The world of hard rock and heavy metal attracts many larger-than-life characters, and few are larger than life than John McCoy. Although he has had a long and varied career, from Atomic Rooster to Zzebra, plus Samson and Mammoth, among others, McCoy is probably best known for playing bass with Gillan, the band he formed with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. For an all too brief few years, John McCoy could be relied upon to entertain millions whilst whilst holding down the bottom end with Gillan on Top Of The Pops, playing sold out world tours, or snapping bass guitars in half on Saturday morning kids TV shows like Tiswas. When Gillan came to an abrupt and untimely end in 1982 following a packed Wembley Arena show, John McCoy formed the eponymous McCoy with an impressive line-up featuring former Gillan colleague Colin Towns on keyboards, Paul Samson of Samson on lead guitar, original Iron Maiden drummer Ron Rebel Matthews and vocalist Tony T-Bone Rees. This set kicks off with the self-titled ‘McCoy’ EP (CD1), which starts with a rollicking cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Well’. The EP ends with ‘Because You Lied’, a song sadly aimed at the lead singer of his former band. Released in 1985, ‘Think Hard’ (CD1) was McCoy’s first full set, featuring ‘Hell to Play’, ‘Heads Will Roll’ and ‘Ride The Night’. ‘Brainstorm’ (CD 2} was recorded at Studio 43 in New York. McCoy was joined by ex-Belladonna guitarist/vocalist Al Romano and drummer Mike Sciotto (From The Fire); Rainbow and Black Sabbath drummer Bobby Rondinelli guests on two tracks. The band Samson were a major influence on the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal at the end of the 1970s, and John McCoy was an important figure for the band, playing bass, producing and co-writing their 1979 debut album. Prior to that, the band McCoy, with Paul Samson and drummer Roger Hunt, were regulars on the London and South East gigging circuit. Captured at the height of new wave, ‘Live 1977’ (CD 3) acts as a raw, rough and ready antidote to the nascent punk scene that gripped the UK at that time. Recorded on July 11th,1977 at The Target in Reading, Berkshire, this is the only surviving record of this power trio making this third CD an indispensable piece of rock history, and arguably one of the touchstones of NWOBHM, as several of the songs would eventually form the aforementioned Samson debut album; ‘Big Brother’, ‘Six Foot Under’, ‘The Shuffle’, ‘Wrong Side of Time’. Despite the challenging sound quality, you can still sense something special emerging.