THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Month: August 2021 (Page 12 of 13)

ARGENT – Encore

August 4, 2021 /

One of the great forgotten British rock bands from the seventies, and they are the writers of some great tunes that have been covered by many. This live album was recorded back in ’74 in St. Albans and Swansea – the rock and roll capitals of the UK. The main protagonists in Argent are ex-Zombies keyboard whizz, Rod Argent, and songwriter to the world, Russ Ballard.

The first time I heard of them was the single Hold Your Head Up whilst I was at school, and there is a great extended version here. I’m sure everyone will have heard of God Gave Rock And Roll, which Argent did release as a follow up single, but more famously released by Kiss. Also on here are two Zombies hits, I Don’t Believe In Miracles, and Time of The Season. I mean you know whose band it is when the band opens with The Coming If Kohoutek, which is basically a keyboard solo.

My favourites are Its Only Money Parts One & Two – they rock with a great riff and melody and is greatly extended. There are lots of extended musical workouts here as that’s what the band were all about Live, namely the aforementioned It’s Only Money, Music From The Spheres and Dance Of Ages. So all in all, a great live album that often gets overlooked.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

ELECTRIC BOYS – The Ghost Ward Diaries

August 4, 2021 /

Yet another band back from the dead, having disbanded after the release of Freewheeling back in ’94. Known for their love of all things funky, people forget what a great rock n roll band they were – and boy could they write a tune (and still can). Formed by frontman Conny Bloom and bassist Andy Christell, the pair are still together today, and in this release from 2018, the band are back writing great records.

I’ll forgive them for stealing an AC/DC riff for opening track, Hangover In Hannover, as it’s a great song. Second song in, There She Goes Again, is one of the best songs they have ever recorded. A brilliant catchy melody and chorus coupled with a great riff, make this an awesome tune. You Spark My Heart is another great tune, a great up-tempo love song that’s slightly different from the norm. Love Is A Funny Feeling is the first visit to funky town on this record, and is a throwback to classic seventies funk. Gone Gone Gone closes out Side 1 and is the highlight of the album so far. That’s mighty praise indeed, as there has been a freakin’ awesome selection of songs on the album so far.

The delightfully named Swampmotofrog opens up Side 2 and it’s an instrumental romp with a killer riff, great slide playing, and a very heavy groove in the middle section. Next up is First The Money Then The Honey and it’s a good old rock n roll tune, with the big sing-a-long chorus with a nice heavy chunk towards the end. Rich Man Poor Man follows and starts with a great southern swamp style riff, and the main hook and chorus is really dirty with an awesome groove. Knocked Out By Tyson is the penultimate track and dirty funk rock part two. It’s a nod to older Electric Boys – with a little psychedelic twist – and another huge middle riff to blow your mind. The album closes out with One Of The Fallen Angels, a big epic number with a great riff and superb melody and chorus.

It’s great to have them back and with an album as good as this. They will be around for a long time.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

MR BUNGLE – s/t

August 3, 2021 /

To say that this album came out of left field would be a complete understatement. This is Faith No More’s front man Mike Patton’s side project from a variety of his perversions maybe? Who knows, but it’s very intriguing and musically stunning at times. Combining a variety of styles – and believe me, anything goes here – and interspersed with lots of weirdness (including someone doing number two’s on the porcelain palace).

You could say they took lots of references from Zappa and other avant-garde experimentalists, but you would be hard pushed to find another band like this. The putting together of lounge lizard crooning, along side metal mixed with funk, and country on Slowly Growing Deaf is total genius. The perversions are out in force on Squeeze Me Macaroni, as apparently Betty Crocker needs to be knocked up via her butter gutter. Hilarious and disturbing all at the same time.

The guitar playing of Trey Spruance is a revelation – at this point I had not heard him before. Other awesome tracks are Stub A Dub, and Love Is A Fist (I guess you can work out what that’s about), and my favourite is the absolute insanity of Carousel. Heavy metal funk avant-garde jazz at its best.

This album is not for the faint hearted, but it’s a whole lot of fun and enjoyment.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

UFO – Live In Youngstown 1978

August 3, 2021 /

For those of you familiar with UFO’s live album Strangers In The Night, you will be familiar with some of this recording. Strangers was captured over five nights and cobbled together to make the classic album we all know and love. This album is one of those nights in its entirety and in the correct running order. One thing you notice is that this album is a lot more raw and in your face, begging the question how many overdubs were layered onto Strangers? That doesn’t bother me that much if I’m honest, as I like this album a lot. Mr. Schenker is on fire, and it’s cool to hear this version of the band again after all these years playing their asses off. Plus, you get to hear tracks not on the original release namely, Pack It Up (And Go), Cherry, and On With The Action.

UFO were one of the best live acts around and this album is a great testament to a once great band. There are not many tracks that I don’t like by this band and all this album is killer. My favourites are Let It Roll, Natural Thing, Lights Out and the usual sing-a-longs Doctor Doctor, and Shoot Shoot. If you want a lesson in how to do hard rock, then buy yourself this (or Strangers) – you won’t regret it. It’s worth it just to hear how good Michael Schenker was around this time.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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