Year : 1975/2005/2011 (Cherry Red/Lemon Recordings Expanded Edition 2026)
Style : Hard Rock , Classic Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 122 mb
Bio:
David Garrick (29 January 1947 – 28 February 1985), better known by his stage name David Byron, was a British singer who was best known in the early 1970s as the original lead vocalist of the rock band Uriah Heep and their hit singles "Easy Livin'" (1972) and "Stealin'" (1973).Byron possessed a powerful operatic voice and exuded a flamboyant stage presence.Byron sang on 10 Uriah Heep albums: Very 'Eavy, Very 'Umble, Salisbury, Look at Yourself, Demons and Wizards, The Magician's Birthday, Live, Sweet Freedom, Wonderworld, Return To Fantasy, and High and Mighty. In 1975, Byron released his first solo album, Take No Prisoners, which also featured fellow Heep members Box, Hensley and Lee Kerslake. Byron also gained a reputation for hard drinking, which eventually led to him being sacked from Uriah Heep at the end of a Spanish tour in July 1976.Hensley said at the time, "David was one of those classic people who couldn't face up to the fact that things were wrong and he looked for solace in a bottle." Ahead of his dismissal, Uriah Heep had secured John Lawton as replacement singer. Their manager at the time, Gerry Bron, said Byron had been released in "the best interest of the group". Bron explained that Byron and the other Uriah Heep members had been in disagreement for some time over fundamental issues of group policy, and that the differences had been finally brought to a head following the band's recent tour of Britain and Europe. "It was felt by the rest of the group that they could no longer reconcile David's attitude with their own," commented Bron.Byron recorded three solo albums: Take No Prisoners in 1975, Baby Faced Killer in 1978, and That Was Only Yesterday, which was recorded in 1984, one year before his death.During this period, Byron teamed up with former Colosseum / Humble Pie guitarist Clem Clempson and former Wings drummer Geoff Britton to form Rough Diamond. They recorded one self-titled LP for Island Records in March 1977. The album sold poorly and Byron quit.Next, Byron got together with guitarist Robin George to form The Byron Band, which was signed to Creole Records and debuted with the single "Every Inch of the Way"/"Routine" (CR 8). This was followed by the single "Never Say Die"/"Tired Eyes", before the release of the 1981 album On the Rocks (CRX 2). However, as with his previous band Rough Diamond, neither critical nor commercial acclaim was forthcoming.Box and Trevor Bolder invited Byron to re-join Uriah Heep in 1981, after Ken Hensley had left, but Byron refused.Lost and Found is a double album that included demos and live recordings by the Byron Band, which spanned from 1980 to 1982.Byron died of alcohol-related complications, including liver disease and seizures, at his home in Berkshire on 28 February 1985.On BBC Radio's The Friday Rock Show, Tommy Vance played "July Morning" in tribute.On the Equator tour, around the time of Byron's death, Uriah Heep dedicated "The Wizard" to him. There were also tributes to him and deceased bassist Gary Thain on the 1998 album Sonic Origami. The opening track, "Between Two Worlds", is dedicated to David Byron and Gary Thain, both members of Uriah Heep who died at a young age.
