REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: July 5, 2021

MASTERS OF REALITY – Sunrise On The Sufferbus

This is the second album from Andy York’s Masters Of Reality, and is noteworthy for having none other than Ginger Baker on drums. Musically they are quite hard to pin down on this album, as style wise it’s all over the map. Which is no bad thing as the songs are all short and snappy – nothing weighs in longer than 4.19.

She Got Me is a fast shuffle rock n roll delight, highlighting Ginger’s involvement. In fact, the drums are really high in the mix throughout. JB Witchdance is a quirky off beat little oddity that sticks in your brain. Jody Sings feels as though it was a Beatles outtake from Abbey Road. Rolling Green has a reggae feel mixed with Beatles harmonies and is a great pop song. Ants In The Kitchen is my favourite on the record as it has a wicked riff from Goss, and a groovy drum pattern from Ginger. V.H.V is very low-fi and could be a Kyuss desert project.

Bicycle is a short 46 seconds of “what the hell?” before we flip over to Side 2 with 100 Years with its late sixties psych groove and is a very melancholic song. T.U.S.A is next with a spoken word lyric by Ginger about pouring a cup of tea and is a great groovy little track. Tilt A Whirl is a return to a fast shuffle with a simple rock n roll riff, but again, highly addictive. Rabbit One starts with a killer slow funk vibe and a very trippy riff – it’s another contender for best track. Two really short burst tracks, Madonna and Gimme Water are next before The Moon In Your Pocket closes out the record with a barroom crooner style, and continues the trippy vibe that flows throughout the album. As I mentioned, a very hard album to pin down, but enjoyable all the same.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

BLUES PILLS – s/t

I knew nothing about this band until I stumbled upon them doing a midnight-down-the-rabbit-hole search through YouTube. What a surprise! They are a fantastic young band. They have that retro early seventies power trio vibe down to a T. They were formed back in 2011, but it wasn’t until 2014 that this gem of a debut album was released.

Opening track, High Class Woman, is a wonderful throwback to the early seventies groove rock vibe, and in Elin Larsson they have unearthed an amazing vocal talent. Ain’t No Change is a fantastic groovey guitar fest and is a monster of a tune. Jupiter has a very heavy Hendrix vibe, again with a killer groove and some great playing, and with the ghost of Janice being channeled through Elin’s killer vocals. It slows the vibe right down and has a very trippy feeling to the tune. It’s a bit of a showcase for Larsson’s vocals until the big stoner riff kicks in. Black Smoke reminds me of a Tom Waits drinking song with some nice slide playing. River is all about the vocal and starts with a jazz vibe mixed in with all that retro goodness – Dusty Springfield popped into my head while listening. No Hope Left For Me follows and we are back to the heavy stoner groove with lots of wailing guitar and vocal. Devil Man has an early Fleetwood Mac feel – especially musically, but the vocal is incredible, and with a sleazy blues swagger, this is my favourite so far. Astralplane is a psyched out bluesy trip fest and is very late sixties in feel – complete with spacey guitar. Gypsy is a cover of the Chubby Checker song and grooves along nicely – it’s way better than the original. Little Sun closes out the album and weirdly reminds me of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Unfortunately due to line up changes, the albums after this have suffered somewhat, but that does not take away from what a great record this is.

9/10 from The Grooveman.