Fastway (Bonus Track)

Fastway: Dave King (vocals, harmonica); Fast Eddie Clarke (guitar); Pete Way (bass); Jerry Shirley (drums). Bluesy hard rock and boogie was still around in the early 1980s, even as hair metal started grabbing all the attention. One such British band, Fastway, was led by two veterans: Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley. They recruited unknown singer and harmonica player David King and released their successful self-titled debut in 1983. Fastway had no full-time bassist at this point, and whoever played on the album isn't credited. King was a virtual Robert Plant clone, and to say that much of Fastway bears more than a passing resemblance to Led Zeppelin is an understatement. Despite its derivative nature, this is sloppy, unrefined fun. Overall, Clarke's guitar work here is more diverse than what he did in Motorhead, yet the blistering opener, "Easy Livin'," is full of his jackhammer riffing. The tune is actually catchy too, and King's exuberant vocals can't be ignored. "Feel Me, Touch Me (Do Anything You Want)," "Heft!," and "We Become One" are good, but the sputtering "Say What You Will" and the dramatically bombastic bonus track "Far Far From Home" rank with "Easy Livin'" (not a Uriah Heep cover, by the way) as the best songs on Fastway. It's interesting to note that, although Fastway's influences are obvious, the band generally avoided the venomous critical barbs and comparisons suffered by Kingdom Come five years later. ~ Bret Adams