Whilst it’s tempting, often, to eulogise about things from the past simply because they are old, it has to be noted when reminiscing that, forty years ago or a hundred years ago, there was just as much dross about as gold…

So when someone is heralded as a ‘NWoBHM legend’ it’s wise to approach with caution if you don’t recognise the name or were not around at the time. White Spirit were around at the time, and they contained some legendary members, but the band itself spawned precious little beyond one album and some happy memories for those who know. Good they undoubtedly were – Legends, not so much…

The buzz and bluster around the emergence of Right Or Wrong, their long-thought-lost second album, centres around the presence on the record of Ted Nugent/Bad Company vocalist Brian Howe; a cynic might suggest that the sudden reappearance of the tapes of the original recordings of the album, which appeared after years thought lost only days after the singer’s untimely death at the age of sixty six, is something of a ‘coincidence’. But there’s enough cynicism in the world, so let’s go with the flow and celebrate this album for what it is – a rather nice slice of very classy AOR/heavy rock.

Tank man and guitarist Mick Tucker and keyboardist Malcolm Pearson (who went on to play with The Sweet for a while) were part of the band during the original recordings of Right Or Wrong; the tapes that survived, a few Howe vocals aside, were deemed unworthy of salvage, and so the pair are joined here by Uriah Heep drummer Russell Gilbrooke and illustrious eighties survivor, bassist Neil Murray (last seen wielding the four string motherfucker for Sentinel Daily favourites Space Elevator). That’s a pretty formidable instrumental unit, and on the songs where Howe didn’t make it vocals are supplied by, wait for it, Jeff Scott Soto, Steve Overland and Lee Small. If you’re still reading this but haven’t already made efforts to effect the purchase of this album, what’s wrong with you?

If there’s a slight problem, it’s that the presence of four vocalists breaks up the continuity of the album a little, but, really, that’s about it as far as criticism goes. Small absolutely slays the Motownish Don’t Say No (a song apparently in the running already as SD Editor Scott Adams‘ song of the year), whilst Soto – a man who has never sung a bum note, ever – adds his titanic presence to the Foreigner-styled opening title track and the Rainbowish Lady of The Night. And Overland? Overland, who first came to mass attention through his work with Wildlife – who featured Bad Company’s Simon Kirke on drums and sax on their second album – squares that particular circle with a thrilling reading of the Bad Co. hit Holy Water, a big highlight of Howe’s tenure with the band.

And what of Howe? He sung like a bird, of course. Wait a Little Longer, a titanic slab of pompous hard rock that sounds like REO Speedwagon at their peak, is his best effort here, the honeyed pipes transforming a rollicking barrelhouse rocker into something altogether more classy. Murray’s pulsing bass locks in with Pearson’s keys in superb fashion, the result being a goosebump-inducing slab of classic rock that you need in your life, now…

At the end of the day, and whatever my tongue-in-cheek carping has to say about the circumstances of it’s appearance, this album is absolutely rammed with good music put together by some of the most talented musicians currently doing the rounds; If that’s not reason enough to invest in some of your hard-earned I don’t know what is – don’t you know that Rock n’roll is good for you?

Right or Wrong is out now.