Talas – 1985
Talas – 1985
Metal Blade
Release Date: 23/09/22
Running Time: 41:26
Review by Simon Black
9/10
It has been a long time. Well, since 1985 in fact, hence the album title…
OK, Talas didn’t completely stop that year, but that was when powerhouse Bass maestro Billy Sheehan took the then job of a lifetime in David Lee Roth’s solo band (when that really meant something) he effectively stopped Talas’s upward trajectory dead in its tracks. And I guess he’s been a little busy ever since, given that Mr Big were far from an underground project either, not to mention the dozens of other bands he’s squeezed in over the years. Singer Phil Naro and drummer Mark Miller are back with Sheehan, alongside newcomer Macedonian guitarist Kire Najdovski, who contributes way more than lowering the average age of the band by two decades and fits in beautifully with these old pro’s.
The project came to fruition remotely during the pandemic, and although a lot may have happened since, the band have literally picked up exactly where they left off – with all bar one of the tracks on here having originally been written for what would have been their fourth album had they not folded. Although ironically it’s that this very track – the ballad ‘Black and Blue’, that feels a little out of place, given that the remainder are a case study on superfast technically brilliant musical delivery of the kind that you would expect from these formidable maestro’s of old.
With 27 years of pot-simmering to allow for a massive tightening up of any weak spots in the arrangements of these old tracks, this album is a joy from start to finish. Sheehan delivers exactly what you expect, with bass finger work that proves they can still move at drill speed (check out his bass solo driven closer 7IHd h if you don’t believe me). Naro’s vocals have never sounded better, and Miller still remains one of the most technically underrated drummers of his generation. Then there’s Najdovski – not the kind of shredder you might have expected, but a soulful player with mood, groove and buckets full of subtle technique, who counterpoints then band perfectly and feels like he has been there for a lot longer than he has. I can’t really fault much on here, and to be honest even ‘Black and Blue’ is an outstandingly good track, just not as quite good as the others, but then that’s an impossibly high watermark for any band…
Having been absolutely fired up by the news of this fabulous rebirth and a few joyful spins of this disk, the news that since it was recorded the tragic death of Phil Naro to cancer in 2021 means this may be the last we ever hear of Talas is a hard kick in the guts, having only just got them back. Regardless, what we have here is simultaneously a joyful rebirth, a fitting epitaph and possible the finest record Talas ever delivered in their long, if sporadic career.
‘Crystal Clear’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Inner Mounting Flame
02. I’ll Take the Night
03. Crystal Clear
04. Don’t Try to Stop Me Tonight
05. Do You Feel Any Better
06. On the Take
07. Come When You Call
08. The Power to Break Away
09. Black & Blue
10. Close to the Killer
11. 7IHd h
LINE-UP:
Billy Sheehan – Bass
Mark Miller – Drums
Phil Naro – Vocals
Kire Najdovski – Guitar
LINKS:
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