Real Gone Music has just announced two more additions to the label's August slate of releases and this time it focuses on two bands from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement.  This wave of music in the late 1970s and early 1980s would encompass numerous bands in the U.K. and gain international attention eventually influencing genres such as thrash metal.  The movement declined with the rise in popularity of music videos.  The biggest groups to come from this period include Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Motorhead and Saxon.  Real Gone is reissuing Samson's Shock Tactics and Jaguar's Power Games, both due on August 4 in limited vinyl editions.

Samson is probably best known for their first three albums, featuring lead vocals by Bruce Dickinson (known as "Bruce Bruce" at the time), who would go on to Iron Maiden after his tenure with the band.  Guitarist-vocalist Paul Samson joined the band Scrapyard in in 1976 and it had morphed into Samson by 1977.  The lineup changed a bit over several years before Dickinson joined in 1979, by which time Samson had already recorded their first album, Survivors, on Laser Records. (It would later be reissued featuring new lead vocals by Dickinson).  Other band members included bassist Chris Aylmer and drummer Thunderstruck (whose real name is Barry Graham Purkis).  Their second album, Head On, was on Gem in 1980.  However, the group had considerable problems with their management which lead to them performing with ill-matched acts.  They left their management and found that their label was going bankrupt.  RCA picked up their third album, Shock Tactics, to be produced by Tony Platt who had worked with AC/DC.  Released in May of 1981, the album didn't gain much chart action but the single "Riding With the Angels" would go to No. 54 in the UK.  Dickinson's last gig with the band was performing at the Reading Festival later that year (this would be released on CD in 1990) before leaving to replace Paul Di'Anno in Iron Maiden.  Samson stayed together and released two albums for Polydor in 1982 and 1984 and a live set in 1985 on Metal Masters.  Paul Samson disbanded the group and went solo but reformed the band in 1990 for a couple of albums on Communique Records.  A live album was released in 2000.  In 2002, Paul Samson passed away and the group effectively ended other than a few tributes.  Shock Tactics has been reissued several times over the years on CD with some bonus tracks.  Real Gone's new vinyl edition features the original track listing and comes in "Crimson Loincloth" vinyl, limited to 700 copies.

Power Games was the debut album for Jaguar, released in 1983 on Neat Records.  The band had been founded four years earlier in Bristol, England by bassist Jeff Cox and guitarist Gary Peppard.  Placing an ad for a drummer, they found Chris Lovell.  The group recorded and sold a demo before being noticed by a Dutch promoter and were booked to gigs in the Netherlands.  They had a single released through a Battle of the Bands contest in England and were then noticed by Dave Wood at Dutch rock festival.  Wood was the manager for the band Raven, who was also performing at the festival.  Wood owned a small indie label, Neat Records, and signed Jaguar.  They soon replaced their current lead singer with Paul Merrell and recorded the single "Axe Crazy."  It was well received so work soon began on an album which became Power Games.  They then signed with Motorhead's management and moved to Roadrunner Records for their next album, This Time, in 1984.  However, contract disputes lead the label to drop them and Jaguar disbanded.  They reformed in 2000 with a slightly different line-up and have continued on since then to the present day releasing four albums since the millennium.  The album has seen several CD reissues, with the last US version being in 1998 with 3 bonus tracks.  Real Gone's new vinyl edition features the original track listing and comes on "Green and Brown Camo" vinyl limited to 700 copies.

If you'd like to give either of these titles a listen, we've got the preorder links below together with the other Real Gone releases already announced for August.

AUGUST 4, 2017 RELEASES FROM REAL GONE MUSIC

Samson, Shock Tactics (Limited Crimson Loincloth Vinyl Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Jaguar, Power Games (Limited Green and Brown Camo Vinyl Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Rain Parade, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip/Explosions in the Glass Palace (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Various Artists, The Matrix Original Soundtrack Album (Limited Red and Blue Pill Vinyl Edition) (2-LP) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

AUGUST 11, 2017 RELEASES FROM REAL GONE MUSIC

The Slits, Return of the Giant Slits (Limited Fluorescent Yellow Edition) (LP) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD)

The Slits, Return of the Giant Slits (CD) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)