It's unbelievable what kind of CDs can come out nowadays. I was 99.9% sure that another band with the same name was behind this Majestic Rock release. Still, knowing (and enjoying) that this premier label deals - also - with elusive gems of the past I decided to try it out. And, indeed... in my hands soon was a full length CD of an outfit with ('till now) the enormous discography of a 2-track 7 vinyl single in 1983 and one track in a compilation album one year earlier. Do you now doubt that virtually anything can happen in the music industry in our times?
This review will be minimized on purpose, since its scope is extremely of special interest. Sabre, for the unaware, survived in the early 80's in Croydon, South London. With a rather typical N.W.o.B.H.M. sound, the band was featured - with Cry To The Wind - on the Neat Records obscure Leadweight cassette-only (!) compilation, released the excellent Miracle Man 7 single in 1983 via Neat Records again and nothing more was heard ever since. It seems, though, that enough material was available (or discovered?) to end in this compilation of - in general - outtakes of the band. So:
The first three tracks are taken from the band's 1980 demo, featuring the two tracks later to appear on the 7 single plus the Rock-ish Can You Feel It?. The next set of four good songs is taken from various rehearsals in 1982, with singer (back then) Rob Chad Brown, later to achieve middling success with ex-Iron Maiden guitarist Dennis Stratton's band, Lionheart. The sound is raw as hell, applicable only for the N.W.o.B.H.M.-coholics, otherwise beware! Next are three tracks from the Neat sessions prior to their contract with the legendarey label. As foresaid, Miracle Man and On The Loose made it to the 7single while Cry To The Wind - the band's best track, a first-class N.W.o.B.H.M. tune - made it to the Leadweight compilation. As a bonus, Majestic Rock offers us three plain tracks from the 1978 demo of Switchback, the Punk Rock outfit before Sabre, featuring Geoff Gillespie and Allan Angold. End of story.
Case specific, huh? I'd recommend Roar To The Core to everyone in love with the early 80's British sound just for the majesty of Cry To The Wind, since the - excellent, once again - Miracle Man single is not that hard to find at a a reasonable price e.g. on Ebay. Else, if you think the first two Iron Maiden albums have a bad sound or if you don't know a band called e.g. Tygers Of Pan Tang or Fist, then buy something else or you'll end up crying for your money flown away.
No rating; obvious why...
Trivia: Bassist Geoff Gillespie is now the driving force behind the Majestic Rock label, or so I heard.