XLR8R – The Ultimate Sensation

[NOTE: I’m glad to say that since putting this post up here, I’ve made contact with Ed Box of the band who I obviously checked with regarding reposting the old music. I quote, “That’s fine with me.” Thanks, Ed!]

I don’t have any cover art for this one as I confess I never owned an original copy. As such, the recording’s pretty poor as well. This is the best I could get when I copied it from a friend (apologies to the band… by the time I got into them I don’t think copies of the demo could be bought anyway), and there’s at least one “warped” bit where the tape I was copying from slipped.

Regardless, it’s a good set of songs despite the poorer sound quality.

Incidentally, I found Ed Box (guitars/vocals) online yesterday though his web page looks a bit out of date. I did drop him a line, but I guess we’ll see if I get a reply. The timeline on his page makes for interesting reading, and it seems like a major reason for the band packing things in was – essentially – big business turning away from rock/metal.

Given that this was around the time that the Monsters of Rock festival gave its last hurrah (before being resurrected more recently as Download), and when Bruce Dickinson left Maiden who couldn’t even sell out mid-sized venues, you can see why a new band would have trouble getting signed. This despite regularly featuring in “best unsigned band” competitions, doing Radio 1 sessions and so forth.

Shame.

1. Nothing Can Cure Me Now
2. Dangerous
3. End of the Road
4. Holding Back The Tears

All tracks (c) XLR8R and uploaded with permission

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• Old Band of the Day: XLR8R (moshville.co.uk)