THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Month: February 2022 (Page 7 of 12)

TOMMY SHAW – Girls With Guns

February 14, 2022 /

The problems with Styx are well documented, and especially with Tommy Shaw. He felt he was being pushed more into the background as De Young took more control. Tommy channeled that frustration into collaborations with Damn Yankees and Shaw/Blades, and three solo albums in which this was the first.

On the whole, this is a great pop rock with a couple of Styx style ballads thrown into the mix. The title track and lead off track is a great power pop romp and a great song. Come In And Explain has a big rock and big riff opening and reminds me of Billy Squier. Heads Up is a typical 80’s pop song. Fading Away has very funky Toto groove and feel. Little Girl World is the most Styx sounding song on the album with lots of vocal harmonies.

Not a bad album. It sounds very of it’s time and the Mike Stone production is crystal clear.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

KK’s PRIEST – Sermons Of The Sinner

February 14, 2022 /

Before we get down to the music, I have a few observations here. It was KK’s decision to leave Judas Priest as he no longer believed in the music and the direction they were going – he was going to sit down and open his golf course. The Priest got a great replacement in Ritchie Faulkner, who is a much better player than KK. KK saw that him leaving had no impact on the band, and he then seemed to bash the band at every opportunity. When they announced their 50th anniversary and he was not asked to take part, I think that drove him over the edge. When he announced he was doing a solo project (calling it KK’s Priest), I was a bit dismayed to say the least.

I have to say it’s as heavy – if not heavier – than anything he did whilst he was in Judas Priest, and with really good production. All the clichés are here in full, and he’s trying to tick all the boxes to please as many metal lovers as possible. We have songs about bikers and truckers, and we have anthems like Raise Your Fists and Metal Through And Through – there even are digs at his former band with Return Of The Sentinel. For a guy pushing his 70’s, he sure acts like a teenage schoolboy. It’s all a shame really, as the songs are really good and it’s a great old school metal record – he just needs to move on.  My favourite on the album is Wild And Free – a great old school romp with fists in the air lyrics, and a great riff.

It gets 9/10 from The Grooveman for the tunes.

OZRIC TENTACLES – Jurassic Shift

February 12, 2022 /

It’s great to see Ed Wynne going back and remastering all of the early Ozric albums as lot of them were only cassette releases at the time. This has always been one of my favourite albums of theirs, and it sounds even better with this 2020 remaster. If you like groovy and trippy instrumental music with a killer guitar player, then go and empty your wallet at your local record establishment immediately.

I love every micro second of this album, and I’m sure a lot of the tunes are extended jams and improvs. I would have loved to have been in the room when they recorded this. Ed Wynne just rips on the guitar on this album, and he is up there with the best for me. Mix that with ambient and atmospheric keyboards and this is a Prog fans wet dream.

As I have mentioned, I love it all, but Sun Hair, and the title track Jurassic Shift, just melt my face! So good! They have that knack of adding a killer groove that you just can’t ignore. Another one in the every home should have one department.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

VARDIS – 100 M.P.H

February 12, 2022 /

One of the reasons I went out and bought this was a review (I think) in Sounds magazine – the headline was “The longest guitar solo in the world”. I think it was a Geoff Barton piece and I seemed to like a lot of things that Geoff reviewed, so money was exchanged.

I have seen the band quite a few times, and they are definitely a Live act as the energy does not come over so much on their studio albums. This was the band’s first release, and to release a Live album as your debut was a brave thing to do, but a stroke of genius. This album is pure stripped down high energy rock and roll with a very punk attitude. Lots of guitar provided by band leader Steve Zodiac, who was obviously a fan of Gerry Anderson’s kids puppet shows with his name taken from the show Fireball XL5.

Being the guitar freak that I am, it’s those tracks with the elongated solos that do it for me like Let’s Go and 100 M.P.H where it’s a solo fest. This is definitely one to shake the dandruff loose.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

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