THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Month: July 2021 (Page 12 of 14)

THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND – Joyful Noise

July 6, 2021 /

Thanks to the amazing Music On Vinyl for this great pressing of this 2002 release. Before forming the family Tedeschi Trucks Band, and before being part of The Allman Brothers Band, Derek had his own band. The feel is a lot more loose and groovy than both The Allmans and the family band. He is an incredible slide player, probably the best there has ever been, as he puts puts so much soul and feel into everything he plays.

The band that recorded this is a four piece, but the band would expand greatly with members over the albums they recorded. There are no boundaries or barriers to the music that they play, everything from blues to gospel, and from jazz fusion to Latin – everything is on the table. The title track is a superb groove fest in true jam band tradition. Each member has their own little piece, but the focus is always on Derek’s incredible playing. The amazing Kofi Burbridge is a huge part of this record as he had a hand in writing nearly everything – sadly he is no longer with us. There are many highlights throughout this record, but my favourites are the very Latin Santana-esque, Kam-ma-lay, which is just superb, as well as the dirty funky groove of Every Good Boy, and the slow jazz vibes of Frisell where Derek shows the true expanse of his talents.

I would recommend getting any of DT’s albums as they are all a great listen.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

PINK FLOYD – Dark Side Of The Moon

July 6, 2021 /

There is a reason that everyone calls this album one of the best albums ever recorded, and that’s because it is. The ground work for this release was made with the previous album, Meddle, as that was the first proper album where the ghost of Sid Barrett was finally put to rest, and the psychedelia with it. Of course it helps when your record company lets you spend all the time you want in the studio to perfect your music. I’m not sure an album of this magnitude will be ever made again, at least not under a record company banner. Maybe now home recording is much more accessible and cheap, artists might do it with their own dollar, but no record company will ever do it again.

People always look at Floyd as this great technical behemoth, but in reality the songs are quite basic, it’s how all the instruments are layered and separated in the mix that creates this amazing aural experience. The band produced the album themselves with the great Alan Parsons as engineer, and to my ears, it’s one of the great sonic masterpieces of the seventies. 11 pieces of music and 6 songs, every second is perfection. Of course, they were still a band at this point before tyrant Waters wanted to belittle everyone other than himself to take total control.

Most people would agree that Money is the great track from the album, with a superb solo full of feel and tone by Gilmour. In fact, IMHO, all the songs where Gilmour sings are Floyd’s finest moments. One of the great songs not mentioned too often is The Great Gig In The Sky, with the superb wailing vocal from Clare Tory, I absolutely adore this track as it’s full of feel and expression.

So I don’t need to tell you that you should already own this, if you don’t then I suggest you rectify that immediately.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

MASTERS OF REALITY – Sunrise On The Sufferbus

July 5, 2021 /

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

July 5, 2021 /

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.

« Older posts Newer posts »

Archives

© 2024 THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