the other. Then, for the ‘aftermath’, tons of dry ice smoke billowed around, creating an eerie fog-bound amosphere.
I have a few criticisms, however. At the moment, the Lone Star set appears to be rather too consciously rehearsed, the lip pouting, grimacing, bare-chested macho moves seemingly coming from the mind of a choreographer than from natural spontaneity and want to.
Also, I’d hoped that Roy Thomas Baker’s frilly musical production edges would have disappeared in concert performance. Well, some of them have, but most of them haven’t. Many of Lone Star’s numbers are too structured for my liking. A new funk-orientated song in particular incorporated so many time changes that in the end I lost count — less clever dick musicianship and more straight ahead heavy rock ‘n’ roll is the order of the day, in my opinion.
Still, despite these niggling reservations, Lone Star remain an exceptionally fine new British band. It’s early days yet and I’m willing to bet that by the end of the year the group will be able to confidently take on their hyper-professional American counter parts at their own game — and win hands down.
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