RELAY - CD THE BIG PICTURE

Popis - THE BIG PICTURE:
The origins of Relay can be traced back to July 1975 when Steve Tsoi (guitar) and Bob Addis (bass) played their first gig together in a band with two other school friends at Toynbee Hall in Aldgate. From that point on Steve and Bob became the constants in an ever changing line-up that saw them supporting, among others, The Jam at the Poplar Civic Theatre in 1977. They settled on the name Relay in 1982 and with a variety of line ups they gigged a mixture of their own songs and covers up to 1993 when they “retired” from live work to concentrate on recording at Steve’s studio in rural Essex. Between 1993 and 2000 they released three CDs of original material and after ‘Chapter III’ long term lead singer Chris Looker left to pursue a singing career in Lanzarote. For their fourth album ‘Switch’, released in 2003, Steve and Bob recruited, after many auditions and false starts, Alison Taffs on lead vocals and Paul Docherty on drums. Switch was released on the band’s own label with online distribution in the UK, US and Germany; it was also the first of the band’s albums to be available on iTunes, Napster etc. This was the start of a new era for Relay as they returned to the live music circuit having added Rob Mepham on keyboards. Encouraged by positive press reviews, in particular a very constructive review of the album in the respected UK rock magazine Powerplay, the band spent most of 2005/6 recording the follow up. ‘Circuit Breaker’ was released in early 2007 and Powerplay were quick to pick up on the band again; the comments speak for themselves: 'Regular Powerplay readers will be familiar with this relatively unknown Essex-based band after we caught up with them in 2005 prior to the recording of 'Circuit Breaker'. Reports at the time hinted at an excellent follow-up to 2003's 'Switch', which cemented the new line-up. Now the wait is over, what is the main result? In a word: fantastic! The tremendous vocals of Alison Taffs dominate most of the album. She must be one of the strongest female singers out there, certainly in the melodic rock circuit. She shows all kinds of emotions as she effortlessly switches tones at incredible speed and with delicate ease. Taffs is fantastically talented and oozes sexiness on some of the tracks such as 'Liar' where she demonstrates the stamina of a young Tina Turner. The brilliant guitar work of Steve Tsoi is the first thing that grabs you when he rips open the riff to 'Bankrupt Heart'. The rhythm section of bassist Bob Addis, drummer Paul Docherty and keyboardist Rob Mepham is bulky and well-paced.... “ The band have spent the last 3 years preparing the follow up and “The Big Picture” represents another big step forward for the band in terms of writing and performance, we hope you enjoy it!