THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: May 2, 2023

FATE – Cruisin’ For A Bruisin’

May 2, 2023 /

Hailing from Denmark this is Fate’s third album, released in ’88. The grooves contain some of the slickest melodic rock/aor outside of the US.

Beneath Da Coconuts gets things underway in fine style with a great uptempo melodic rocker. Love On The Rox is a superb track, I really love the heavy Toto vibe that is being played with some killer guitar from Mr. Moth. The melodic grooves continue with Knock On Wood, a really cool simple four to the floor groover with a killer hook and chorus. Lovers is a huge aor/pop beast with the keys adding the right amount of pomp. Side 1 closes out with Dead Boy Cold Meat. A kick ass Hot For Teacher-style groove with some killer guitar.

It’s ballad time with Side 2 opener, Babe You Got A Friend. The track does beef up a little after the intro but unless you’re Brian Adams, no one opens up a side with a ballad. Lock You Up starts with a nice loud riff and a 4-4 groove, a very radio friendly tune. Cupid Shot Me is another tune where the tempo his high driven with a great simple picked riff. Greta track! Diamond In The Rough keeps the tempo high and the keys give it the 80’s stamp of approval and date it somewhat, but another kick ass tune. We close out the album with Send A Little Money, possibly the heaviest sounding track on the album and it’s my favourite. A great fat riff and heavy guitar sound coupled with a huge drums make it a winner.

Great band, great album.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

ZODIAC MINDWARP AND THE LOVE REACTION – Tattooed Beat Messiah

May 2, 2023 /

I remember when these guys first burst on the scene. I was watching some music show in the UK and my initial thought was “what the hell was that?”, and not in a positive way. I was sure it was just some flash in the pan boom and they’re gone kinda deal. I think a lot better of them now of course.

Prime Mover is a pretty good opening track and it was all over the radio at the time, but the main chord progression if you listen closely is just Living After Midnight by the mighty Priest. In fact, all this album is chock full of simple get down and groove rockers, and let’s face it, sometime simple is best. Skill Spark Joker is just that a four to the floor groove, a simple but effective chord progression and a very catchy hook and chorus. What more do you want really?!

I think this is as close as any British band came to that whole Sunset Strip vibe, and they really should have been bigger than they were. My favourite track is Let’s Break The Law. A slightly different vibe and groove with a huge guitar sound, and that always gets bonus points from me.

Other than two EP’s this was the band’s first full length album and quite frankly it’s a great record.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

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