THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: October 4, 2021

JEFF BECK – Blow By Blow

October 4, 2021 /

This album (and the one that came after, Wired) are my two favourite Beck albums. We are in the prime mid-seventies fusion experimentation era, and Jeff lapped this up. A switch was flicked and away he went with some of the most inventive playing of his career. Jeff is one of those players where as soon as you hear him you know it’s Jeff, he has such an original style and tone to his playing. A big bonus to this record was that it was produced by George Martin and it sounds awesome, the separation and placing of the instruments is perfect.

There are some of Jeff’s most popular pieces on this album, namely Scatterbrain and Freeway Jam, both incredible fusion showcase pieces where Jeff and the band really let fly. As well as these two tracks, I love the funk groove of Air Flow which has seventies cop movie written all over it – superb track, and Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers which is amazing and dedicated to Roy Buchanan.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

URIAH HEEP – Abominog

October 4, 2021 /

This is the 14th studio album by one of Britain’s finest rock bands. This was something of a mini rebirth, as their fortunes had been fading somewhat after the bands 70’s heyday. This was the first album after the departure of Ken Hensley, one of the originators of the band and a main songwriter. Bob Daisley, after his removal from Ozzy’s band, was brought in to obviously help with songwriting duties, as half of the songs were cover versions by other artists but given the Heep treatment.

This was one of the band’s most successful albums in the US, as two of the tracks: On The Rebound, and That’s The Way That It Is, both charted. The band’s sound was a lot more up to date and contemporary sounding with the emphasis on melody and hooks. This is one my favourite Heep albums, and they sound like a totally different band on this record. Great arrangement of the songs, great playing from all involved, and the production from Ashley Howe is fantastic. As well as the aforementioned singles, the other great tracks are Too Scared To Run and Running All Night. Both have great melodies and hooks with memorable sing-a-long chorus’. It’s also great to hear Mick Box let loose more on this record, as Hensley was taking more control and there was less guitar. Still sounds great nearly 40 years later.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

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