• AllMyVinyl #14
• Band: Fastway
• Album Title: All Fired Up
• Release Date: ? Jul 1984
• Date purchased: Lost to time
• Location purchased: Lost to time
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

Today’s album is the second by hard rock band Fastway.   Most places on the net called them “heavy metal”, but no – they’re not that.  Just a good hard rock band.  Perhaps that comes from the fact their guitarist (Eddie Clarke) IS metal, as he came from Motorhead before this.   Fastway is most known for their first, self titled album, but IMO, this second album (All Fired Up) is right there with the first one.  I liked this just as much as I liked the first album.  It has an overall bluesier feeling than the first album did.  I liked that.  Kind of reminded me of the progression from the first to second albums by Badlands.  Same kind of thing.

Anyway, I bought this album back on vinyl when new in 1984 – but the release date is lost to time.  I’ve looked around on the net, and asked a friend who pretty big on album release dates, and he couldn’t find it either.  Best I could come up with is “July 1984”, so here we are.  Album just passed its 40th anniversary.  Likewise I can’t remember where I got it, so this is one of those “lost to time” ones from the mid 80’s.  Won’t remember too many of those, unfortunately.  This copy is my original print from 1984 still around in 2024.

The band itself was 3/4 of what was on the first album.  Fastway’s bass player constantly rotated.  It was supposed to be Pete Way (hence the name of the band), but he didn’t record.  The bassist on the first album (Mick Feat) was uncredited, and on this album it was Charlie McCracken.  McCracken left the band after the tour, and then it changed again, so that’s no big deal.

Musically, this is a straightforward slice of rock. I ABSOLUTELY adored the pairing of Fast Eddie Clarke & Dave King, and was bummed when they split apart.  Even the album after this on which still had them together had lost something, so these first two albums are peak Fastway for sure.  Here’s a few remarks about some of the songs I took while listening this afternoon.

All Fired Up – worked in the band name into the lyrics. That always amused me.  Was the big lead single.  I recall seeing the video on MTV a bunch back in the day.  I also remember being annoyed at all the race car sounds in the video, as they tended to drown out the music in places.

Steal the Show – has a Motorhead sounding riff in the bridge towards the end of the song.

Station – Has a cool opening riff that repeats through the song. Reminds me a little of the riff from the first album for “Say What You Will”. It’s not just that one riff, there’s other cool guitar sounds here.

Non Stop Love has a Cheap Trick vibe I liked. It doesn’t all sound like that, but I noticed it at the start. Bit in the middle that has a Zeppelin feel too.

Hurtin Me really leans into Fastway’s reputation as sounding like Led Zeppelin. Slow blues track – hard not to sound that way when Dave King sounds the way he does singing. Song has some punch to it. If I still got high, I’d probably be bigtime into this.

Tell Me leads off with that simple, catchy riff that works well as a more popular / single type release. More of a commercial track than an album track – found myself getting into the riff. Very catchy tune.  When I was researching this album I noticed there was a video produced for it that I don’t remember from the past.  Probably was a single, and I’ve just forgotten.  About the video..  IT reminds me in some ways of Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law”.  Not musically mind you, but of the video (specifically the bank setting).

The Stranger has power ballad sensibilities, but it doesn’t really sound like that – not fully. At least not to me ears. As I type this I can easily see someone disagreeing with me, but eh, it’s my review. Haha. :)

A song with a good riff and a silly title – Telephone. Like the vibe here – “Power blues” – if that’s a thing. A sit at my desk and tap my feet kind of song. It has a louder sound than some of the other tracks – a little more in your face.

Bottom line…  I really enjoyed this album.  Its reputation has it as “not as good as the first one”, but I disagree with that.  It’s right there WITH the first one, and really enjoyed listening to it this afternoon.   I did also listen somewhat recently as it passed its 40th anniversary, but I didn’t really focus on it then.  I did today, and really liked what I heard.  Album’s held up well over the decades.