Customer Reviews

Lost Tapes

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This CD -- The Lost Tapes -- is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise murky and dismal musical world.

Mostly because the lead singer -- David Glen Eisely -- is one of America's greatest rock vocalists.

Never heard of him? You're not alone. Thanks to a lot of bad breaks, including the wrath of KISS' Gene Simmons who ousted DGE from Giuffria, brought in vocalist James Christian and changed the name of the band to House of Lords (why Gregg Giuffria went along with that backstabbing is beyond me), and poor distribution, David Glen Eisely remains one of the greatest relatively unknown vocalists the rock world has ever seen.

This CD, the discovery of long lost tapes from the Giuffria and early House of Lords days, showcases DGE's superb voice (a sort of slightly rougher Steve Perry) and the guitar power pop/melodic rock sensibilities of Gregg Giuffria, guitar whiz Lanny Cordola and others. It's vintage '80s and early '90s upbeat rock -- full of flashy guitar solos and soaring vocals about lost love, jealousy, and all your typical rock star themes from that era.

Only done better than anyone else has done them before.

If you remember Giuffria (they had a radio hit with the beautiful song "Call to the Heart"), or if you have followed DGE's career over the years as I have (he made an album called Dirty White Boy, one called Murderer's Row and, most recently, Stranger From the Past -- find them if you can), this is essential. In fact, this CD is more than that. It's life-affirming. It's perfect.

Yet, in a way, it's sad. Giuffria could have been huge if Simmons hand't gotten hold of them. And David Glen Eisley could have been one of our national musical treasures.

The sound quality on this CD is great. Crystal clear. The 13 tracks rock like a big dog, yet always have that perfect '80s and '90s production.

I enjoy all of the songs, but I'm most surprised by "Slip of the Tongue" and "Pleasure Palace," the hard-rocking songs that House of Lords recorded for their first album -- after DGE had been ousted. The versions featured here (with DGE's vocals instead of James Christian's) are so much better than the ones on the first House of Lords album it's not funny. DGE is a master vocalist with a ton of charisma.

I can't recommend this CD highly enough. It deserves a place in your collection. And DGE deserves a serious round of applause for bringing this collection of "lost" tracks to light.

Thank you, Mr. Eisley.

This is CD has made me happier than any CD I have heard in years. For any of you who love Giuffria, this is an absolute must! It is like finding a 3rd Giuffria album. All but 4 of the 13 tracks are done by the band from the "Silk and Steel" album. It even encludes a few tracks from the 1st House of Lords album that was slated to be the 3rd Giuffria release before Gene Simmons forced David Glen Eisley out of the band. Now you can hear how these songs should have sounded. If you have never heard this or his "Stranger" CD, you need to check them out, they truly are amazing. I could not recomend them more! Thank you David for sharing these with us, it really is a dream come true for this old Giuffria fan!!!

David Glen Eisley is a very under-rated vocalist. Most of the tracks on here are from what would have been the 3rd Giuffria album along with a few Dirty White Boy tracks and of course the few from what turned out to be the House of Lords debut. I loved this from start to finish.

Just listen to this version of "Pleasure Palace"...absolute masterpiece. No disrespect meant to James Christian as I think he fits in great with House of Lords, but I'd still like to see how the rest of the HOL stuff would have sounded with DGE.

As a huge fan of Giuffria and the House of Lords, I jumped at the chance to get this cd. If Giuffria were to make a third cd, it would sound like this. All I can say is "It's truly amazing"! Everysong on this offering is a true gem! They all rock! David's voice is incredible and along with Gregg Giuffria's magnificent keyboard playing, it's even better. No fan of Giuffria and HOL will be disappointed. The Dirty White Boy songs are also great. I highly recommend this cd.

Following the release of his solo album "Stranger from the past"(2001), David Glen Eisley and `Frontiers Records' put out "The Lost tapes" a collection of unreleased material by "Giuffria" and "Dirty white boy". Although captured during the mid-late `80s, the quality of these recordings is rather impressive being far above demo quality. In fact, one gets the impression that most tracks on "The Lost tapes" were actually the finalized versions of songs to be included on the third "Giuffria" album (which never saw the light of day).

On account of these recording one can easily make out that the third "Giuffria' album would have been very similar to the pomp melodic hard rock of "House of Lords" as they retain the big choruses and keyboard melodies of the original band while placing increased emphasis on the guitar attack and up-front drumming. Songs like "Stand up", "Are you ready", "Shot down in love", and "Don't turn away from love" are totally indicative of "Giuffria"s direction, being substantial melodic hard rockers that had to become available to the fans.

In addition "The Lost tapes" feature two songs that were included on the "House of Lords" debut. "Slip of the Tongue" and "Pleasure palace" are featured on this release in their earlier versions- "Slip of the tongue", one has to agree, works just as well with David's vocals, yet the take on "Pleasure Palace" is not as convincing vocally, sounding more like a rough-take or rehearsal from Eisley's part. And with that exception, it has to be acknowledged that the singer's performance on this collection is nothing less than stellar, much like any other album (band or solo) he has been a part of.

Overall, "The Lost tapes" is a great documentation of the chronological period intervening between the last "Giuffria" record and the formation of "House of Lords"- while also delivering more material featuring the vocal powerhouse that is David Glen Eisley.

The Lost Tapes is a 2001 collection of previously unreleased material from David Glen Eisley, the vocalist of Giuffria, Dirty White Boy and The Stream. The songs on The Lost Tapes were all written and recorded in the mid to late 1980's, when Eisley's brand of melodic rock was king of the airwaves. Eisley is an amazing singer and a first rate songwriter as well, so I knew right away that this collection would be too good to pass up.

The Lost Tapes is a real treasure for Giuffria fans. The first five songs are all Giuffria-era tracks written alongside Greg Giuffria, as are the last four songs, some of which actually made it onto the first House of Lords album (with James Christian on vocals, of course). It's particularly interesting to compare the DGE recordings with the later James Christian versions. I still don't know which ones I prefer. Sandwiched in between the Giuffria/HOL material are a handful of songs written with Earl Slick during the Dirty White Boy era that never made it onto Bad Reputation. They're (almost) all good songs, but can't hold a candle to the Giuffria stuff.

The Lost Tapes really is a must-have collection for any fan of David Glen Eisley and/or Giuffria, and ought to be interesting to House of Lords fans. It's almost like finding a lost 3rd Giuffria album. Fans of melodic rock in general should enjoy The Lost Tapes as well. If it weren't for the song "Back of My Hand", which openly praises violence against women, I'd give it a full 5-star rating. Sorry DGE, but that one should have remained "lost."