''Collector's Edition No. 1'', (also known as ''L.A. Guns''), is the debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

L.A. Guns L.A. Guns is an American glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Phil Lewis (lead vocals), Ace Von Johnson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Martin (bass, backing vo ...

. Recorded in 1984 at Westwind Studios in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown. It is named af ...

, it was produced by Chuck Rosa and released in 1985 by

Raz Records L.A. Guns is an American glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Phil Lewis (lead vocals), Ace Von Johnson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Martin (bass, backing v ...

. The EP is the only release by the band to feature vocalist

Michael Jagosz Michael Theodore Jagosz (December 13, 1965 – March 9, 2014) was an American singer and musician and one of the founding members of L.A. Guns. Early Years Jagosz was born on December 13, 1965 in Los Angeles, California. While attending high s ...

, bassist

Ole Beich Ole Beich (January 30, 1955 – October 16, 1991) was a Danish musician best known as the bass guitarist for the original lineups of L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses. Early life Born in the city of Esbjerg, Beich, in his youth, achieved a degree o ...

and drummer Rob Gardner, all of whom left shortly after its release (Guns, Beich and Gardner subsequently co-founded

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

Background

L.A. Guns recorded its debut EP at Westwind Studios in

, a recording studio owned by former

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

and

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

frontman

Ronnie James Dio Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted and founded numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and H ...

. According to former vocalist

, the group had only 24 hours available in the studio to record the EP, with "20–21 hours" used for the instrumentals and the remaining four used for vocals. The session was produced by Chuck Rosa and the EP released by the band's manager

Raz Cue L.A. Guns is an American glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Phil Lewis (lead vocals), Ace Von Johnson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Martin (bass, backing voc ...

on his own label. Jagosz left shortly after the EP's release and was replaced by Paul Black, who would later rebuild the group after guitarist

Tracii Guns Tracy Richard Irving Ulrich (born January 20, 1966), known professionally as Tracii Guns, is an American guitarist best known as the co-founder of glam metal group L.A. Guns, as well as the Supergroup (music), supergroups named Brides of Destru ...

, bassist

and drummer Rob Gardner left to co-found

with

Hollywood Rose Hollywood Rose was an American glam metal group formed in 1983. They are best known as the precursor for what would eventually become Guns N' Roses. The group was founded by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber, while they were aided during l ...

vocalist

Axl Rose W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose Jr.; born February 6, 1962) is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its incep ...

and guitarist

Izzy Stradlin Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), best known as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist. He was a co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of their fame in 1991, and with whom he ...

in March 1985. The tracks recorded for ''Collector's Edition No. 1'' have been re-released several times since 1985. First, in 2004, the songs were included as a bonus second disc with '' Hollywood Raw: The Original Sessions'', a compilation containing several recordings from before the release of the band's self-titled debut album in 1988. In 2017, all four songs were also included on the career retrospective compilation ''A Fistful of Guns: Anthology 1985–2012''.

Track listing

Personnel

L.A. Guns * Mike Jagosz – vocals *

– guitar, production *

– bass * Rob Gardner – drums Additional personnel *Chuck Rosa – production *Tom Terranova – artwork, design

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1985 debut EPs L.A. Guns EPs