History Tobruk

There are two artists by this name:

1. The first Tobruk were an American five-piece who lived & recorded in Brazil, and released the album "Ad-Lib" in 1972 on the Cash-Box record label.

Members:

Brian Anderson (slide guitar, lead vocals),

Key Wilson (organ, piano, Moog),

Lois Gee Brahman (lead guitar, effects),

Ronnie Wells (bass, vocals),

Billy Rogers (drums, backing vocals)

2. The second Tobruk were a melodic hard rock band formed in 1980, in Bedfordshire, England, by guitarist Mick Newman, who shortly thereafter relocated northwestward to the Midlands' unofficial rock & roll capital of Birmingham. Once there, Newman finished rounding up vocalist Stuart "Snake" Neil, guitarist Nigel Evans, keyboardist Jem Davis, bassist Steven Woodward, and drummer Alan Vallance.

Following the motto “Never too much of a good thing” Majestic Rock (again) re-released the classic debut of the band Tobruk. The sad thing about this release is that the reason behind it is probably the untimely death of frontman Stuart 'Snake' Neale in 2006.

There’s not a lot left to say that colleague CL didn’t mention in his review as 2 years ago of this genuine classic. Tobruk, named after the much fought over Libyan town in WWOII in 1941, could stand proudly next to Bon Jovi and many consider this album the one Bon Jovi should have made instead of ‘7800° Fahrenheit’.

I don’t wholeheartedly agree with that but it's nontheless an equally strong, if not stronger, effort.

This time around the platter comes with an extra CD containing 6 live songs. 5 pieces taken from the debut & “Alley Boy” of the sophomore effort ‘Pleasure & Pain’. It shows that the boys could easily pull it off live as well.

You have to decide for yourself whether this re-re-release is worth the purchase, but in case you don’t own this amazing debut yet, it’s as good place to start as any.

After all, it never hurts to add a bona fide classic to your collection now, does it?

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