THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Category: Vinyl Reviews (Page 446 of 492)

THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND – SAHB Stories

April 16, 2021 /

I’ll admit to The Harvey’s being one of my favourite bands since I was at school. Having their logo emblazoned on my school bag. They were formed in Glasgow in ’72 by bringing Alex together with the hard rocking band Tear Gas. It was a mix of theater and killer tunes. They were always painting pictures with the stories that were told. They were insultingly compared to Alice Cooper, as the journo’s could not pin them down, and he was the nearest visually to what they were doing.

Starting off with the excellent Dance To Your Daddy, then things move up a few gears with one of my favourite SAHB tunes, Amos Moses. Killer riff and epic groove, and Zal letting loose on the guitar. Worth the price of admission alone kiddies! Jungle Rub Out is next, and in typical SAHB fashion, we take a little left turn musically where Alex is doing his best lounge lizard impression before the heavy chorus kicks in. Side 1 ends with Sirocco, the most unusual track on the album, a slow middle eastern meets blues/jazz crossover.

Side 2 begins with the one SAHB track that everyone should have heard of, Boston Tea Party. Top 20 in the charts, and rightly so – it is a great track. It wasn’t their highest single chart placing – that would be a cover of Delilah. Sultans Choice is next up and a great riff from Zal announces its arrival. It’s just an old rock n roll tune updated somewhat. The rock funk of 25$ For A Massage slides on in, and is another killer tune with a great groove. The last track on the album would also be the heaviest track the band would put on record – the fantastic Dogs Of War. What an end to the album! That huge riff and the lyric about mercenaries.

Released in ’76, it still holds up well and I still play it often.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

EARTHSHAKER – Fugitive

April 8, 2021 /

Out of the three big Japanese rock/metal bands of the 80’s, Earthshaker were the least well known behind Loudness and Bow Wow. The band were formed in ’78 and this is their second album, and the copy I have is on Music For Nations. Weirdly enough, even though the song titles are written in English (apart from the opening track), they are sung in Japanese. This does take away from the vibe for me as it’s really hard to sing along and get to know the tracks.

The songs are pretty basic and not setting the world alight, and the production is a bit flat. Musically, in places, it’s in the NWOBHM style and I can see why MFN signed them. In quieter moments, they are very AOR before it became fashionable. The stand out track for me is Drive Me Crazy, which is a fairly standard up tempo rocker but outshines anything else on the record. The best I can say is it’s an ok album.

6/10 from The Grooveman.

BEN HARPER & THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS – Call It What It Is

April 8, 2021 /

Ben Harper, for those who don’t know, is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and multi- collaborator. This is his third album with the Innocent Criminals. I don’t like the term “Americana”, but this would be where the album firmly lies. A good mix of blues, reggae, folk, and a little Rock, make this album very diverse and eclectic.

Opening number, When Sex Was Dirty, is a fun up-tempo track. Deeper And Deeper is a typical American folk rock tune. Call It What It Is is deep in blues territory and is very heavy subject matter – dealing with police violence and racism. How Dark Is Gone has a very Latin feel, and carries on the dark lyrical theme. Shine starts with a Fender Rhodes intro before dropping into an off-groove reggae vibe – a really cool tune. All That Has Grown is an acoustic delta blues short piece to close out Side 1.

Pink Balloon brings us back to rock territory and possibly the grooviest tune on the whole album. Other than old country, the other genre I don’t like too much is reggae – so the next track, Finding Our Way, is my least favourite on the record. Bones has an old school RnB vibe in the Marvin Gaye tradition. Dance Like Fire is firmly in the folk/country vein, and last track Goodbye To You is a sad ending to the album as it deals with loss.

Sometimes music should do more than just entertain, and this album tries to educate those who are blind to what’s around them.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

MACHINE HEAD – The Burning Red

April 7, 2021 /

The difficult third album. It shouldn’t have been if they had stayed as Machine Head instead of trying to be Korn, or Coal Chamber, or whatever new metal bands were around at the time. Burn My Eyes is a classic of the genre, but this album is all over the show because Flynn is trying to move with a trend. You may think that I maybe don’t like this album, but that’s not true. I do like this album – it’s just not half-life as good as it could have been.

Enter The Phoenix and Desire To Fire are the opening two tracks and could have been Korn outtakes as the groove is very similar. The riffs are there for sure, and Nothing Left has a killer riff and is the track that resembles Machine Head the most. Silver could be Nirvana – it’s that close. A very weird cover of Message In A Bottle is the worst track on the album as I just don’t see the point. Track four on Side 2, Five, is the best on the album as it reminds me of Killing Joke – it has that sinister undertone to it. When you listen to The Blackening, which would be three albums later, you have to wonder what was going on in Robb Flynn’s mind when they recorded this?! Hey ho!

7/10 from The Grooveman.

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