This album is still waiting for someone BOLD enough to upload it on youtube

1982, April

original track list:

A:
1. Rock Machine (3:45)
2. Heavy Rain (5:14)
3. Aragorn (4:25)
4. Heavy Metal Heart (4:48)
B:
1. Wild Fire Queen (6:15)
2. Pumpin' Iron (3:55)
3. Breakin' Out (4:05)
4. Regular Rocker (4:24)

"Bold As Brass" was produced and engineered by Alfred Lagarde and John Smit. Like the first album, it was recorded at the D.M.C. studios in Baarn, NL. According to an interview with Gerard Haitsma, it was issued in several countries and it sold 20,000 times.

Looking at the list of albums released in that year, including epic hard rock and meatal albums such as Iron Maiden - Number of The Beast; Accept - Restless And Wild; Venom - Black Metal, Y&T - Black Tiger, Anvil - Metal On Metal, Rainbow - Straight Between The Eyes, Motörhead - Iron Fist, it became clear that it would be hard for Bodine to stand their ground.

The ‘Bold as Brass’ album was recorded in 10 (yes: ten!) days between 2 and 12 April 1982. On this album, Bodine was moving away from the bluesrock roots of the debut album. The music was developing into a heavier style, now that two guitarists were playing their parts on each composition. Squeezing in brief solos between the choruses became one of Bodine's unique trademarks. Another unique element to Bodine is that they never became a riff-based band as many of their contemporaries. Probably this is why Bodine's music still sounds timeless after all these years.

The opening song Rock Machine, makes clear that the change in musical course is stark. This opus turned into a classic pretty soon among the Dutch headbangers scene. Gerard Haitsma's pounding double-bass drive could whip up any audience in no time. In those days it was one of the fastest tracks around in Dutch metal and it enriched headbangers around the world with the historic phrase 'Rock Machine keeps on rolling'.
Heavy Rain is one of the few Bodine songs with sound effects on it: the song opens with rain and thunder cracks. Axel is at his best screaming and howling through the song. Another historic phrase became well-known by this up-tempo rocker: "Johnny Walker, my best friend". Speaking about the blues... There's a fine twin guitar solo on this song.
Aragorn was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. Armand van der Hoff puts  his mark on this song with great pounding bass lines. There are some great breaks on this song, that never loses its momentum.
Heavy Metal Heart is a real blues stomp. Note the guitar howling along with Axel's singing towards the end of this song.
The B-side of the album opens with Wild Fire Queen, with Alfrad Lagarde speaking in an eerie voice about the scene of a witch coming to her end at the stake. It's an introduction to a song that builds up with guitars gaining volume and aggression as the song evolves into an apocalyptic scene of fire and bloodshed. The people who burned the witch suffer her revenge in the end.
Pumpin' Iron is a song about the heavyweight rocker's way of life: whiskey, music & women. The beat on this song sounds like a twist on brakes. Gerard's refined drumming makes this a great song to listen to--try following him while Axel sings 'Life gets really tough!' and "My god! That s all!'.
The song Breaking Out was composed by Jay van Feggelen, who never got sing on this song. On this album it sounds like a diamond in the rough, missing a finishing touch. A good composition nonetheless, it is not clear why this wasn't polished like the rest of the songs on the album.
Regular Rocker single sleeveThe album closes with Regular Rocker, another song that involved Jay van Feggelen as a composer. Only in 1996 it became clear how it would have sounded with his voice, when Pseudonym released some songs on CD that were left out on the LPs. This version with Axel includes a great guitar duel between Rheno and Arjen. It was also issued as a single on the b-side of which "Pumpin' Iron" was included.

The change of singers may have cost Bodine a couple of fans. Those who got used to Jay van Feggelen's warm, deep bluesy voice must have missed him on the second album. With Axel on the microphone and an additional guitar player, a heavier style came within reach. This contributed to a growing fan base and more airplay.

Bold As Brass reviews

1982-06-10 Hitkrant Bodine-Bold As Brass review (EN)1982-06 Aardschok no.13 Bodine Bold As Brass review (EN)1982-08-11 OOR Bodine-Bold As Brass review (EN)1982 Rock Brigade no.12 Bold As Brass review (EN)Yonder Bold As Brass review (D)

Review by Bpnicast on rateyourmusic (EN)
Reader comments by music meter (NL)

The original articles in Dutch can be found in the archive!