- British steel meets hot-rod fury in a no-frills blast of blues-driven hard rock.
Album Summary: "All Fired Up" is the 12" Vinyl Mini-LP with the title-track taken from "Fastway's" 1984 and second studio album, also called "All Fired Up". Fastway were a British rock band formed by guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke, formerly of Motörhead, and bassist Pete Way, formerly of UFO.
The year was 1984 — Orwellian paranoia was in the air, and MTV had begun rewriting the rulebook of rock with neon eyeliner and overdubbed sincerity. In the UK, a gray, working-class recession hung over the music scene, fueling aggression and urgency. Enter Fastway: a British hard rock outfit caught somewhere between the grime of the London streets and the chrome dreams of American muscle.
Born from the ashes of two powerhouse acts — Motörhead and UFO — Fastway was the brainchild of "Fast" Eddie Clarke, who had recently departed Lemmy’s apocalyptic caravan. He linked up (briefly) with UFO bassist Pete Way, though Way vanished before the amps even warmed up. That left Clarke at the helm, wrangling a band that wanted to punch through the noise of a divided rock world — part glam, part grind, part nostalgia, part future.
All Fired Up is not a subtle record. It’s not clean, not pretty, and certainly not interested in nuance. From the opening riff of the title track, Fastway announces its refusal to play nice with the genres being peddled by the charts. Instead, it leans into a groove-heavy, riff-fueled explosion of blues-based hard rock filtered through the iron grit of early heavy metal.
Tracks like “Steal the Show” swagger with arena ambition, driven by Dave King’s youthful, near-AC/DC howl, while “Hurtin’ Me” broods with the kind of emotional desperation more often found in Zeppelin’s darker corners. Clarke’s guitar tone is hot and overdriven, but never swallowed by distortion — every lick spits like it’s coming off a scorched fretboard.
The genre box Fastway fits into? None of them. And that’s the whole damn point. All Fired Up lives in the alley between hard rock and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal — too bluesy to be Maiden, too real to be Crüe. It sounds like a pub gig gone nuclear: fuzzed-out boogie riffs wrapped around choruses that were maybe — just maybe — supposed to break into the U.S. mainstream.
This is a band that didn't bother chasing the spandex crowd or bowing to thrash’s speed trials. Instead, they doubled down on meat-and-potatoes rock: four-on-the-floor drums, blistering solos, and vocals that sound like they were recorded after a pack of smokes and a bottle of whiskey. It’s everything great about British hard rock, minus the pretension.
The controversy with Fastway wasn’t about lyrics or behavior — it was existential. Critics couldn’t figure out whether they were a supergroup with no mission or a band stuck in the past. Some saw All Fired Up as a step back from the edge, especially compared to their rougher debut. Others thought it was a commercial play. But the truth? It was a middle finger to all that — a record made for playing loud, not analyzing.
And let's be clear: this was not hair metal. No feathered bangs, no power ballads, no neon. Just gasoline-soaked riffs and a singer who could break glass with a scream.
Behind the boards was legendary producer Eddie Kramer — the same sonic architect behind Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Kiss. He wasn’t just a hired hand. Kramer brought with him a sensibility that prized live energy over studio gloss. His production on All Fired Up captures the band in full-on combustion mode — raw, sweaty, and dangerously unpolished.
The recording took place in England, reportedly in a studio that captured that warm, analog vibe that digital never quite replicated. You can hear the room in the drums, the fingers on the strings. It’s physical. It breathes.
While the core content of All Fired Up stayed consistent across regions, some pressings shuffled the track order or included alternate mixes with minor tweaks — a different fade, a slightly rebalanced mix. These weren’t remixes, just subtle variations that made eagle-eared fans pause. European versions sometimes carried slightly different mastering, and some cassette pressings added or omitted liner notes.
Hard Rock / Heavy Metaö
Rare 3-track mini-LP
The track "All Fired Up" by Fastway has also been released on the split/compilation album " Various Artists - New Gladiators".
CBS Records: TA 4503
Record Format: 12" Vinyl Stereo Gramophone Record
Total Album (Cover+Record) weight: 230 gram
1984 Made in England
Produced by: Eddie Kramer for Remarkable Productions Inc.
