Bernie Tormé had his best hour in Ian Gillan’s band; his revelatory guitaring on Gillan’s 1979 album Mr Universe is the stuff of legend. Bernie, who died in 2019, additionally loved stints with Ozzy Osbourne and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider. However did your mum ever stitch a Tormé patch on in your denim jacket? No.
Whiffs of the eye-patched Irishman’s spiky-haired pub-rock roots at all times lingered. Other folks tended to want Bernie Winters. This five-CD set makes a speciality of Tormé (the band) and is set as very important as a papier-mâché motorbike helmet.
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Integrated are the albums Again To Babylon, Die Lovely Die Younger, Reputable Reside Bootleg and Demolition Ball, plus many demos and reside recordings. The band’s ungainly glam-punk shtick sounds very dated in this day and age. Additionally, the entirety – even the raucous My Child Loves A Vampire, their absolute best tune through a long way – comes throughout as affordable, rushed and ill-conceived.
Tellingly, Tormé by no means escaped the United Kingdom’s grinding rock membership circuit; the bonkers sleevenotes make gigs at Folkestone and Cleethorpes resemble Madison Sq. Lawn. Bonus tracks come with Kerrap, a dig at Kerrang! mag, with sneering vocals through Phil Lewis (Lady/L.A. Weapons), and a baffling, to not say shambolic, rendition of Cameo’s Phrase Up.
