Year : 1983 (FnA Records Edition 2010)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 82 mb
Bio:
Gregory Jay Leon is a Los Angeles hard rock guitarist notable for his stints in Quiet Riot and Dokken. He was also in a band called Suite 19 with Gary Holland, who was later replaced by Tommy Lee.Greg Leon is considered an influential and important musical personality in the Hollywood Hard Rock/Heavy Metal scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, playing an integral part in the successive fortunes of the acts he was associated with.Greg Leon was born in 1958 and grew up in Glendale, California, a foothills community of Los Angeles, and immediately made an impact on the blossoming live hard rock scene of Hollywood's Sunset Strip in the late 1970s. Primarily playing guitar and handling vocals, the acts that he fronted were Suite 19, with future Great White/Dokken drummer Gary Holland and then future Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, and the Greg Leon Invasion, with bassist Joey Vera (later of Armored Saint, Fate's Warning and Anthrax) and drummer Carl Elizondo (later of Jag Wire, and playing under the stage name Carl James). The Invasion would release the "Every Time" b/w "Stay With Me Tonite" 7" single with Vera on bass who was fired when it was discovered by Greg Leon that he had been moonlighting with Armored Saint. Vera's replacement, Chuck Stevenson and Elizondo played with Greg on the Greg Leon Invasion picture disc released by Azra/R2R in 1983. He took the place of Randy Rhoads in Quiet Riot, and as the pre-George Lynch guitarist in Dokken (Don Dokken has since made the group's first EP, which graces Greg on the cover). During this period Greg also had a considerable local reputation as a guitar teacher, working at Rhoads' mother's guitar studio in Burbank.Greg Leon had several incarnations of the Invasion and played with various L.A. acts after his exciting early days. He also had a brief time with Greenworld Records' Midwestern act Vyper, while at the same time gathering a name for himself as a guitar amp modifying specialist. In the late 1990s, Greg fronted a band called Wishing Well which also featured Survivor drummer Marc Droubay and English-born bassist Stuart Brooks (ex-Black Cat Bones, Leaf Hound, The Pretty Things). The trio released their eponymous debut album in 1997. However, by 2003 Greg Leon was once again playing the LA club scene under the name The Greg Leon Invasion, featuring Boston-born bassist George Roelke and Ohio-born drummer Greg Stevens, taking the group for a European festival tour in 2005 on the strength of new recordings, coupled with the myth related to his name. The line-up also performed July 13, 2007 at the annual 1980s-era hard rock music festival Rocklahoma. In 2008 former White Lion drummer Greg D'Angelo replaced Stevens in the band.Greg is married with Canadian singer Suza Wood and in 2005 he produced her first album titled Sweet Freedom.
Album:
Raised in the Los Angeles suburb Glendale, Greg Leon focused his love of rock guitar to develop and hone his own unique passionate approach to the instrument at a truly amazing time in the Hollywood music scene. As a teen, Greg teamed up with future Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee in their band Suite 19. Back in the 80’s Greg was a wonder-kid guitar slinger on the Sunset Strip, and made his mark while rubbing elbows and trading licks with Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads at the legendary Starwood club. Greg Leon replaced Randy Rhoads in Quiet Riot when Randy left to join Ozzy Osbourne’s band, and also was the lead guitarist in Dokken prior to George Lynch. This dude can play the guitar!Primarily playing guitar and handling lead vocals, Leon formed his own outfit GREG LEON INVASION with bassist Joey Vera (later of Armored Saint, Fates Warning and Anthrax fame) and drummer Carl Elizondo (later of Jag Wire, and playing under the stage name Carl James). In 1983 GREG LEON INVASION released their self-titled debut album via a small label Azra Records, amazingly, a picture disc LP, a rare thing for a novel band.FnA Records did the remaster of the original tapes and reissued for the first time on CD that 1983 album, re-titled “Guitars, Cars and Women“, with a new cover art as well. The music lives up to the new album title: this is guitar driven U.S. hard rock with melody. Opener ‘I’m Leaving You’ is straight ahead 80s Heavy Rock very well produced and sets the bar for the record. Greg Leon has a good voice and is also a skilled songwriter – listen to the melody in ‘Follow the Sun’. His guitar playing just underlines why there was such strong demand for Leon back in the day.Other album highlights are ‘Nothing to Lose’ and ‘Born to Die’. Both have a vintage Motley Crue sound but without Vince Neil’s high pitched vocals. ‘Born to Die’ also changes pace and becomes an epic song like Rainbow’s Dio era.GREG LEON INVASION also deliver radio friendly tunes with a more melodic rock feel in ‘Dreamer’ and ‘Stay with Me Tonight’. As bonus, we find the 2-sided single released in 1982, a very cool addition.GREG LEON INVASION ‘Guitars, Cars and Women’ is a wonderful slice of first half of the Eighties American hard rock, guitar driven and catchy rockin’ akin early MOTLEY CRUE, DOKKEN, QUIET RIOT, the first WHITE LION, etc.
Line Up:
Greg Leon – vocals, guitars - See also: ex-Dokken, ex-Motley Crue, ex-Quiet Riot, ex-Suite 19
Joey Vera – Bass, Backing Vocals
Carl James – Drums, Backing Vocals
Tracklist:
01. I’m Leaving You
02. Follow the Sun
03. Nothing to Lose
04. Out On the Streets
05. Guitars, Cars and Women
06. Born to Die
07. Feels Like I’m Losing
08. Dreamer
09. Stay With Me Tonight
10. Every Time (45” Version) (Bonus Track)
11. Stay With Me Tonight (45” Version) (Bonus Track)
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