REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: January 11, 2021

JOHNNY WINTER – Roots

This is Winter’s last album that was released while he was still alive. The album after this, Step Back, was released after his death. What they both have in common is they are both all full of new renditions of blues standards and produced by his guitarist Paul Nelson.

Each track has a special guest, either guitar players, harp players or keyboard players, to give each track and the whole album a boost. Although by no means a Winter classic, each song is done with respect to the originals. We don’t stray too far from the path here.

The two stand out tracks for me are Bright Lights Big City, which features Susan Tedeschi on vocals and guitar, and Dust My Broom which showcases the amazing talents of Derek Trucks.

Nothing too outstanding here, and unless you are a Winter fan then there would be no reason to add this or your collection.

5/10 from The Grooveman.

CROBOT – Welcome to Fat City

This is the second album from Pennsylvania retro groove rockers, Crobot. Basically carrying on from where they left off after the debut album except this is possibly even dirtier and groovier. A perfect example is the title track which opens the album with Crobots’ typical groovy swagger. Easy Money has a cool riff and killer breakdown. Brandon Yeagley’s powerful vocal and Chris Bishops funky heavy guitar style are the standouts here.

At times the band exude an almost stoner vibe, as in the track Not For Sale with a killer vocal from Yeagley and a serious fat guitar sound. Hold on for Your Life is next and is the best track on the album – again with killer vocal and stoner grooves with a trippy vibe.

Side 2 kicks off with the bass heavy groove of Temple In The Sky, and then into Right Between The Eyes with its Sabbath sounding grooves. The next three tracks: Blood On The Snow, Steal The Show and Moment of Truth are basically more of the same groove. Then we get to the monster of an album closer, Plague Of The Mammoths., which has all of the album’s highlights and sounds condensed into one song.

Whereas bands like Greta Van Fleet are purely mimicking Led Zeppelin, Crobot are creating their own sound. Sure they are taking lots of elements from bands of the past, but that’s cool as every band is guilty of that, but it’s how those influences are used.

8/10 from The Grooveman.