THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Category: Vinyl Reviews (Page 452 of 492)

EXODUS – Pleasures Of The Flesh

March 26, 2021 /

This is the second album from the Bay Area thrash pioneers, and the first with vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza – original singer (the crazy Paul Baloff) walked out whilst writing was in progress for this album, but he gets writing credits for his contribution. For those who do not know the history of the band, Exodus were arguably the first thrash band of the period, and Kirk Hammet was a founding member before joining Metallica. Whereas Metallica slowed down their approach which gave them a wider appeal, Exodus stuck to their guns and stayed true to the thrash. The first four albums are classics of the genre. Bonded By Blood gets all the attention, but the next three are all good albums.

Deranged, the opening track, has a deranged-criminal-creepy-spoken word intro, before thrashing your brain accordingly. It’s all pretty much standard Bay Area thrash apart from Brain Dead, which has a killer chugga riff, and steps slightly sidewise off the path and makes it more interesting. The title track, which is the best track on the album, and again sees the band trying different things. The other stand out track is Chemi-Kill, which has a nice intro and a killer riff.

I know most old school thrash aficionados will probably own this and rightly so.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

TEARS FOR FEARS – Songs From The Big Chair

March 25, 2021 /

This is the 2014 remix by Steven Wilson, who also did an amazing surround sound mix as well. This was the second album released by the band and would send them into mega stardom – thanks to the two tracks that were released as singles. Namely the lead off track Shout and Everybody Wants To Rule The World. I think they were still a band at this point, before it changed into the duo of Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal. I have the original of this album, and Steven has done a fantastic job as the clarity and tone of the music is exceptional.

They say cream always rises to the top, and that is no exception here – as a good song is a good song – and this album is full of good songs. Whether it be the songs we all know, or the tracks that are not so familiar like The Working Hour or Head Over Heels, which are much more than average pop fodder. This is a band that cared about what they were writing, and not just in it for the pose – as that’s what a lot of acts around this time were guilty of.

I really like this album and it’s definitely one of the best pop albums from this period.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

THE ANCHORESS – The Art Of Losing

March 25, 2021 /

I have deliberately held off from listening to any of the lead off tracks that were released as promo for the album, as I wanted to listen to the whole piece – as was intended by Catherine. I’m very old school, and still believe that the album is a piece of art and should be drooled and dissected to absorb every inch.

For those who don’t know, The Anchoress is the alter-ego of Welsh singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, producer, author and all round super talent, Catherine Anne Davies. The album itself deals with the subject of grief, loss and pain. Catherine went through the loss of her father, she was treated for cervical cancer, and also had miscarriages and other surgeries all in the space of her last release, Confessions Of A Romance Novelist and the recording of this masterpiece.

Now don’t go running and think that this is a totally depressing album, because it’s not. Sure, you will go through all of the emotions and indeed on the track 5am you will probably be in tears, but by the end you will feel euphoric and feel as though you have been on a journey and that there is always hope. The music is very upbeat and the production is amazing. Every breath and croak in her voice is super clear, and it’s as though you were sat next to her while she was recording. There are also a couple of guest appearances, James Dean Bradfield guests on the track The Exchange where he duets with Catherine, and Show Your Face where he straps on the guitar. Bowie drummer, Sterling Campbell, drums on a couple of tracks also.

Hopefully live gigs will commence at some point towards the end of the year, as I would really love to see these songs performed live. I very much doubt there will be a better album released this year, and if you like to be moved emotionally by your musical choices, then please add this masterpiece into your life.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

AMERICAN TEARS – Powerhouse

March 24, 2021 /

Mark Mangold the nearly-man of the AOR soft rock scene. Some of you may know him from the band Touch, whose claim to fame was that they opened the first Monsters Of Rock at Donnington Park. This is what he was doing before then. This was the last release of this period and it came out in 1977. They would resurface many years later with an album called White Flags on British label Escape Music. It’s very easy to see why they never made any headway, as it’s OK, but there is that missing ingredient that every band needs for success – and that’s good songs. It’s not that it’s a bad album – it’s just ok. It’s amazing how much effort record labels put into bands thinking they would get some sort of return for their investment. It took CBS 3 albums before realizing that American Tears were not going to make it.

5/10 from The Grooveman.

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