Rock Until You Drop

The 1981 debut, and the first long-playing record Neat ever released. The line-up was the power trio of Mark Gallagher on lead guitar, John Gallagher on bass and vocals, and Rob "Wacko" Hunter on drums. It was not made in one stretch. The album was recorded a day at a time over a long period, and producer Steve Thompson has since admitted he told Neat's Dave Wood he could only take the band one day at a time because they were so wild. Gallagher says you can hear the band changing across the record as a result: "Hell Patrol" and "Don't Need Your Money" are among the earliest things on it, the Sweet medley "Hellraiser/Action" and "For The Future" among the last. The wrecked-gear cover was carefully staged in an underground car park. Neat sent down a photographer Gallagher describes as a wedding photographer, whose jaw hit the floor when he walked in. The reissue's copy quotes Geoff Barton's September 1981 review in Sounds calling the album the best LP to come out of the NWOBHM since Saxon's Wheels Of Steel.