Release Information

A strange little thing this is, with quite a few people involved...it can get confusing... 

Andy is present, alongside 3 'new' members of the band, who have a history of their own. At the time of No Remorse, Michael Pozz and Astor were doing time together in a band called The Dead Ballerinas, who in their ranks featured guitarist Mike Joseph Sullivan, and had Martin Machwitz play on their album, and a few years prior Pozz, Machwitz and Sullivan were also together in a band called Lucy, who released one album that had the first version of the song called 'Call Me Angel ' on it. During the time of the Dead Ballerinas (88/89) Machwitz and Sullivan appeared on an album by a band called Ultranite who had a chap called Peter Prestel on vocals and guitar.

Unfortunately, at this time I can't find any information about Dave Sale, so he is our mystery man on the album.

Now you see, both Mike Sullivan and Peter Prestel have writing credits on this album, in fact, it sounds very much like Ultranite in places. Now some people have the opinion that this isn't a 'real' Blade album, as they do about Ain't Misbehavin'. Me personally, I love this album, and whilst it can be argued that it isn't the 'real' Tokyo Blade, it is still relevant nonetheless.

When I spoke to Andy about this album, he told me that it was a hard album to make. He didn't really get on with Michael and so on, and it was basically a contract fulfilment under the TB moniker, hence the working band name of Tokyo Blade. Andy's guitaring on this is superb, and some of the songs really are excellent. It also features a rewrite of Shadows Of Insanity, which originally appeared on the Cave Sessions EP.

With this in mind, it makes me wonder whether anymore tracks were not written for this album, and even whether the line up listed were the only musicians that appeared.

What is also interesting to note is that this is considered to be the 'official' version of the album. When Andy saw the US Apocalypse Records version, he didn't even know that it had been released with reduced tracks and different artwork, so it has been given its own page as I treat is as a separate release.

Added January 2007.
Fever & Stop It Or Drop songwriter Jurgen "Blacky" Schwarz offered the following information :

"As I can't remember every detail of what happened 20 years ago, here only some information about my former activities: I started gigging with Hans-Juergen Astor with the club band "Sunglasses" at about 1985. By the way we wrote and recorded a couple of songs in a kind of home studio for demo tapes. Michael Pozz wrote the lyrics for "Stop it or drop it" and sung the vocals. I wrote "Fever" including the lyrics, but Tokyo Blade later somehow changed the words and the song was no more really the one I wrote. Astor and Pozz founded the "Dead Ballerinas" in 87/88 and went on a small US-Tour with another guitarist and a bassist I never met and made a record (LP). As far as I remember they had a deal with Tokyo Blade's record company and so they started to exchange song material. That's why the Ballerinas and Tokyo someday came up with former tunes of mine. The demo tapes must still be in possession of Astor, but I'm not in contact with him anymore. I know he still lives in my city (Mannheim, GER) and that he recorded last year with a couple of "new rock guys". I've never heard anything anymore about Michael Pozz in the last 15 years, he must live in another city. As for me, I'm still gigging with the cover-band "Private Dancer" and also impassionate guitar playing/singing/songwriting with my Burning Blues Band (www.burningbluesband.de).

Greetings and a good time"

A million thanks to Jurgen for the information.

SONG ORIGINS
Call Me Angel originally appeared on The Fine Line Between Pleasure & Pain by Lucy in 1986 (Pozz/Astor/Machwitz)
Stop It Or Drop and Fever (with different lyrics) were at least demoed by a band called Sunglasses in 1985/86 (Pozz/Astor/Schwarz)
Shadows Of Insanity (with different lyrics) originally appeared on the Cave Sessions E.P. 1985/86 (Boulton)