Posted on by Nathan Beaudry

Episode #289 – Phenomena

Link to video episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/nLCIz1WrA40

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Lead up to the Album:

  • Tom Galley spearheaded this project which took two years to complete.  His goal was to bring this forward as a concept album using music, words, film, and painting.
  • He paired with a painter, Ian Lowe, to illustrate the songs on the album.
  • A promo video was made to act as a trailer for the single “Dance With The Devil” in Europe.
  • For the US they made a video for “Kiss Of Fire.”  In Kerrang they said they were unsure whether it would be this track or “Still The Night.”
  • They also announced in Kerrang that they were working on a 70-minute long form video. This doesn’t appear to ever have been completed.
  • Tom Galley talks about there being a large number of cinemas where he grew up in Staffordshire, his mother working at one.
  • Galley mentions movies such as “This Island Earth” (1955), “The Day The Earth Stood Still” (1951), and “Jack The Giant Killer” (1962) referencing them as classics.
  • He was always into science fiction and fantasy adventures more than war movies or westerns.
  • He references American culture’s input into movies being an influence as well.
  • He also references E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Stephen King’s Dead Zone.
  • Galley began scripting a storyboard for his ideas.
  • Presented are nine songs which each encapsulate one of the fantasies or visions related to the songs.
  • The plot is described in Kerrang as such:
    • The story concerns Professor Limit who has constructed a machine capable of transmitting telepathic energy created by the brain, aided by his nine-year-old daughter, Lucy, a natural telepath (the girl is actually the daughter of Limit’s wife and his former lab assistant, Chasen!). When the military becomes unhealthily interested in his experiment Limit seeks help from an influential friend called Frame to whom he demonstrates the machine’s power. In a further experiment Limit is killed and Lucy becomes inseparably linked to the machine. Frame calls on her natural father, Chasen, to rescue the girl by linking himself to the machine and leading her out of the world of fantasy into which she has plunged. The nine songs represent various confrontations through which they pass.
  • Galley mentions the mirror scene in “Enter The Dragon” as a visual inspiration for the confrontation that Lucy has.
  • The confrontations occur during the nine songs, each as a different struggle between good and evil.
  • Tom said he thought the process would take a long time working with the people he was working with. He didn’t want to duplicate “War of the Worlds” and wanted to start looking at it in an audio/visual light.
  • He felt himself getting carried away with the long form video so he enlisted Pete Winkleman of Arista Records who was interested in the project, Pete guided him to take it one step at a time.
  • It mentions in the second issue of Kerrang that people such as Cozy Powell and Don Airey are not likely to be kicked out of their respective bands (ELP and Alaska) if the album isn’t a success. Tom Galley, on the other hand, is described as having his “every possession (house, wife, cat, record collection) has been placed in hock over the last couple of years in order to keep the project alive before a record company was prepared to step in and take up the financial reins and responsibilities.”
  • They mention that the success of a future movie, etc. are dependent on how the album sells.
  • Galley says he’d approached Ozzy Osbourne about doing the album and that he was going to do it but there was always some problem.

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Album Art & Booklet Reew

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Album Tracks:

Side One:

  1. Kiss of Fire (T. Galley, Bailey)
  2. Still the Night (Hughes, Thrall, Delph)
  3. Dance with the Devil (T. Galley, M. Galley, Bailey)
  4. Phoenix Rising  (T. Galley, M. Galley, Bailey)

Side Two:

  1. Believe  (T. Galley, Bailey)
  2. Who’s Watching You  (T. Galley, M. Galley)
    • Ghosts and spirits. Just like “Ghostbusters” – the humans watching the ghosts haunting the humans!
    • Drums – Ted McKenna
    • Guitar, Songwriter, Backing Vocals – Mel Galley
    • Keyboards – Don Airey
    • Lyrics By, Songwriter – Tom Galley
    • Vocals, Bass, Backing Vocals – Glenn Hughes
  3. Hell on Wings (T. Galley, M. Galley, Bailey)
  4. Twilight Zone (T. Galley, Bailey)
  5. Phenomena (T. Galley, Robbins)

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Bustin’ Out The Spreadsheet

Reception and Charts:

  • Oddly the only mention this album gets in Glenn Hughes’s autobiography is in the discography section.
  • Kerrang lists this album as the most ambitious project since Hawkwind’s “Space Ritual” or Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.”

Reviews

  • https://www.allmusic.com/album/phenomena-mw0000766750?1689813539412
  • Phenomena Review by Greg Prato
  • Supergroups have been common in the realm of hard rock for decades — some have worked wonders (Cream), while some, well, stunk (too many to mention). One of the more obscure ones to surface was the ’80s outfit Phenomena, who debuted in 1985 with a self-titled release, and featured contributions from the likes of Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Don Airey (Ozzy Osbourne), and a trio of ex-Whitesnake members — Mel Galley, Neil Murray, and Cozy Powell. Those expecting tough, rip-roaring heavy metal may be a bit disappointed by the album (which features a cover shot of a young girl quite reminiscent of Linda Blair circa The Exorcist). Keep in mind — the mid-’80s was the era of polished, keyboard-heavy, melodic rock, and Phenomena fit in with the musical climate, especially on such tracks as the album-opening “Kiss of Fire” and “Still the Night.” If GTR could have scored a hit or two around this time, with the right push, there’s no reason why Phenomena couldn’t have also.

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