A soaring, audacious burst of glam‑rock bravado from life on the edge
When Wear a Fast Gun emerges from the thunderous machinery of Wizzard Brew (1973), it carries with it the daring swagger of Wizzard—led by the visionary Roy Wood—as they carve out their identity just after Wood’s departure from The Move and the embryonic period of Electric Light Orchestra. The album itself reached No. 29 on the UK Albums Chart. Though the track “Wear a Fast Gun” was not released as a major single and does not boast headline chart performance, it stands as a centerpiece—9 minutes 10 seconds of audacious creative expression—on an album that dared to be eccentric.
In this introduction I, The Vinyl Archivist, invite you to lean close to the fierce brass blasts, the layered saxophones, and the exuberant wild‑music of “Wear a Fast Gun”—a composition that mirrors Wizzard’s brazen ambition and glam‑rock zest, yet hides deeper intimations of struggle, urgency, and the defiant spirit of the early 1970s.
At its surface, “Wear a Fast Gun” thrums with wild energy: from its propulsive rhythm to its bold horns and sax lines, the song is unmistakably a glam‑rock spectacle. The album’s context is essential: released in early 1973 on Harvest (UK) and United Artists (US), Wizzard Brew placed the band firmly within the flamboyant realm of British glam, yet with one foot in experiments of jazz‑rock, rock‑and‑roll pastiche, and orchestral flourish. Within this frontier the song emerges as a typifying moment. Critics and listeners often point to “Wear a Fast Gun” as the album’s highlight, describing it as mixing “accessible pop melody with florid classical horn solo lines.”
But beyond the brash exterior lies a narrative of tension—of remaining alert, of arming oneself metaphorically for the fray. The repeated refrain to “wear a fast gun” may not literally command the listener to arm themselves; rather, it’s a bold figure of being ready, being sharp, being un‑caught in a world moving too fast. Amid the swelling brass and the insistent beat, the song suggests a heated reckoning with danger, with a restless heart, with survival in a shifting terrain. In the age of glam’s glitter and rock’s excess, Wizzard used “Wear a Fast Gun” to channel that adrenaline—and also the anxiety beneath.
Musically, the song is a showcase for Wood’s sprawling ambitions: the arrangement bursts with saxophones, rhythm guitars, piano flourishes, and marching‑band energy. A nearly ten‑minute span allows Wizzard space to breathe, to build tension, to evoke spectacle. That length and boldness itself signal a refusal to be constrained by 3‑minute radio norms: here is rock as pageant, as event, as flamboyant statement. As one early listener remarked: “Wear a Fast Gun is still the album’s highlight … with its accessible pop melody mixed with florid classical horn solo lines and…”
Culturally, “Wear a Fast Gun” sits in the moment when glam rock still had edge, when spectacle and musicianship collided. Though it may not have become a chart‑topping single, its presence on Wizzard Brew solidified the band’s status as something more than mere pop glitter—they were reckless, bold, heavy, and orchestrally adventurous. Over time the album has attained cult status for its “eccentric” quality.
In listening to “Wear a Fast Gun” today, one hears that mixture of gleaming gloss and underlying urgency. It is as if Roy Wood and his cohorts are saying: enjoy the spectacle, ride the brass, but don’t forget the edge. Strap on your metaphorical fast gun, step into the fray, and live loud while you can. For those who savour the grander gestures of rock’s past, this track remains a vivid blast from an era when audacity met arrangement, and songs dared to stretch into wildness.