THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Month: September 2022 (Page 7 of 11)

MARTY FRIEDMAN- One Bad M.F.

September 10, 2022 /

After having survived nearly 10 years in Megadeth working along side Mustaine (he should be awarded a medal for that), Marty took charge of his own career again, and has released a ton of albums since, whether that be studio or Live like this one. Marty has been living in Japan since 2003, and this was recorded live in Mexico City in 2018.

Some of his playing is absolutely blistering, and his band is killer as well. I mean the notes, riffs, and grooves on Elixir are crazy and not a note dropped. The intro to Inferno is crazy! It’s not just the pure shred, but the drums from Chargeeee (his mother must have been high) are incredible. There’s not really a let up, so when a slow song comes along it really stands out – Devil Take Tomorrow is pure gold as Marty shows he can play melody as well as the shred.

My favourite track is Mutation Melody as it has a killer chugga riff and a ripping driving groove that really pound along. The award for total insanity goes out to Ripped as it feels as though everyone is outdoing each other with a battery of notes and beats fired across the stage.

This is for lovers of over the top guitar and shred.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

WARRIOR SOUL – Drugs, God And The New Republic

September 10, 2022 /

I sort of ignored this band at the time as I lumped them in with all the grunge bands that flooded our ears in the early nineties. But Warrior Soul had a serious sleazy rock n roll groove with politically tinged lyrics.

Intro and Interzone are short and sharp, and Rust is sleaze rock n roll. The third track in Drugs, God And The New Republic is a huge chunk of post rock goodness that would not be out of place on a Killing Joke album. Main man, Kory Clarke, was a one man band come poet/solo artist before the band was formed, and some of the lyrics (like on The Answer) have that poet delivery.

There is a classic rock undertone to a lot of the songs, and Man Must Live As One has a killer old school riff and it is my favourite on the album. There is even a song with THAT RIFF – The Real Thing – every rock band will succumb and use it at some point. A very raw rock n roll album that I like a lot more now than I did back in the day.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

MOTLEY CRUE – The End

September 9, 2022 /

When is the end not the end?  They have been peddling this around for way too long. I guess someone needed another alimony payment or had a lawsuit to pay. The tour that’s going around North America this summer has been doing great business and was some spectacle, but Posion blew both of the headliners off stage every night.

We get a nice coloured pink marble vinyl, and the songs are near enough the same set they have been playing for a while now, Opening up with Girls Girls Girls. I’m not sure if Vince has touched his vocals up after the event, but he does sound better on here than he does now. All the hits are here, plus all the songs you know, so it turns out to be a pretty cool Greatest Hits package.

My favourite Crüe song ever is Live Wire, but on this set my favourite is Shout At The Devil – it’s sounds quite shambolic and I love Mick Mars guitar sound. I guess you either love ‘em or hate ’em. I usually sit in the hate ’em side, mainly due to the crap that surrounds them, but I admit that this is quite a fun listen.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

JOURNEY – Escape

September 9, 2022 /

Is this the greatest AOR / Melodic rock album ever made? Journey were floundering until the arrival of Steve Perry. They were this great bunch of muso’s who could jam with the best of them, but they were lacking in the songwriting department. With Perry’s arrival, the songs became shorter and more melodic, and with his voice they were onto a winner. It was not until the departure of founding member, Gregg Rolie, and the arrival of Jonathan Cain from the Baby’s, that everything finally was in place. So the answer to the initial question is, YES!

Every moment on this record is pure gold – and that includes the ballads! The band could live off of the royalties from Don’t Stop Believin’ alone. It’s such a huge song that has been used so many times on various tv shows, movies, and commercials, but it’s not the best song in the album. I’m not sure any vocalist out there can put as much feeling and emotion into a song as Steve Perry can, but with Open Arms he puts his everything into that song. On Mother Father he reaches his peak for pure emotion alone, and its my favourite track on the album – and I hate ballads.

Schon has been reeled in somewhat on this album, so there is not so many of his rambling shred style solos (I love Schin’s playing by the way). The emphasis is on total melody, and the album is lifted because of that. Yet another in the series of every home should have one.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

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