THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Category: Vinyl Reviews (Page 434 of 492)

XTC – Black Sea

May 11, 2021 /

Born out of the punk explosion, XTC’s style and sound changed dramatically by the release of this, their fourth album, in 1980. Full of punk angst and vigour at the beginning, they changed into one of the UK’s most innovative indie pop bands. They had a great sense of melody, and quirky off the wall tunes that would set them apart from their peers. Sadly, due to Andy Partridge’s failing emotional state leading to chronic stage fright, the band stopped touring altogether by ’82.

Musically (style wise) anything is on the table for this band, and no barriers were the order of the day. There were 4 singles released from the album, the lead off track Respectable Street, which I really love, Towers Of London, and then the two biggest hits: Generals And Majors, and the awesome Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me). I remember being a little disappointed as my favourite song, Living Through Another Cuba , with it’s samba/reggae groove was not released – I thought this song was the dogs doodles at the time. Always a band to push themselves through every record, and never settled for the norm. In my opinion, they were one of Britain’s great exports to the musical universe.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

THE JOE PERRY PROJECT- Let The Music Do The Talking

May 10, 2021 /

The Joe Perry Project were actually formed whilst Perry was still a member of Aerosmith. At the time, the Aero ones were all off their relative faces on all sorts of exotic substances, and the record company were at loss to know what to do with them. The label CBS openly encouraged Perry to do this project hoping it would give Tyler a boost to get him up and rockin’ again. With Perry being on the same label, it would be easy to bring him back when the time was right.

As you would expect, the music does have the same vibe as the Aero ones – but with a lot more Joe. The first and title track is such a great song, that when Perry went back to Aerosmith, Tyler could not wait to sing it live. Vocalist Ralph Morman has a great voice and suits these songs perfectly. Conflict Of Interest could have been a Smith outtake – it’s that close. Discount Dogs has a real funky swagger until the cool time change for the chorus – with some killer Joe guitar. Shooting Star has the real big riff to start and could have been a Smith song. Side closer, Break Song, is an instrumental, and is one of my favourite Aerosmith related tunes – this bad boy is all groove and plenty of Joe. Freakin’ awesome tune!

Side 2 kicks off with the funky tones of Rockin’ Train – a seriously groovy tune. Next up is The Mist Is Rising, and with the very dissonant guitar sound it comes over as a very sleazy song. Ready On The Firing Line seems to be missing a lead off riff, and is a bit jumbled until the funky chorus. Life At A Glance brings the album to a close, and is just a short sharp fun rock and roll song that wouldn’t have been out of place on Toys In The Attic. There were two more project albums after this and they had some good tunes, but this was the best by a mile.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

LOUDNESS – Thunder In The East

May 10, 2021 /

Even though every rock band under the sun went to Japan and seemed to be huge, there weren’t that many Japanese bands coming the other way for their chance at world domination. The best metal band to leave the land of the rising sun were Loudness and this is not open to debate. Mainly due to the extraordinary talents of guitarist, Akita Takasaki, who formed the band in ’81. They were the first Japanese metal act to sign a record deal outside of their own country. This is the 5th studio album released after the mighty Disillusion, which did really well around the world.

The first thing that you notice when opening track Crazy Nights kicks in, is how similar they sound to Accept – who also have that hard edged sound. Huge riff and killer solo. Like Hell follows, and again, as soon as the riff starts there is a very European approach to the sound. Heavy Chains is all about Akira right from the intro to the Manowar riff and the killer solo. Get Away has a very NWOBHM opening riff and vibe to the whole song. We Could Be Together closes out Side 1 and the opening riff is very reminiscent of Randy era Ozzy.

Side 2 starts with Run For Your Life with a really cool guitar heavy intro, and stands out as the most unusual track on the record as they are trying something a little different, which in my opinion, works really well. Clockwork Toy is fat riff city with double kicks and is the heaviest track on the album. No Way Out is very Schenker era UFO in sound, and a big mention to producer Max Norman for a killer production, and gave the band the huge sound that lifts the whole album. The Lines Are Down is back to NWOBHM territory with the riff and the Iron Maiden gallop. Album close out track, Never Change Your Mind, has an intro that is a near lift from Closer To The Heart, and to be honest, is a disappointing end to what is a pretty good album with its cigarette lighter feel. Remember this is 1985, and for the time it’s a good album, but listening to it now it still feels like I’m in a time warp.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

VENGEANCE – Take It Or Leave It

May 9, 2021 /

Outside of their native Holland, this band’s main claim to fame was having Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Ayreon) as the their main man and founder, and he was there up until the band split up in ’92. This album was released in ’88, and is pretty much standard hair metal with a European slant.

The opening track is a decent opening track and rocks hard. The next track, Code Of Honour, is slower and suffers from having a kid’s choir singing part of the chorus – it’s just ok. Rock N Roll Shower follows and has a stock party rock riff and is not a bad tune. Take Me To The Limit rips in with a killer riff and some double kicks, and then descends into standard rock territory. Engines tries to be Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher, and is a nice metal instrumental with Lucassen showing everyone how good he is as a guitar player. This music is a million miles away from what he does now.

Side 2 starts with Hear Me Out, and its back to glam city we go with big chants and everything. Women In The World has the big acoustic intro before a very Scorpions style rocker breaks out. Looks Of A Winner is the most American sounding of all the tracks – you can tell the market they were aiming for. Last track, Ain’t Gonna Take You Home, actually had me thinking they were going to break out into Doctor Doctor by UFO – until the big chorus kicked in and it’s definitely Friday night rock night crowd pleaser.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

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