Album:
Next Friday Aug. 7th, Cherry Red Records / Lemon Recordings are about to reissue / repress ‘Take No Prisoners’, the debut solo album from URIAH HEEP’s original flamboyant vocalist DAVID BYRON. Remastered and expanded “Take No Prisoners [Expanded Edition]” include three bonus tracks, plus a 16-page booklet with the story of the album by Classic Rock Magazine’s Uriah Heep expert, Dave Ling.Originally issued in 1975 while DAVID BYRON was still vocalist for URIAH HEEP, the LP features Heep bandmates Mick Box and Lee Kerslake on all tracks, as well as Ken Hensley and John Wetton on select numbers.It isn’t a big surprise that a good portion of the album sounds a lot like the group that gave him his day job: sturdy organ-driven hard-rockers like “Silver White Man” and “Hit Me With a White One” would not be out of place on any HEEP albums from this period. The fact that every then-current member of Uriah Heep makes at least one appearance on this record further aids this déjà vu feeling. What is surprising about Take No Prisoners is how solid and consistent it is for a between-albums solo venture.Fans of URIAH HEEP golden era and Classic Rock need to have ‘Take No Prisoners’, and this Expanded Edition is the one to grab, with a really well done remastering job.The rock ‘n’ roll heap is piled high with never-wases, burnouts, has-beens and straight-up tragedies. File singer David Byron in the latter, his fame equal parts salve and curse. He sold 30 million albums fronting Uriah Heep in the ’70s, earned countless gold records and headlined arenas the world over.He drank himself dead in early ’85 once his wife, most friends and fans had abandoned him — even his funeral was sparsely attended. There was arguably no greater fall in rock, and it’s hard to imagine the once superstar dying alone, his body discovered later.Alice Cooper’s life eerily paralleled Byron’s then; Cooper was drinking himself to death and, by 1983, his career was finished; he was living far from his old Beverly Hills house, drunk in Scottsdale, Arizona — his aging Rolls Royce the metaphor; it showed dents, missing hubcaps and would stall at lights.Cooper, of course, sobered up and staged a Herculean comeback, scoring his biggest-selling single in 1989. Byron died too soon to ride the international hard rock resurgence.This 1975 album out a year before Heep booted Byron for being an out-of-control libationist rock star— is, despite the era’s critical opinion, surprisingly good in context, great even, like Cooper’s same-year solo debut, Welcome to My Nightmare.Beyond the glam-disco upcoming wave, Byron had real range as a writer, singer and style interpreter, and ‘Take No Prisoners’ has aged very well; his skills and personality were potent enough to sustain a solo career.The album’s dark pop-rock opener, “Man Full of Yesterdays,” merges organ drones and a soaring guitar hook with Byron’s chilling slide-to-oblivion prophecy — though it was written as an ode to OD’d Heep bassist Gary Thain.Suzi Quatro could’ve hit on “Sweet Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a ’70s classic-rock “spiritual” cloaked in gospel choruses; and you’d swear Stevie Wonder organist Clarence Bell propels the infuriatingly catchy “Steamin’ Along,” a prime piece of white-boy funk-rock, albeit with dirty rock compulsions.“Stop (Think What You’re Doing)” mixes rock ‘n’ roll with beautiful overproduction, and the Mellotron-loaded “Love Song” certified Byron’s considerable crooner skills — tender, breathy dynamics with sexual tension for girls — a killer cross of Alice Cooper and David Cassidy.Album-best “Silver White Man” features singsong choruses with sweet “Ruby Tuesday”-like “Ew-la-Ew-la-las” – this Expanded Edition includes an alternate version of that song, plus a single edit and an outtake.“Take No Prisoners [Expanded Edition]” is remarkable artifact to lost era when rock star excess was still counterculture ritual whose downside had yet to be defined on grand scales. It showed a man who’d no idea he was at his peak, in his life, in his career.
Line Up:
David Byron (R.I.P. 1985) – lead and backing vocals
Mick Box – guitars
Denny Ball – bass & backing vocals
Lee Kerslake – drums, backing vocals
Lou Stonebridge – keyboards & backing vocals
+ guests:
Pete Thompson – drums (tracks: 2,3,4,6)
Ken Hensley – acoustic guitar (track 10)
John Wetton – mellotron (tracks 1,5)
Chanter Sisters – backing vocals (tracks 2,9)
Martha Smith – backing vocals (tracks 2,9)
Neil Lancaster – backing vocals (tracks 2,9)
Chas Mills – backing vocals (tracks 2,9)
Russ Stone – backing vocals (tracks 2,9)
Tracklist:
01. Man Full Of Yesterdays
02. Sweet Rock ‘N’ Roll
03. Steamin’ Along
04. Silver White Man
05. Love Song
06. Midnight Flyer
07. Saturday Night
08. Roller Coaster
09. Stop (Think What You’re Doing)
10. Hit Me With A White One
11. Steamin’ Along (Single Edit) (Bonus Track)
12. What’s Going On (Outtake) (Bonus Track)
13. Silver White Man (Alternative Version) (Bonus Track)
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