Amaziah were a late 70’s hard rock band out of the UK. The album was first released in a very short run in the UK. It was then picked up by Tunesmith records in Canada and released in North America. I would describe the album as having a seventies hard rock sound but it did have some progressions into 80’s rock. What’s most notable about this album is it’s history. The UK release is very rare as has been rumoured to sell for over $1000. The Canadian version had a different cover and was initially pressed on red vinyl by Tunesmith for reasons unknown. Later a regular black vinyl was released. The band represented on the Canadian cover was not actually the format that recorded the album. This was attributed to the band having a heavy turnover. In 2011 Born Twice records re-released the album on CD along with 4 Demo tracks.
Tracklist
1 – Way, Truth, Life
2 – Say Goodnight
3 – No 1
4 – All Is Peace
5 – Night Walker
6 – Slowly
7 – Peace
8 – He Is Lord
Credits
Bass Guitar, Vocals – Paul Loader
Drums, Vocals – Phil Williams
Keyboards – Dave Steel
Lead Guitar, Vocals – Jeremy Coad
Lead Vocals – Derek Elliott
Producer – Eric Cribb
Producer, Vocals [Additional] – Keith Loring
Rhythm Guitar, Vocals – Richard Grinter
I was at school with Paul, in the same class in Bristol. This band used to be massive, with a choir and multi-media presentations in the early 70s, but it settled into a hard rock outfit. Paul joined in 1979 and they recorded this album that summer. Personally I struggle with Derk’s vocals, and my own listen-copy is a remix of my own with his vocals reduced by 3dB. The fact that it became so famously rare is bemusing really. I saw them many times during 79/80 and was at the last ever show. We dutiflly bought copies of the album at shows, and I have 2 or 3 copies of the original. The US version badl re EQ’d it, and of course the photo on the front is deceptive. In the picture shown we have L-R: Dave Steel, Paul Loader, Kev Steel, Phil Williams. That version of the band upped the tempo of the sound to take into account the new wave energy, and they did record a fourtrack demo (including a punk version of He Is Lord). There is also a Betamax video of a show somehere. The summer of 79 was quite magical for this teenage CCM fan, with Amaziah, ATF, Writz, Giantkiller, and Bill Mason Band all producing great music.