''Fresh Blood'' is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter

Steve Swindells Steve Swindells (born 21 November 1952) is an English singer-songwriter, keyboardist, party organizer, club promoter and journalist. Life and career Early life Swindells grew up in the Bath and Bristol area, dropping out of art college to play ...

. The album was originally released in late 1980 on the label

Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to: Businesses * ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies ** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company * Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing com ...

. The album was Swindells' first solo album following his departure from

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

, due to an offer that had been made to him by Atco to make this album. It was produced by Swindells himself, after being unable to afford advances offered by

Jim Steinman James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, mus ...

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former Music executive, record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscop ...

, and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

. Bowie would later praise the album, along with ''Messages'' as sounding "pretty good" When the album was released in late 1980, it received positive reviews but failed to chart in the UK. "

Shot Down in the Night ''Shot Down in the Night'' is a 1979 song written by Steve Swindells, who was at that time keyboardist with the UK rock group Hawkwind. Swindells and Hawkwind released different versions of the song as a single on 27 June 1980. Hawkwind's versi ...

", and "Turn It On, Turn It Off" were released as singles, but they both also failed to chart. He was later dropped from the label, when it failed to make sufficient sales. Fresh Blood was remasteredhttps://soundcloud.com/steve-swindells/turn-it-on-hawklords-wind-demo in 2009 by Atomhenge (ATOMCD1015). The 24 bit remastering was done by Ben Wiseman at The Audio Archiving Company in London. The album was re-published by

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as w ...

, in CD and digital formats, with the former including a 16 page illustrated booklet written by Steve. It's rare now in physical form but you can stream or download on the usual sites and apps. Swindells is backed on this album by guitarist

Huw Lloyd-Langton Richard Hugh "Huw" Lloyd-Langton (6 February 1951 – 6 December 2012) was an English musician, best known as the guitarist for the rock band HawkwindStrong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Rock Discography'', Canongate, , p. 466 at various times. ...

and drummer Simon King, both from Hawkwind, and bassist

Nic Potter Nic Potter (18 October 1951 – 16 January 2013) was a British bassist, composer and painter, best known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator in the 1970s. Biography Nic Potter was born in Wiltshire and left school at 15, origin ...

from

Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith. They were the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much ...

Critical reception

Retrospective review

''Fresh Blood'' received positive reviews from contemporary

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, critic Dave Thompson gave the album three and a half out of five stars and wrote that "Swindells' ''Fresh Blood'' heralded the coming rise of the keyboard, while gallantly introducing the immediate musical past --

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and New Wave, to the future. But the future wasn't beckoning him; a tad too ahead of his time for the U.S., and just a step behind the times for the U.K., this fabulous album sunk with little trace and even less interest from his label. Swept in the cross-currents of its time, the set still sounds surprisingly fresh today, and in hindsight even more glorious."

Track listing

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

; keyboards;

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s *

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Simon King –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Covers

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

's lead vocalist

Roger Daltrey Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona ear ...

covered two tracks from this album, "Bitter and Twisted" on the 1980 soundtrack to the film '' McVicar'', and "Don't Wait on the Stairs" on his 1984 album ''

Parting Should Be Painless ''Parting Should Be Painless'' is the fifth solo studio album by the English singer Roger Daltrey, released in February 1984, by Atlantic Records in the United States, and by WEA in Germany, and Japan. The album was Daltrey's first solo album sin ...

''. * "Shot Down in the Night" had originally been written for Hawkwind while Swindells was in the band in 1979. Hawkwind released their own live version of the track as a single and on the 1980 album ''

Live Seventy Nine ''Live Seventy Nine'' is a 1980 live album by Hawkwind recorded on their Winter 1979 UK tour. It reached #15 on the UK album chart. This is a reconstituted Hawkwind with Brock, Bainbridge and King emerging from the dissolved Hawklords, joined ...

''.

Release history

*October 1980:

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...

, UK: K50738, USA: SD38-128, vinyl *27 July 2009: Atomhenge ( Cherry Red) Records, ATOMCD1015, UK CD

References

External links

*
Atomhenge RecordsSteve's own account of the album's creation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fresh Blood Steve Swindells albums 1980 albums Atco Records albums