Wow, where does the time go? 30 years ago today was a fantastic year for British AOR/Melodic Rock as it saw the release of the debut Ten album (followed 6 months later by ‘Name Of The Rose’). Not only did the album receive rave reviews world-wide but went on to sell 60,000 copies in Japan alone; the Japanese certainly know and appreciate great Hard Rock music! What few people realise is that originally, the Ten project was simply a Gary Hughes solo project that was the follow up to Now & Then Records’ first ever release, Gary Hughes’ self-titled solo debut. The idea was to record two releases: an album of rockers and an album of ballads. However, after bringing in ex-Dare musicians Vinny Burns (guitar), Greg Morgan (drums) and Nick ‘Shelley’ Shelton (bass) to complete the recordings, it soon became apparent that something magical was happening. So, after both albums were completed and after a meeting between all parties, it was decided to mix the recordings together and release TWO band albums, 6 months apart. Thus, Ten was born. Knowing this salient fact, it becomes slightly amusing reading all those opinions saying that Ten became harder on their 2nd release, ‘The Name of the Rose’. So on the 30th anniversary of that truly astounding debut, we can now announce its release on vinyl for the very first time.
