The Phenomena projects albums in the ’80s (and ’90s) were created by brothers Tom and Mel Galley (Whitesnake). These albums featured numerous British players and singers (John Wetton, Glenn Hughes, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, and Brian May (among others). Merv Spence had joined a reformed (and short-lived) Trapeze following Peter Goalby’s departure and recorded an album with the band, which remains unreleased. He then went on to replace Trevor Bolder in Wishbone Ash for 1985’s Raw To The Bone, playing bass and singing. He would be credited as Executive Producer on the third Phenomena album Innervision (1992), as well as playing bass & vocals (under the name O’Ryan); he also featured on 1997’a Project X: 1985-1996 (compilation. tracks here were later used as bonus tracks that came with reissues of the first 2 albums). So, this 13 song release features 10 tracks that Merv Spence had recorded & issued under the name O’Ryan in the mid ’90s on the CD Initiate, as well as a few brand new recordings. Hearing these recordings makes me wonder why we haven’t heard more from Spence; these recordings and vocals are excellent, and I gotta think the guy would’ve been a great vocalist in a number of classic British bands. Well worth checking out! For more info check out the press release below, as well as the links to order.
Merv Spence is an Irish musician and former member of Wishbone Ash and Trapeze, as well as an established solo artist. He will be touring to support the release and this album features all of Merv Spence’s covers of the Phenomena tracks, both previously released and newly recorded.
Phenomena is an all-star series of albums created by Tom Galley which saw its debut album sell 1.2 million copies, and its follow-up deliver a #1 hit single ‘Did It All For Love’. Merv Spence is the former rights owner of the Phenomena albums and previously recorded his own renditions of the best-known songs.
Lead singer, musician & music producer Merv Spence said of the release: “‘Phenomena Recovered’ is a very important album for me. A lot of creative blood, sweat and tears went into producing these songs and the results make me feel incredibly proud. I embraced the challenge, and gave it my own signature. I hope ‘Phenomena’ fans will also embrace this production, and I look forward to performing these great songs live, both in a band capacity and solo, acoustically”.
Phenomena Recovered is OUT NOW and available from:
Amazon CD: https://geni.us/PhenReCoCD
Apple Music: https://geni.us/PhenReCoAM
Spotify: https://geni.us/PhenReCoSP
*To order directly from Cherry Red Records – https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/merv-spence-phenomena-recovered-cd/
MERV SPENCE LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/Mervspencemusic
https://www.facebook.com/Phenomenaproject
Outsider Rock 