When producer Robin George steps out from the booth, straps on a guitar, and steps up to the mike, you know you're in for some serious rocking. And Cocoon, the one and only album by his 1990s band Life, does not disappoint. George and former Diamond Head vocalist Nick Tart schemed Life in the mid-'90s, recording an album that was slick, balls-out, and commercial in a very, very good way -- glam-tinged metal colliding with straight-ahead hard rock, then tempered with a classic sound. It is also very much a primer to George's long career, dipping into the vast canon of songs he had written in the past, and allowing Tart to add his own imprimatur to the best of them. So if any of the titles here seem familiar -- from a Robert Plant album, maybe, or Glenn Hughes or Ruby Turner -- that's why. But the déjà vu ends there. Tart's so-distinctive vocals allow each track to take on a whole new life, while George is at his searing best throughout.
Originally released, and promptly lost again, in 1997, the original album was fully remastered by Robin George in 2010, packed with bonus tracks, and sent out once more on Angel Air.
Now Cherry Red offers the release a third chance by a re-release of the remastered version of the album.
The album has a different track order than the original release and includes 6 bonus tracks not included on the 1997 release, but at the same time 3 tracks (In The Night, Face To Face & Love, Power & Peace) from the original release are omitted.
Artist: Life
Album: Cocoon
Year: 1997 (Remastered 2010, Reissued 2023)
Label: Cherry Red
Style: Hard Rock, Melodic Hard Rock, Progressive Rock
Format: mp3/320, flac (tracks, 44.1kHz/16bit)
Nick Tart: Lead Vocals
Robin George: Guitar, Vocals
Adam Charlesworth: Bass
Bill Devey: Drums
Fred Skidmore: Keyboards
Tracklist
01 Dangerous Music 4:50
02 The Language Of Love 3:59
03 The American Way 4:13
04 Cocoon (Bonus Track) 3:57
05 Freeride (Bonus Track) 3:53
06 Don't Come Crying (Bonus Track) 3:57
07 Oxygen 4:18
08 What Goes Around Comes Around (Bonus Track) 3:45
09 Good Times (Bonus Track) 3:33
10 Losing You 3:59
11 I Believed In You 3:13
12 Rush (Bonus Track) 3:10
13 Judy 4:12
14 Let It Burn 4:39
15 The End Of The Line 4:23
Life (Robin George & Nick Tart) – Cocoon (1997) (Remaster 2010, Reissue 2023) mp3+flac