British Lion (album)
| British Lion | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Studio album by Steve Harris | |
| Released | 24 September 2012 |
| Recorded | Monkey Puzzle UK (drum & vocal tracks 2, 4, 9), Purple UK (drum & vocal tracks 1, 2 7), BL Studios UK (back tracks & vocal track 10), Barnyard Studios, Essex (back tracks) and Algarve Studio Portugal (back tracks) |
| Genre | Hard rock |
| Length | 52:11 |
| Label |
EMI UME (United States) |
| Producer | Steve Harris |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 56/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   |
| AllMusic |  |
| Artistdirect | |
| Classic Rock | 7/10 |
| Drowned in Sound | 3/10 |
| Kerrang! | |
| Metal Hammer | 8/10 |
| PopMatters | 5/10 |
| Record Collector | |
| Revolver | 3/5 |
British Lion is the debut solo album from Steve Harris, best known as the bassist and primary songwriter for the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The album was announced on 18 July 2012 and released on 24 September.
Following the initial announcement of the album's release in July 2012, Classic Rock revealed that the project originated with a band, named British Lion, which Harris had been mentoring in the early 1990s. Harris confirmed this during an interview with Classic Rock the following month, explaining that he became involved after "Graham Leslie [guitar] came to me with a cassette of songs... and I thought they were really good, so I said I’d try to help his band do something. I ended up managing them and producing them and writing with them." After the original band split up, he "kept in touch with Richie [Taylor, vocals] and Graham, and then Richie was working with another guitarist called David Hawkins, who's a really talented guy, and so we started writing songs together." After several years of work, due to Harris being occupied with Iron Maiden, the album ultimately consists of "six songs written with Richie and David, there's one with just me and Richie, and the others are me, Richie, Graham and a couple of other guys that were around at the time." In an interview published by Kerrang! in September, Harris said that he considers British Lion "more of a side-project" than a solo record.
Stylistically, Harris argues that the record is "more mainstream rock than metal, very British sounding, very 70s-influenced and quite commercial… but good commercial. There's all kinds of stuff going on, with nods to The Who and UFO and some classic British rock bands, but it's not the progressive rock album some might be expecting." During his appearance on That Metal Show in September 2012, Harris revealed that he tried a number of bass-playing techniques which he would not do with Iron Maiden, such as letting his strings "go dead".
Harris stated that he intends to tour the release at some stage, remarking that, although "there are no shows arranged yet", "I know we’ll be playing clubs, which is great because I’ve not played clubs for years", and that he intends to release a follow up album in the future. A European club tour, taking place in February and March, was eventually announced on 10 January 2013.
A music video for the song "This Is My God" was released on 2 October 2012, followed by a video for "Us Against the World" on 28 November.
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