788. Tygers of Pan Tang / Wild Cat. 1980. 3/5

Tygers of Pan Tang was formed in the late 1970’s in a small industrial town named Whitley Bay in the north-east of England, a place that like many of the time was not much different from other such towns, whose main entertainment comprised of gatherings in local pubs. It was here that the band first came to prominence. The band was founded by guitarist Robb Weir, who like so many of us decided to find like-minded people with whom he could earn some money by playing his favourite music. He placed an ad in the local paper and had two responses, from drummer Brian Dick and bass guitarist Richard “Rocky” Laws. Originally, they played as a three-piece beginning in 1978, at various pubs and clubs around the Newcastle area in England. The name of the band, Tygers of Pan Tang, came from Rocky Laws, who was a big fan of the fantasy writer Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné fantasy series, whose wizards keep tigers as pets on a fictional archipelago called Pan Tang. The band's music tended towards the style of heavy music that had been popularised by bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.
As none of the three members of the band could sing, or at least well enough to consider the job full time, the first performances of the group were exclusively instrumental. The music was suitably gloomy and heavy but without words. Eventually they decided they needed a lead singer. The first vocalist for the band was Mark Butcher, found again through ads in the newspaper. Butcher left after only 20 performances, suggesting that the group would not make it anywhere at the pace they were growing. In retrospect this could be seen to be an error as such. The band eventually hired Jess Cox to become the lead vocalist, and then on the back of this signed a deal with the independent label Neat Records which in 1979 released the first official single "Don’t Touch Me There”.
On the back of this, the band toured extensively throughout the UK, performing as an opening act to bands such as Scorpions, Budgie and Iron Maiden. They were championed as one of the growing New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, and their profile grew. In 1980 they were signed by MCA, and went into the studio to record their debut album, hoping to funnel all of the goodwill they had received on the road into album success, which they called “Wild Cat”.

How best to describe this album, in a way that will suffice for both sides of the Tygers of Pan Tang argument? Not an easy task. From the very beginning of the album can hear snatches of bands like ZZ Top and Motorhead and Def Leppard in their music. There's nothing overly technical about the songs on this album. For the most part they are straight up hard rocking songs with a fast 4/4 drum beat from Brian Dick which is mirrored by the bass guitar of Richard "Rocky" Laws. The guitar riffs from Robb Weir are all catchy enough, while Jess Cox's vocals are serviceable without providing any real energy which may have helped to lift these songs. Cox has a vocal sound that will remind you of Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, but without the range that Joe has, nor the backup from his bandmates that occurs in the early Def Leppard albums.
In essence there are ten tracks on this album that feel and sound extraordinarily similarly structured. If you did not know the album well, and were listening to it for the first time, you could be forgiven for thinking that the same songs often get repeated throughout the length of the album. There are riff structures that seem to appear multiple times during the album
This isn't helped by the very monotone vocal performance of Jess Cox, which fails to help in trying to perceive the differences of each track. There are good songs here that you feel could have been much more spectacular if they had been managed better. "Euthanasia" and "Slave to Freedom" both start the album off as well as they are allowed. “Euthanasia” has a bouncy start to the track that provides the energy up front, while there is quite a progressive feel about “Slave to Freedom”, the breakdown in the middle of the track tends to equate to their mid 1970’s heritage, and perhaps even the band’s beginnings prior to hiring a lead singer. But by the time we reach "Don't Touch Me There" you can already feel the sameness creeping in. This was re-recorded for the album, a different version from the single release they did with Neat Records at the start of 1980. With "Money" we have the slight case of boredom seeping into the music. The riff remains basically the same throughout the song, and Jess’s vocals don’t move out of the vocal line he starts with. A more upbeat tempo number like "Killers" can get away with this lethargy, and a more energetic disposition of lyrics and guitar lifts this song. But (criticism incoming) it just goes too long. It sounds like it should be a four-minute track tops, but it stretches beyond 6.5 minutes. The rolling drum and bass riff opening of "Fireclown" is excellent, again lifting the tempo and the enjoyment - but the guitar riff again is just too similar for comfort. It sounds too much like the opening track in its progression from that great opening, and the vocals too singularly toned as well once again. And then, bugger me, the same this happens on “Wild Catz”, though this is memorable for the fact that Jess Cox does extend his vocal range out of the monotone it has sat in or the entire album to this point. “Suzie Smiled” checks back in for that stop-start guitar riff that Robb Weir tends to favour for so many tracks on this album, which just adds to the feeling of similarity throughout. “Badger Badger” picks up the energy again, replete with rolling drums building the tempo and the body of the song through the middle. The album then concludes with “Insanity”, combining almost everything that comes before it on the album into one song, and is an energetic way to complete the album.
One of the positives of the songs here are the solos from guitarist Robb Weir. They add something different to each song, breaking up what in many cases here is a singularly long repeating of riff and vocal pattern. Brian Dick’s drumming also provides a counterpoint to the sameness that does creep in through the track list.
The album has its challenges. It is by no means a poor album, but it has little memorable that lifts it into the conversation of better albums. Whether that was going to be something more distinctive from the rhythm section than just the timekeeping element, or some breakout riffs and/or solos from the guitars, or some change in tone from the vocals that helped to lift these songs, it didn't really matter. An overall conversation on “Wild Cat” may suggest that there just had to be something to make these songs stand out from each other, rather than feel they are all mostly very similar.

