- Paul Di'Anno (former Iron Maiden)
- Pete Willis (former Def Leppard)
- Janick Gers (former Gillan and future Iron Maiden)
- Neil Murray (former Whitesnake and future Black Sabbath)
- Clive Burr (former Iron Maiden)
And releasing something that's really, really bad? Not just "not good", but something that sounds more like show tunes than metal? The folks listed above formed Gogmagog, a supergroup that existed for about a minute in 1985. To be fair, this project was really the brainchild of BBC impresario Jonathan King*, and not really a "band" in the conventional sense of the term, and we really should limit how much blame we place on the participating musicians. King wrote two of the three songs Gogmagog recorded, and hired gun Russ Ballard wrote the third. And therein lies the problem: while this lineup's pedigree appears impeccable, there's not a primary song writer in the bunch, no Ian Gillan, Steve Harris, nor David Coverdale to shoulder the load. The ones with the most songwriting credits to their names, Paul Di'Anno and Pete Willis, were both kicked out of their original bands for substance abuse and as a result past the prime of their careers. For all practical purposes, Di'Anno, Willis, and Burr never really did anything of note after this, Murray continued as a journeyman bassist, and Gers is the only one whose career improved after Gogmagog.
I know there's a trend for the hip folks to try to rehabilitate objectively bad LPs (e.g., "Wild Honey", "Crazy Horses"), and "I'll Be There" sometimes is spoken of similarly. But don't let the novelty and your love of them in their former bands distract you: this EP's obscurity is well-deserved.
Standout tracks: none
Skip 'em tracks: all (yes, all of them).
Final score: 2/10
* And as it turned out, BBC pedophile. And no, not that BBC pedophile, King is yet another one.
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