DRAGONFLY Silent Nights LP BLACK (SEALED)

High Roller Records, black vinyl, ltd 250, 4 page insert, A5 photo card, All audio restored and mastered from vinyl and tape sources by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in October 2021. Back in the early eighties, London's East End was a true hot spot for the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. The potential and quality of the bands emerging from the area was amplified by those that shot to fame, such as Iron Maiden and Angel Witch. The iconic Ruskin Arms pub played a pivotal role in the career of bands and their Thursday night 'trial gigs' simply were a make or break deal to land a regular slot.Dragonfly were part of this scene, a band of young musicians with no money, no boundaries and an abundance of enthusiasm. It didn't take long before the band penned some original numbers and became an established act at the Ruskins and further afield, which called for a product that would keep the name Dragonfly on everybody's lips. This would become the »Dragonfly E.P.«; a selection of songs that, of all places, was recorded in the basement of a pet shop near the Ruskin Arms. The self-released E.P, with a microscopic press of just 500 copies, inserted in hand-folded and superglued sleeves, came into circulation in 1980. The quality and musicianship that made the »Dragonfly E.P.« one of the more in-depth and substantial NWOBHM singles lived on in other bands such as Sapphire, Trilogy and Terraplane. With the resurgence of the NWOBHM, the value of the »Dragonfly E.P.« skyrocketed to astronomical proportions but also triggered a growing interest in unreleased material from this four-piece unit that was an 'all original' band from the very start. This album features demo recordings and alternative (older) versions of tracks and finally has made the »Dragonfly E.P.« available to the wider audience the band aimed to reach in its early stages. Clever songwriting, melodic vocals and a lot of guitar are the key elements of this repertoire. Paul van der Burght