About fifteen years ago, I spent a lot of time and energy in delving back into finding albums of bands tied up (some very loosely) in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. With the internet as it was by this stage, finding bands and albums of a past age was becoming easier to do, firstly to listen to and then to being able to track down. It is even easier now, but back when I began this quest it still required some work. I started with a list of bands that I knew the name of but knew little else about them. The Lars Ulrich and Geoff Barton compilation album “New Wave of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisited” that was released in 1990 and which I bought on its release, was a good starting point, and one of the bands featured on it was Tygers of Pan Tang. The song on that album was “Killers” which is off this debut album, and it was one of the first that I tracked down to listen to.
One of the easiest and most dismissed arguments about most albums released in this time frame of 1979 to 1981 is that it has a very noticeable and familiar tone about the songs, the sound of that era. Listening to albums by bands such as Praying Mantis, Holocaust, Diamond Head, Angel Witch and others of their ilk, alongside Tygers of Pan Tang, there is a similar tone about the guitars, the drums all seem to be recorded the same way, and even vocally there are similarities. Now this not to say that they are all on the same level. There are certain albums that are leaps and bounds above others, but the characteristics are similar. Personally, I have a high tolerance for the sound of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. I am more likely to be able to sit and listen to the albums of this era without feeling the need to judge or criticise or vent. Others are unable to do that. I do understand why, for instance, this album, does not appeal to many people’s tastes. As already mentioned in this episode, you can hear why it created a following at the time, in its era, but outside of that it could be said to be dated, to have lost the sparkle much as the sparkle of the era soon dissipated. If you listen to this album with the perspective of today’s music in your mind, then you will find it hard to be able to penetrate what the vinyl holds here. If you listen to it as a piece of history, of the bedrock of what came from so many other bands that had this as their inspiration, it is a far better listen.
I have had this album on rotation again for the last couple of days, probably for the first time in fifteen years since I first collected the band’s first four albums. And I have enjoyed it again. And I’ll admit, it took a couple of listens to get back in the groove, but once I did, it was worth it. I tried to listen to the album as it must have been 45 years ago, when on its first week of release it made it to #18 on the UK albums chart, and how exciting that must have been for the band. And for a band that had been mentioned in the same breath at that time as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Diamond Head, this must have been some sort of justification.
On the tour to promote this album, they even brought in a second guitarist, one who would be an integral part of the bands next two albums. He may not have been a part of this album, but John Sykes was about to come to the party as well. And the ever-evolving story of the Tygers of Pan Tang moved to the next level.