Spear Of Destiny was formed by Kirk Brandon and Stan Stammers from the wreckage of Theatre of Hate, and named, with characteristic grandeur, after the weapon with which the Roman centurion Longinus pierced the body of the crucified Christ. Much of the group's debut album was already in place before Lasette Ames and Chris Bell joined, and 'The Grapes Of Wrath' was released on the band's own Burning Rome label in 1983. The original quartet did not survive for long, and the album had barely hit the street when Ames and Bell quit, the latter citing both personal and religious reasons, and Theatre of Hate's Nigel Preston, fresh from a stint with Sex Gang Children, and Diodes' saxophonist John Lennard were drafted in for live work. By the time the band began recording their second album, both had been replaced, by former Stiff Little Fingers drummer Dolphin Taylor, sax player Nick Donnelly, Neil Pyzer, and guitarist Alan St Clair. This became the definitive band aggregation, and they toured constantly, with three outings during 1984 alone, but this did not carry over to studio success, with none of their three singles from 1984's 'One Eyed Jacks' - 'Rainmaker', 'Prisoner Of Love' and 'Liberator' - breaking the UK Top 50. The failure of 'One Eyed Jacks' did much to knock Brandon back, dealing a blow from which he would not recover, even after 1985's 'World Service', a less cohesive, but occasionally superior album just missed the Top Ten. Two further singles, 'All My Love' and 'Come Back', were barely noticed, and when attempts to record a new album on the Manor Mobile collapsed in bad-tempered disarray, Brandon sacked the entire group. Spear Of Destiny vanished for much of the next two years, and when the band did return, it was with a completely new lineup of Brandon, bassist Chris Bostock, drummer Pete Barnacle, former Adam & the Ants guitarist Marco Pirroni, and keyboardist Volker Janssen. Ironically, it was now that the band finally achieved the destiny which had evaded them for so long, with 'Outland' being released on Virgin's 10 subsidiary in 1987, and spawning their biggest hits to date, with 'Stranger In Our Town', 'Never Take Me Alive', 'Was That You', and 'The Traveller' all performing well in the UK charts.
The group also toured with U2, an outing which culminated at Wembley Stadium in June 1987, but before the group could capitalize on their sudden success, tragedy struck. Literally on the eve of an appearance at the Reading Festival, Brandon was diagnosed with Reiter's Syndrome and ordered to bed, where he spent a year flat on his back, barely able to move at a time when Spear Of Destiny's commercial stock had never been higher. 'Outland' was their biggest seller yet, and their first tour of America was beckoning, but Brandon's main concern was learning to walk again. He struggled back into action just in time to see Spear Of Destiny fall apart, with their 1988 album 'The Price You Pay' and single 'So In Love With You' foundering in the face of their inability to promote them. Brandon bravely tried to relaunch the group in 1990, reuniting with Stan Stammers alongside drummer Bobby Rae Mayhem and guitarist Mark Thwaite, but his future drifted even further out of reach when sundry legal problems meant he couldn't even continue using the band's name. Two largely unsatisfying albums document this era, the comeback 'Sod's Law', released in 1992, and 'Live At The Lyceum' 1993, but in the face of these set-backs the band drifted apart, with Brandon relocating to Philadelphia. While they were active, Spear Of Destiny amassed a devoted following, and it was just bad luck that they couldn't capitalise on their biggest success with 'Outlaw', but we can relive their early days with this collection of non-album singles and b-sides from their first incarnation.
Track listing
01 The Wheel (single 1983)
02 The Hop (b-side of 'The Wheel')
03 Rosie (b-side of 'Prisoner Of Love' 1984)
04 Last Card (b-side of 'All My Love (Ask Nothing)' 1985)
05 Walk In My Shadow (b-side of 'All My Love (Ask Nothing)' 1985)
06 Cole Younger (b-side of 'Come Back' 1985)
07 Young Men (Return Of) (b-side of 'Come Back' 1985)
08 Somewhere Out There (b-side of 'Strangers In Our Town' 1987)
09 Times Of Our Lives (b-side of 'Strangers In Our Town' 1987)
10 Late Night Psycho (b-side of 'The Traveller' 1987)
11 March Or Die (b-side of 'So In Love With You' 1988)
12 The Jungle (b-side of 'So In Love With You' 1988)
13 Life Goes On (b-side of 'Radio Radio' 1988)
