Great Metal Albums of 1986: Samson- Joint Forces

Even as early as 1986, the British heavy metal band, Samson, was already becoming known as “the other band Bruce Dickinson was in.” No prizes for knowing Bruce was in Samson before leaving to join Iron Maiden. In fact, I probably should have been posting Samson albums in the previous years leading up to 1986. I blame my crap memory. If anyone’s interested, I could visit those albums after the tour of 86 is done before moving onto 1987.

Guitarist Paul Samson wasn’t going to throw in the towel after Bruce’s departure and continued the band and lead singer Nicky Moore proves to be a capable replacement on Samson’s 1986 album, “Joint Forces.” In spite of the fact that I had heard of Samson before coming over to Britain, I never listened to them until I saw them open for none other than Iron Maiden. It was a result of that concert, I finally got around to listening to Samson. That was the problem in 1986, so much good metal and not enough time to listen to it all.

Starting with both ends of the album, the opening and closing tracks lay down the framework to what is a great album. “The Chosen Few” is a very fast paced song which grabs your attention from the start, the closest track to thrash. Then, while the contradiction may not work on other albums, the closing power ballad, “Reach Out to Love” is the perfect way to end the album. I don’t remember if they played the song when I saw them but if I was to go back in time and Samson was playing in the US, my cigarette lighter would have been held aloft all throughout the song.

That leaves the songs in between and let me say that there is no let up anywhere on the album. I like the reggae/metal feel to “No Turning Back” and “Tell Me” is a real power rocker. Paul really lets go with the guitar on this one. “The Russians are Coming” is a short but sweet speedy rocker. It’s a good dig at then president Ronald Reagan’s paranoia that the Russians were going to invade America at any moment and it has a cool guitar solo from Paul. However, of all these tunes, my favourite has to be the mid tempo, melodic metal jam, “Burning Emotion.” For me, this track embodies everything Samson does well on the album.

Track Listing:

1. The Chosen Few
2. Tramp
3. Burning Emotion
4. No Turning Back
5. Tell Me
6. Tales of the Fury
7. That Ain’t All
8. Power of Love
9. The Russians are Coming
10. Reach Out For Love

Samson

Nicky Moore- vocals

Paul Samson- guitar

John Mccoy- bass

Chris Shirley- drums

Whether Samson was Bruce Dickinson’s other band or not seems a mute point. What I know is that I missed out on a great band in Samson, something I need to rectify.

Next post: Iron Maiden- Somewhere In Time

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com