THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: January 6, 2021

JOE WALSH – But Seriously Folks

January 6, 2021 /

At one time, Joe was probably best known for being world’s biggest hell raiser and a member of The Eagles. But before that, he was a member of The James Gang and he released three solo albums before he joined the big birds.

This album was recorded after he joined The Eagles, and the vibe has The Eagles written all over it. I really like Joe’s style of guitar playing, but there’s not a lot of it on show here as this is all about the songs and painting pictures with the words as in the beautiful Indian Summer.

I have a huge soft spot for Joe’s vocal style when he really stretches his voice and gets that whiny tone and on At The Station this is emphasized best with its swinging groove. Onto Side 2 and it’s more of the same really culminating in the album’s stand out track Life’s Been Good. Some good players assembled as a back up namely Jay Ferguson on keys and Joe Vitale on drums as well all The Eagles appearing on backing vocals’s part and Don Felder on lap steel. A great record, no, but a fun record nonetheless.

6/10 from the Grooveman.

STING – Bring On The Night

January 6, 2021 /

I know it’s not cool to admit it, but I really like Sting and The Police before. I first saw them at a small club before the 1st Police album came out playing to 3 men and a dog. Shoot forward about 8 years at the recording of this live album and Sting is somewhere in the stratosphere of stardom. How quick things change.

This album was recorded in support of the Blue Turtles album, so the songs on here are from that album plus a select few Police toons. One look at the band and you can tell the groove that Sting is aiming for. Omar Hakim ex Weather Report on drums, Darryl Jones ex Miles Davis on bass, Kenny Kirkland ex Dizzie Gillespie on keys, and Branford Marsalis ex every great jazzer on sax. A whose who of great groove players.

First track in is the title track segued into When the World is Running Down with the extended groove work out is just fantastic. This is part of the problem with this record really as it shows up the Blue Turtle songs as not being as strong as the Police songs that they sit along side on this offering. It’s not till we get to the end of Side 2 with Demolition Man that the groove really picks up again.

Onto Side 3 and we are into a serious reggae groove of One World and then the tempo drops right off again. Now I know all about the spacing of a show with highs and lows and giving the audience a breather as well as the band, and when to use peaks and troughs and the big build points throughout the show. I just don’t think the way the album is presented makes it flow very well as you end up wanting to skip tracks to get to the awesome bits. My favourite track is the first of Bring On The Night/ When The World mash up – then it’s downhill all the way.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

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