THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Category: Vinyl Reviews (Page 376 of 492)

BLACK SWAN – Shake The World

October 2, 2021 /

This is yet another one of Frontier’s put together projects so that they can get their love child (Alessandro Del Vechio) gainful employment, this time in the mixing process. I don’t usually go for these projects, but lately the quality has stepped up somewhat.

The band are Robin McAuley on vocals, Reb Beach on guitar, Jeff Pilson on bass, and Matt Starr on drums. The involvement of Beach and Pilson had me sold. Every song is a great slab of melodic hard rock with fat huge riffs and grooves with melody and hooks brimming over. Honestly, there is not a bad song here as everyone brought their A game.

Shake The World starts things rollin’ and we are off to a winner, killer everything, what a great tune. Big Disaster follows and has a different tempo and groove, but is an awesome track with added monster solo from Mr. Beach. Johnny Came Marching ends Side 1, and what a great beginning – although the song does remind me a bit of The Stroke by Billy Squier. Immortal Souls could be my favourite track on the record. It has a superb intro and great melody, and this would make a good choice as a single. It’s the dreaded ballad next with Make It There. She’s On To Us has an almost Native American drum pattern and groove at the intro, before we are back to more familiar territory with the hook.

The Rock That Rolled Away is the most rocking track so far with a great up-tempo groove and great riff. Long Road To Nowhere has a great harmonic intro, and again, we have a killer melody and hook -the great tunes keep a comin’! A lighter vibe and pace next with Scared Place and I could see this being a Dokken track. On to Side 4 we go with Unless We Change, and it’s a great up-tempo rocker. Divided/United closes out the album with a big power ballad. I get the message, but to finish an album with a power ballad is a meh from me. On the whole, a great album but minus a point for the ballads.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

DAMIAN MURDOCH TRIO – Electric Tentacles

October 1, 2021 /

This is absolute killer hard blues rock with a hint of everything thrown in for good measure. The band hail from the land down under, and I came across this whilst trawling the t’internet for something new. My preference for listening to music (other than Van Halen and other killer rock bands) would be instrumental guitar music with a hard edge and plenty of soloing and riffs. I would describe this album as my perfect listen as it ticks all the boxes and hits all the spots for me.

The first track (ironically titled) The Opener, has a real heavy blues vibe with a hint of Hendrix – but on steroids. Funky Desert Rider does what it says on the tin. The Final Absturz has a heavy fusion at the start with a serious groove and some killer playing. Visceral Circles Of The Cosmos starts with a killer jazz drum and bass and then builds into this heavy monster groove. Great track! Side 1 closes out with The Eternal Search For The Alpha Jellyfish, which is up there with great song titles.

Side 2 kicks off with Lean Kathleen’s Killing Machine, and sees the tempo increase somewhat. I love the slow down in the middle eight and the solo is epic! The Dragon Slayed The Princess takes the tempo and the vibe down several notches and showcases the gentler side of Damian’s playing – until that wicked jazz groove dives in and there is one monster evil riff toward the end of the song. Sleazeball follows with a slow jazz funk riff, and then boom, and off we go! Jump Rope With Electric Wires closes out the album with a huge bang. A fast choppy riff and groove drive the song along – there is some serious playing in this track.

Shout out to the killer rhythm section of Michael Posch on drums and Matthias Wieser on bass who lay down a great background for Damian to lay some great playing on. I really love this album.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

DAVID LEE ROTH – A Little Ain’t Enough

October 1, 2021 /

This is the diamond one’s third solo album after leaving Van Halen. It a big change in personnel after the first two albums. Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan had left to do their own thing, and on the recording a young Jason Becker played guitar. He was diagnosed with ALS while recording the album, and managed to finish it but was unable to do the tour. The touring band featured the amazing Joe Holmes on guitar, and Todd Jensen was on the bass.

This was the beginning of Dave’s decline. The album was a change in style to more of a blues based album, and it was also right in the middle of the grunge period. Whereas the tour was a success in Europe, it did really bad in the US where shows were cancelled altogether. I am a big Dave fan and I do like this album, but it didn’t reach the heights of the previous two. Main highlights for me are the title track, which is trademark DLR, the barroom sleazy blues of Sensible Shoes, and the very Hot For Teacher vibe of Its Showtime.

I managed to catch one of Dave’s solo shows in Vegas before COVID hit, and he was fantastic.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

HELLANBACH – The Big H

September 30, 2021 /

This is the second and final album from Newcastle’s Van Halen influenced beat combo, HELLANBACH. I don’t think I have heard a guitar player this close to Edward himself. Sure, everybody copied tricks and runs from Edward, but no one got as close to his style and sound as Davey Payton did. In fact, Patton and vocalist Jimmy Brash made a great team, and I was dumbfounded they never made more from their talents.

This is such a good record, as was their first album, and it’s a shame they never sold more. I think everyone in Britain was more into straight ahead metal than flash awesome rock music. I have begun to appreciate this second album more over the years as I always thought the first album was the better of the two, but I now love them both. Tracks like The Main Man and Bandits Run are really good with some superb playing from Patton, but my favourite track on the record goes to SPGC (Street Punk Go Crazy). It has a great riff and the guitar sound is freakin’ awesome. Somewhat ironically, the track Daddy Dig Those Cats is a homage to the Stray Cats. I think Davey Patton still plays in stripped down rock n roll band around the north east of England. Great album!

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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