THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: blog music (Page 37 of 40)

DON HENLEY – Building The Perfect Beast

March 2, 2022 /

After the Eagles broke up for the first time, they all went their separate ways. After a slow selling first album, this Don’s second solo release and went mega huge thanks to two singles: The Boys Of Summer, which was very Eagles sounding and co-written with Mike Campbell, and Building The Perfect Beast which was so not the Eagles, but was a stunning track utilizing all the modern electronic sounds of the time.

My favourite track though is All She Wants To Do Is Dance, which was written solely by Danny Kortchner and transformed Donny boy from someone who your parents liked into a pop idol. Of course there are still moments of pure Eagles like Your Not Drinking Enough, which could have been on any of their records. An album very much of it’s time, but still a great album and it proved that there was life after the Eagles – especially for Don.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

SMITH/KOTZEN – s/t

March 2, 2022 /

On paper this is a bit of a weird combination, one of Iron Maiden’s guitarists and Richie Kotzen together in a project would seem a bit of a clash of styles. But Adrian’s two projects when he departed Maiden (ASAP and Psycho Motel) were more of a melodic nature so maybe not to far apart. I am a huge fan of Kotzen, both of his guitar playing and his amazing soulful voice. Besides the two main men we have Nicko McBrain contributing drums to one track, and Tal Bergman drums to four tracks. Kotzen plays drums on the rest of the tracks, and bass duties are shared between them both.

First track in is Taking My Chances and I would say this is a Richie track – this is something that’s not out of place on one of his solo albums. Running on the other hand definitely sounds like a collaboration as both vocal and guitar duties are shared. Scars is superb with a great slow funky blues where both are playing off of each other – the solos are killer. Some People is a slow groove tune that Kotzen can sing in his sleep, and it’s cool to hear Adrian sing in that style. The very southern vibe of Glory Road closes out Side 1, with Adrian taking the lead off vocal.

Solar Fire starts with a Cream style groove with a great funky swing. You Don’t Know Me is an ok song that is lifted by the solos. Back to the southern vibes with the intro to I Wanna Stay, and Adrian’s vocals here very soulful. Till Tomorrow closes out the album in fine style with a very soulful groove and some killer playing. I hope they keep this going as it’s a really great record.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA – Out Of The Blue

March 1, 2022 /

Sometimes everything just aligns perfectly for a magic musical moment, and for ELO, this was it. Yes, they had some hits before this, but this was pure gold for them and it sold by the squillion. Jeff Lynne was now the only songwriter by this point and it was basically a solo album for him. The album before this (A New World Record) had spawned 3 hit singles with Lovin’ Thing, Rockaria and Telephone Line – and you wondered how the hell would they top that? Well, this is the answer – the best album they ever did.

This is a superb pop rock record from the opening smash Turn To Stone, to the equally massive Wild West Hero and everything in between. It’s such an enjoyable record that it takes you back instantly to where you were at the time. The perfect pop/rock record? I think so!

10/10 from The Grooveman.

BPMD – American Made

March 1, 2022 /

Sometimes records are made just so the musicians can have fun, and this is just one of those records. A coming together of some American metal friends to pay homage to some old school rock songs – given the metal treatment. Mike Portnoy ex-Dream Theater and a million other projects, Blitz from Overkill, Phil Demmel of Machine Head, and Mark Menghi.

Ted Nugent’s Wang Dang Sweet Poontang is first up and it’s not a bad cover with a decent solo. Toys In The Attic sounds a lot heavier for sure and it’s a fairly copycat cover. Evil on the other hand does sound really good and has been beefed up a lot. It’s quite easy to beef up old ZZ Top songs as they are quite simple songs and sparse, so Beer Drinkers sounds great. It’s not until we get to Blue Oyster Cult’s Tattoo Vampire that we get a song that they have totally given the metal treatment to – it’s the best song on the album. The only song that sounds worse than the original is Van Halen’s D.O.A. It’s not a bad attempt, but the original is just so damn good.

Like I said, it’s a fun record but it’s not gonna change the world.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

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