Praying Mantis - Demorabilia

Praying Mantis are an English rock band. Though very much a part of the NWOBHM scene, they pursued a musical direction more melodic and AOR-sounding than their contemporaries.Their formation considerably pre-dates the NWOBHM. They were formed in 1974 by the Troy brothers, both college students. Like several NWOBHM bands they made their first available recording at Neal Kay's Soundhouse recording studio which was released as the Soundhouse Tapes EP in 1979. 1980 saw their profile considerably raised with support slots for Iron Maiden and Ronnie Montrose's Gamma.The attention won them a contract with Arista Records and they released their best-known work Time Tells No Lies in 1981. Unfortunately management and lineup instability greatly undermined their success and Arista dropped them. The following year they signed for Jet Records but two subsequent singles flopped and the band folded. The band had originally recorded a version of the Russ Ballard penned track I Surrender but ran into conflict with Rainbow who went on to release their version and had a Top Ten worldwide hit. In its place they recorded the single "Cheated".

  The band maintained a strong fanbase in Japan, and when the Troys temporarily reformed Praying Mantis for an NWOBHM nostalgia tour in 1990 they were sufficiently encouraged by the response to resurrect the band full-time. Their live work was released as Live At Last and a follow-up studio album Predator In Disguise was released the following year, and the band soldiered on into the new century. A compilation, The Best Of Praying Mantis, was released in 2004

Demorabilia is an excellent double cd with, in total 27 Escape and Praying Mantis tracks, which had not been released before.

The song material itself is non-stop top-class even when you consider that these are after all only demos and as such the sound can be a bit ropey at times

 

The Musicians

* Bernie Shaw, Lead Vocals On Most tracks

* Chris Troy, Bass guitar, Background Vocals, Lead Vocals

* Tino Troy, Lead guitar, Background Vocals, Keyboards

* Don Garbett, Keyboards On Nov 83 tracks

* Clive Burr, Drums On Most Escape Tracks

* Jon Bavin, Keyboards On May and June 83 Tracks

* Steve Carroll, Lead guitar, Background Vocals, Lead Vocals On 81tracks

* Dave Potts, Drums On most Praying Mantis Tracks

* Tom Jackson, Lead Vocals

Praying Mantis - Demorabilia

Disc 1

01 One Of These Days (Escape – Nov 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/C.Burr/D.Potts 3′09″

02. Wasted Love (Escape – Nov 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/C.Burr/D.Potts 3′40″

03. Fantasy (Escape – Nov 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/C.Burr/D.Potts 3′48″

04. Woman Of The Night (Escape – Nov 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/C.Burr/D.Potts 3′26″

05. I Don’t Take Prisoners (Escape – Nov 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/C.Burr/D.Potts 3′47″

06. Born Evil (Escape – Nov 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/C.Burr/D.Potts 3′33″

07. The Horn (Escape – Nov 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/C.Burr/D.Potts 3′ 07″

08. Top Of The Mountain (Escape – Nov 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/C.Burr/D.Potts 4′06″

09. All Over Again (Praying Mantis – Late 83) C.Troy/T.Troy 3′45″

10. Romancer (Praying Mantis – Late 83) T.Troy 3′37″

11. Your Number (Praying Mantis – Late 83) T.Troy/D.Potts 3′52″

12. Give Me A Reason (Praying Mantis – June 83) C.Troy/T.Troy/S.Carroll/D.Potts 3′29″

13. Heartache (Praying Mantis – Winter 81 – Tom Jackson Lead Vocal)C.Troy/T.Troy/S.Carroll/D.Potts/T.Jackson 2′26″

Disc 2

01. A Question Of Time (Praying Mantis – Aug 81) T.Troy/C.Troy/S.Carroll/D.Potts 4′13″

02. I Need Your Loving (Praying Mantis – Aug 81) T.Troy/C.Troy/S.Carroll/D.Potts 2′56″

03. Battle Royal (Praying Mantis – Aug 81) T.Troy/C.Troy 3′34″

04. Time Slipping Away (Praying Mantis – Aug 81) T.Troy/C.Troy/S.Carroll/D.Potts 4′37″

05. Got To Get It (Praying Mantis – Jan 83) J.Bavin/T.Troy/C.Troy/D.Potts/B.Shaw 3′31″

06. Over And Over (Praying Mantis – Jan 83) J.Bavin/T.Troy/C.Troy/D.Potts/B.Shaw 3′21″

07. Never Say No ((Praying Mantis – Jan 83) J.Bavin/T.Troy/C.Troy/D.Potts/B.Shaw 3′31″

08. Heat Of The Moment (Escape – Late 83) T.Troy/C.Troy/C.Burr/B.Shaw 3′36″

09. Whose Life Is It Anyway? (Escape – Late 83) T.Troy/C.Troy/C.Burr 3′50″

10. Enough Is Enough (Praying Mantis – May 83) T.Troy/C.Troy/J.Bavin/D.Potts 3′38″

11. Raining In Kensington (Praying Mantis – May 83) J.Bavin 4′13″

12. Nightmares (Praying Mantis – May 83) T.Troy 3′08″

13. Give Me A Reason (Praying Mantis – Aug 81 – Chris Vocal) C.Troy/T.Troy/S.Carroll/D.Potts 4′31″

14. The Story (Praying Mantis – Aug 81 – Chris Then Steve Vocal) C.Troy/T.Troy/S.Carroll/D.Potts 6′36″

NEW LINKS


CD 1
CD2