Diamond Head Historic BBC Recordings Set For Release

This double CD of BBC recordings combines the band's In Session and In Concert recordings on one CD for the first time. The set culminates in the Milton Keynes Bowl show, the night they opened for Metallica in 1993 and includes their Reading Festival set from 1982, described by the band as "the peak of their career� as good as it got".

One of the most remarkable talents to rise out of the NWOBHM, Diamond Head's legacy still ranks among the most influential of the genre, with both Megadeth and Metallica citing the group's influence on them.

Indeed, Diamond Head's 'Am I Evil?' has been a staple of Metallica's live shows for many years. Sounds magazine's metal editor Geoff Barton once remarked that "there are more good riffs in your average single Diamond Head song than there are in the first four Black Sabbath albums." Such lavish praise had been sparked by the band's unassuming, independently recorded first album (later commonly referred to as the White Album or Lightning To The Nations), which by all rights should have been just the first step on the road to a legendary career.

Diamond Head were formed in Stourbridge, England in 1976 by schoolmates Brian Tatler and Duncan Scott. They quickly recruited Sean Harris and a few months later Colin Kimberley. Having already received euphoric responses to their first album, Diamond Head were quickly signed by MCA and a lengthy tour ensued. They were soon back in the studio to record a second album, Borrowed Time and, by the time they split in 1983, a third, Canterbury, had been recorded.

The tracklisting:

Disc 1:
Friday Rock Show (October 29, 1980):
'Borrowed Time'
'Don't You Ever Leave'
'Sweet And Innocent'
'Lightning To The Nations'

Reading Festival (August 27, 1982):
'Am I Evil'
'In The Heat Of The Night'
'Borrowed Time'
'Don't You Ever Leave'
'Sucking My Love'
'Play It Loud'

Disc 2:
Paris Theatre (November 6, 1982):
'Borrowed Time'
'Heat Of The Night'
'Sucking My Love'
'To Heaven From Hell'
'Play It Loud'