Touch - 'Tomorrow Never Comes'

It was the Monsters of Rock Festival of 1980 and Touch had the honour of being the first ever band to perform at Donnington, opening for Rainbow, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Saxon, BOC and Riot. I was there and as far as I recall they performed a splendid set based around their outstanding and under-rated self-titled debut album – you know, the one with the brilliant ‘robot arm playing futuristic Chess with a hot 80s chick’ cover? And then the Bass player took a swig of his beer and got stung by the bee that was inside it and forever more the band have become the answer to a trivia question that envokes a bit of a giggle. It turns out it’s not even that funny because the poor guy had a reaction to the sting and nearly died in the hospital as a result.

That was more or less it for the band. The second album was never properly released and they went their separate ways. Mark Mangold did go on to front Drive She Said after having some success as a writer (he and guitarist Craig Brooks performed on Michael Bolton’s ‘Fool’s Game’) but we’ll never know what they could have achieved if the band had continued.

For a bonus point answer on the trivia question, you might also know that Touch was the fourth-last band ever to play the legendary Firefest festival in Nottingham in its last year (2014). This was a one-off reprise with just Mangold on keyboards and a crack band of Swedish hired-hands including Tommy Denander and Goran Edman. Once again, I was lucky enough to witness their set and I suppose there won’t be that many of us who have enjoyed seeing the band twice in the UK? It was definitely a performance to remember, a storming version of “My Life Is in Your Hands” in particular, and it certainly made me wonder how it all could have turned out differently if it hadn’t been for that pesky pollen-botherer.

Fast forward to this year and get your EpiPens at the ready because the original band are back together, including the singing Bass player, Doug ‘I deep-throat bees’ Howard plus Brooks on guitar & vocals and Glenn Kithcart on drums and B/Vs. For sure, the magic is still there with three of the band contributing quality new songs and all combining to produce exquisite vocal harmonies and musical textures throughout – a real masterclass of cerebral melodic rock for the 21st century. It is most definitely a worthy and updated successor to the classic debut. The robot arm even makes a comeback on the cover – this time doing the ‘Creation of Adam’ pose from The Sistine Chapel roof.

Track 1 is the title number and you can instantly tell that all the old magic is still there from a beautiful keyboard intro, a sumptuous lead vocal from Craig Brooks plus tight harmonies and a killer hook.

The power chords that introduce the second song “Let it Come” will immediately remind you of their one hit tune “DYKWLI” – never a bad thing. Both of those songs are among the 8 contributed by Mangold. He is also responsible for the two epics on the album; “Swan Song” flows through several stanzas in the course of its seven minutes, combining classy melodies with proggy keyboards in a song reminiscent of classic Kansas. The synthesizers get a run out on the other 6 minute-plus song “Frozen Ground” and the bouncy keyboards of “Wanna Hear You Say” also have a touch of prime Kansas about them.

Brooks’ first contributions are the brilliant hard AOR of “Fire and Ice” and the elegant “Scream at the Sky” whilst album closer “Run for Your Life” is also his and that track shows all the polish and harmony of early Boston. Howard’s song “Trippin’ Over Shadows” is classy and probably the closest to a pure ballad. To counterbalance that there is the potty-mouthed and modern “Try to Let Go” and the heavy glam rock of “Lil Bit of Rock n Roll” from Mangold. It’s definitely a well-rounded collection.

This is a top-quality package with 12 brilliant songs full of pomp, energy and melody with old-school qualities. Definitely give this a listen and then circle back to their ‘The Complete Works’ CD to remind yourself what we’ve been missing. Great to have them back.