Art Direction – Simon Cantwell
Cover Design – Jo Mirowski, Torchlight, London
Illustration – Chris Moore
Photography by Allan Ballard
The album cover of Fastway's 1984 release All Fired Up is a vivid, high-energy illustration dominated by a fiery dragster that appears to be bursting straight off the page. The vehicle is styled like a top fuel drag racing car, with exaggerated proportions and eight gleaming chrome exhaust pipes blasting upward in a V-shape behind the engine. The monstrous engine is meticulously detailed with a visible V8 block and tubes, and it is branded with a small "FASTWAY" inscription on the valve cover.
The dragster is set against a roaring flame background that intensifies the feeling of speed and heat. The oversized rear tire spins with blurred motion, emphasizing acceleration. The body of the car features a bold black-and-white checkerboard pattern—a classic racing motif—contrasted by red detailing and sponsor-style logos, including a stylized "STP" logo and an American shield emblem.
Seated in the car is a helmeted driver wearing a retro red helmet with a white racing stripe, his face obscured by a black visor, adding a sense of mystery and anonymity. The phrase “All Fired Up!” is emblazoned across the side in bright red and yellow cursive script, mimicking hand-painted hot rod lettering.
The top right of the cover spells out the album title vertically: “ALL” / “FIRED” / “UP” in bold white stencil letters. At the top center, the band’s logo “FASTWAY” appears in a stylized red and gold futuristic font, bordered in black and red. Along the left edge runs a full vertical strip of black-and-white checkerboard, tying the racing theme together. At the bottom right, the catalog number “TRACK 12 TA 4503” is shown in red on black.
The overall aesthetic is loud, fast, and unapologetically bold—a perfect visual match for the band’s hard-driving sound.
The back cover of Fastway's 1984 album All Fired Up features a moody, black-and-white band portrait occupying the center of the layout. Framed in a thin yellow border, the photo shows the four members seated and facing the camera with intense, unflinching expressions. The band exudes a raw, streetwise energy—tight denim, leather jackets, and tousled rock 'n' roll hair all firmly in place.
From left to right, the members sit shoulder-to-shoulder: the first wears a leather jacket with zipped sleeves and intense eyes; the second sports a zip-up jacket and an embroidered patch reading “Project D.B.,” and gazes out with a clenched jaw; the third, likely frontman Dave King, wears a black jacket with “SYLVAKRO” embroidered above the chest and a Ferrari logo; and the fourth member leans slightly forward in a striped shirt under a leather coat, with curly hair and a mysterious stare. Their look is unpolished and genuine—completely in step with the gritty sound of the album.
Above the photo, the tracklist for the record is split by sides: Side One features “All Fired Up” and “Steal the Show” in bold red italicized font, while Side Two includes “Hurtin’ Me,” also in red and noted as produced by Eddie Kramer for Remarkable Productions Inc. The text is flanked on the left by a black-and-white checkerboard stripe—a nod to the racing motif seen on the front cover.
The lower portion of the cover includes production and design credits in small print, listing Simon Cantwell for art direction, Jo Mirowski of Torchlight, London for cover design, Chris Moore for illustration, and Allan Ballard for photography. The CBS Records logo and copyright information are printed below, along with the catalog number “TA 4503.”
The entire composition reinforces the album’s theme of intensity, motion, and stripped-down rock authenticity. It’s a no-nonsense visual that perfectly complements the sound it packages.
This image shows the Side A vinyl label of Fastway’s 12-inch single All Fired Up, released in 1984 by CBS Records. The label features the classic CBS house style: a circular gradient background transitioning smoothly from orange at the top to yellow at the bottom. Prominently displayed near the top is the bold, white CBS logo, with the yellow CBS eye emblem above it.
On the right-hand side, the catalog number TA 4503 is printed, along with detailed publishing information: “10 Music Ltd. / Motor Music Ltd. (Leosong) (i, ii).” Just below, the copyright notice reads: “© 1984 CBS Records” and “Made in England” is printed vertically along the label’s edge.
The track listing is centered and typeset in all caps:
i) ALL FIRED UP
ii) STEAL THE SHOW
Both are credited simply to “Fastway.”
Below the track titles, the production credit is noted in small text: Produced by Eddie Kramer for Remarkable Productions Inc. On the left side of the label are details such as “45 RPM,” “STEREO,” “MCPS/BIEM,” and the note: “Original sound recording made by CBS Records.”
The entire label is clean, balanced, and professional — a visual hallmark of CBS Records in the 1980s. The overall effect combines corporate clarity with the raw anticipation of dropping the needle on some hard-hitting rock.