THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: August 31, 2021

PORCUPINE TREE – House Of Blues Los Angeles 2003

August 31, 2021 /

This has been available as a download for quite some time on the band’s Bandcamp page. Now, with the acquiring of all their own catalogue, they are releasing everything through their own Transmission label. For a band that has been done for nearly 11 years, they put out quite a lot of product. Mainly reissues and remixes, but occasionally we get nuggets like this. A limited release on shiny blue vinyl to go with the title, this is without doubt a superb album.

The album was recorded on the In Absentia tour when the band were supporting Opeth. The In Absentia album was the beginning of the heavy riffs and grooves entering the band’s music, and would last for two more albums, until The Incident, where the vibe changed and would be the last studio album they recorded. If you don’t own any Porcupine Tree, then hurry and go and buy this before they are all gone.

The choice of songs from the old catalogue, as well as the In Absentia new material, fit together perfectly. I love the way they put in songs that were not on the album proper, as Futile was only originally on a promo CD. Gravity Eyelids shows the new direction really well, encompassing the fat riff heavy grooves with the beautifully angelic pieces. The version here of Russia On Ice is just sublime and one of my all time favourite PT tracks.

Porcupine Tree are one of the world’s best kept secrets and urge everyone to to add some to your collections.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

ACCEPT – Balls To The Wall

August 31, 2021 /

At the time, most of us who loved Restless & Wild (especially the speedy Fast As A Shark which received awesome reception that track received from fans and critics alike) thought the next album would be more in that vein. The band had other ideas of course, and they carried on with the Judas Priest style that they had been busy crafting. The band chose to produce the album themselves, and it was a definite step up as the sound is very big and loud.

The title track, and first track on the album, was released as a single and did well all over the world. It became the band’s anthem and signature tune. London Leatherboys caused a bit of a stir in the US with the homoerotic themes, but only in some states. If the track Fight It Back was the first track you ever heard by the band, you would swear that you were listening to Judas Priest as the similarities are obvious – well at least until Udo’s vocals kicked in. Head Over Heels is the track I like the least as it’s just generic plod and nothing special. Losing More Than You You’ve Ever Had uses the same riff and groove pattern as Princess Of The Dawn, at least until the chorus kicks in.

Love Child opens up Side 2 with some standard chugga riffing that reminds me a bit of the Scorpions musically, but apparently this caused a stir in the US also due to the lyrical content. Turn Me On is the type of simple track that I like. It’s got a very simple fat riff and groove that repeats over and over – it gets the head a bangin’ and the toe a tappin’. Losers And Winners follows and the main riff is nearly a direct lift from Priest’s Steeler. They obviously changed the main chorus and bridge for fear of being sued, but it’s a tad too close for me. Guardians Of The Night is another slow chugga riff, and doesn’t quite do it for me as the chorus is an bit to cheesy. The album closes out with Winterdreams and is a very un-Accept track as we are in ballad territory. It’s a decent song, but Udo’s voice does not fit the song.

This album sums up all Accept albums with Udo on vocals, in that they are all really patchy. Sure there are some great tracks, but there are also a lot of dust ones to. The band would fold in ’96, only to resurface in 2010 with a new singer in Marc Tornillo, and would release arguably their best album in Blood Of The Nations. More of that later.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

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