Mamas Boys - Power & Passion (1985)

Northern Ireland’s Mama’s Boys, for a number of reasons never quite got the foothold their talent demanded on the heavy rock gravy train that powered its way through the 1980s. Power and Passion was their ‘breakthrough’ album, cracking the US charts and on the back of a deal with Jive Records and a tour supporting Thin Lizzy things should really have gone up and up. However, the equation that talent equals success has never rung true in the musical arena and no more so than in the case of Mamas Boys.

The album veers away from their more ‘raw’ sound of their early output, with a more ‘polished’ production which, in my view, rather kills the band – giving them a bland veneer of vocals and guitar sound that detracts from their true abilities. Not only that but a rather out of place keyboard also appears from time to time and overshadows Pat McManus’s guitar work – which is never a good thing, however, onto the tracks . . .

Don’t Tell Mama opens the album and, production aside, is a good ballsy effort with a strong hook (albeit the vocals are overly smoothed-out). Hard n’ Loud opens with a pounding drum beat from the late Tommy McManus leading into a strong riff from brother Pat but it’s rather ‘hands in the air’ anthem fare which doesn’t really escape from the formulaic.

Let’s Get High is up next and features some great guitar work from Pat ‘The Professor’ McManus, a catchy Slade-style chorus and some nice Thin Lizzy/Horslips guitar flourishes, showing the influence of the bands that inspired the McManus brothers. Lettin’ Go is another thumping ‘anthem’ and features some cringe worthy lyrics such as “let’s get high on rock ‘n’ roll” – a definite no-no!

Then, like a bolt of lightning from the blue, Needle In the Groove kicks-in and is a prime example of just what Mamas Boys could achieve when they put their minds to it. You get the feeling throughout the album that the fist-pumping anthems were more contrived to fit a mould desired by Jive Records than a genre really enjoyed by the band and one with which they felt comfortable. Nowhere is this more evident than here – a powerful bluesy shuffle with s great guitar part from Pat McManus, strong lower-range vocals and an all round classic. Even the production – bar the keyboards which detract from the true bluesy nature of the track – fail to ruin it: for a truly great appreciation of the track, watch the video below from the short-lived mid-80s heavy metal show ECT.

The title track is up next and is also a very strong track with a great hook and solo from Pat – all-in-ll another gem and the producer has omitted the harmonised vocals, well kept them to a minimum, that mar some of the other tracks. Power and Passion is the sort of track that would become an anthem, as opposed to being written in an attempt to contrive one!

Things take a bit of a dip again with Run – a run of the mill affair, with a good solo however, but nothing to get excited about overall. Straight Forward, No Looking Back gets things a little back on track with a good intro and some tapping from ‘The Professor’ – and a very tight solo later in the piece – I think it may also have been a single as it got a reasonable bit of play around the rock clubs and pubs back in the day too.

The Professor II closes the album with a thumping twin-bass drum rhythm and showcases Pat’s undoubted guitar talents (with a trashy stabbing keyboard riff on there too) and almost veers towards a fusion-type of affair with melodic soloing and a good instrumental arrangement overall.

Apart form having one of the most awful – Spinal Tap ‘Smell The Glove’ style – sleeves in rock history, Power and Passion isn’t a bad album. Mamas Boys were caught in the no-man’s land between the decline in the NWOBHM and the rise of the glam metal scene with the US invasion of Ratt, Motley Crue etc and didn’t particularly site well with either camp and so got a bit left behind. That’s not to take anything away from the band however, who – particularly in the case of Pat McManus – were musically strong and Power and Passion certainly attests to that and is worthy of a few plays at the very least.

• John McManus – Bass/Vocals
• Pat McManus – Guitar
• Tommy McManus – Drums