Probably most famous for their contribution to the influential NWOBHM compilation album “Metal For Muthas”, TOAD THE WET SPROCKET released two highly-collectable singles in their lifetime and were an integral part of the scene that sprang up around Neal Kay’s
Bandwagon in the late Seventies.
Not to be confused with the Californian band who came across and recycled the name some twenty years later, TOAD THE WET SPROCKET evolved from a school band and featured vocalist Mehmet Mustafa, guitarist Mark Rideaut, bassist Pete Austin and drummer Martin Wightwick, with occasional keyboard players contributing now and again. Austin admits that the band were happy to try “something different” from time to time, meaning that their musical output was quite diverse: Mustafa points out that the elegiac ‘Blues In A,’ the track featured on “Metal For Muthas,” wasn’t a true representation of the band, and that it stands out “like a sore thumb” amongst the more metal-orientated material on offer.
‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Runner’ presents a more balanced overview of the band and features both self-pressed 7” singles (‘Pete’s Punk Song’ and ‘Reaching For The Sky’) together with the band’s well-received session recorded for BBC’s “The Friday Rock Show” in 1980. Previously unreleased material and, of course, ‘Blues In A’ round off an exciting release from this previously unappreciated band.
Read our review here.
