Fastway - Fastway (1983)

When talent was being handed out, some people got greedy, and when the opportunity for a musician to display that talent traditionally confined them to the work of one band, some musicians wanted more: “Fast” Eddie Clarke was such a musician. Not content with being a member of and writer for the classic line-up of Motorhead (Bomber, Overkill, Ace of Spades etc), Mr Clarke felt the need to spread his wings musically and form a hard blues-rock band with a commercial tinge, the result being Fastway. This being their 1983 debut album the band set about announcing their presence with a ‘bang’ and that they did with 10 powerful tracks featuring Eddie Clarke’s trademark riffing and Dave King’s powerful and upper register vocals proving a powerful combination. Oh yes, and UFO’s Pete Way was supposed to be on bass (hence the band’s name) but wasn’t due to a contractual obligation with bass duties falling to Mickey Feat.

Easy Livin’ gets things started and showcases the band’s style well presenting blues-based commercial hard rock – no mean feat in itself, especially to pull it off (many have crashed and burnt) which Fastway do with great aplomb. Easy Livin’ motors along powerfully with a great vocal melody and hook and typical rhythm guitar approach solo from Clarke as used with great effect in his previous band. Don’t be put off by the vocals on the video version below from 2007, Dave King’s vocals are excellent here but by the time the video below was made he had long since flown the Fastway nest to form US band Flogging Molly.

Another heavy blues riff opens Feel Me, Touch Me which is a mid-tempo shuffle/boogie but with the vocal line very much in the hard rock field . . . it strikes me here that, for those of you who have heard Rush’s first album, imagining that with a better production will give you the ball park Fastway were playing from. This is loud but very musical, hard and melodic rock at its best.

All I Need is Your Love continues the driving feel of the previous tracks with again a strong vocal from King who really shines throughout the album and Eddie Clarke turning in a good solo towards the end of the track.

Another Day has an acoustic guitar and vocal intro – yes, old “Fast” on an acoustic (whatever would Lemmy say?). Somewhat expectedly, this then fades into a stomping rock track but not at all in a clichéd/cheesy way as did 99% of 80s bands, this works well and seems a logical progression for the track which turns out to be one of the more straightforward heavy numbers on the album.

Heft opens with a menacing strummed bass chord riff leading into a very slow, pounding track more in-keeping with NWOBHM that is sparsely orchestrated and heavily reliant on King’s rather snarling vocals. Clarke digs out the old wah-wah for the solo which is a definite plus as was his trademark on many a classic Motorhead track.

We Become One sees Clarke moving into more Tony Iommi-esque riff territory which he somehow connects to a boogie shuffle rhythm guitar piece at the end of each verse effortlessly before the track moves into full shuffle mid-section again taking the form of a more updated NWOBHM track. On another album this would be a standout track but here, thus far, every track is of equally high merit!

Give It All You Will opens with a neat drum break from Jerry Shirley leading into a driving riff from Clarke on a more commercially-edged US-tinged rocker. Next-up is Say What You Will which is an up-tempo shuffle driven by a Clarke riff that wouldn’t have appeared out of place on Ace of Spades however here it is moulded into a strong boogie track with Dave King once more providing a great vocal track. For fans of Clarke’s previous works this will be one of the more appealing tracks on the album as even the solo, albeit brief, is very reminiscent of his work with Motorhead: think No Class minus Lemmy . . . if you can!

You Got Me Runnin’ has more of a US hard rock flavour to it and the crunching guitar of Give It Some Action closes the album.

For the CD reissue we are also treated to Far Far From Home which was originally a promo single and included on some original pressings of the vinyl album. It sits somewhat at odds with the rest of the album however, in that it is a very slow blues track – with a heavily crashing chord rhythm guitar from Clarke of course – with Kind singing his heart out. The track is somewhat reminiscent of Grand Funk Railroad’s classic Heartbreaker which can only be seen as a positive boon. Clarke gives a strong solo to the track too but I would question why this particular track was used as a promo single as it’s not the most reflective of the overall style of Fastway but is excellent nonetheless!

One thing worthy of mention here is that when a guitarist ‘goes solo’ you often end-up with a Rising Force where the band is merely a backing group and the ’songs’ themselves merely vehicles for endless shredding and guitar histrionics. This is definitely not the case with Fastway where Eddie Clarke largely gives the spotlight to vocalist Dave King and has crafted a very strong set of songs . . . that’s right, songs . . . not guitar instrumentals with the odd lyrics thrown in. This is a stunning debut from the band and one that did provide a springboard for reasonable success on both sides of the Atlantic and deservedly so. If you’re a rock fan – and I assume you are if you’re reading this – you should definitely add this album to your collection.

• Dave King – Vocals
• “Fast” Eddie Clarke – Guitar
• Jerry Shirley – Drums
• Mickey Feat – Bass