THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: music review (Page 138 of 486)

DREAM POLICE – Messing With The Blues

September 25, 2023 /

I’m not sure many people outside of Norway have heard of this band, which is such a shame as this is a very good record. You may have heard of the guitar player however, who is none other than Trond Holter who plays with the mighty Wig Wam and Baby Snakes, amongst others.

This album came out in ’91 and was the band’s second release, when the US had basically given up on melodic rock and melody in general. Luckily Scandinavia had not!

Look For A Lover opens up the album and man we are on a roll straight away, great groove and riff and plenty of Trond. Bad Bad Bad is next and it’s my favourite song. Such a killer tune with a massive hook and chorus, and boy does this tune swing. It’s ballad time next with Its Only Love. Great solo! Communication follows and the Extreme-style funk is on the menu. Great riff and groove, and they sure know to to write a tune. The hook and chorus are huge. Great intro to Don’t Let Go, and you will be singing the chorus for days. Brand New Car closes out Side 1 with some dirty blues.

Down On Your Luck kicks off Side 2 with some yeehaw slide geetar and man what a great hook and chorus. Superb! Some sleazy barroom jazz next with So Damned Lonely. Such a different groove but it works so well. In The Monkey Hour has that Extreme groove and vibe again. The main verse is sooo cool in this one. Woke Up This Morning is sure living up to the title of the album. Harmonica intro before the heavy blues riff kicks in. We close out the album with No More Lies, an acoustic country blues tune maybe not be the best way to close out a killer melodic rock record.

Great band and this (a part from the last track) is a great follow up to their first album.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

TOBRUK – Wild On The Run

September 25, 2023 /

The band were formed in ’81 and they released their first single on Neat Records in ’83, and it wasn’t until ’85 that this album appeared. I think with their association with Neat they were classed as NWOBHM, but in reality they were closer to Bon Jovi.

This is a very melodic album and for all the hard work they put in with touring they only had moderate success and splintered apart after their second album. If I’m honest, they were really unlucky. The songs are really strong especially the title track and Falling, which I remember did quite well in the UK and was played a lot on the radio, and the Lance Quinn production is perfect. My favourite track is Running From The Night, a great up tempo rocker which has American radio written all over it. A close runner for favourite is Rebound. A killer riff and groove and I love the guitar sound. I know you may think I’m smoking something when I mentioned Bon Jovi, but you should check out the close out tune Going Down For The Third Time. It’s very reminiscent of Jon and the boys early efforts.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

THE CULT – Ceremony

September 23, 2023 /

This is the band’s fifth studio album and the follow up to the awesome Sonic Temple. It’s also the one that no one seems to talk about, an almost forgotten record. Of course the band were basically just a duo at this point and hired hands were brought in to play bass and drums.

Opening track and the title track has huge Zeppelin influences right from Billy’s guitar sound to the Bonham style drums, but the bv’s in the chorus sound like Def Leppard. Ian Astbury’s obsession with Native American imagery and sounds is there for all to hear at the intro to Wild Hearted Son before the huge riff and groove kick in. Earth Mofo is a kick ass uptempo rocker with a great riff from Billy. White opens and the intro is classic Cult, then those huge Zeppelin vibes take over. If starts off with just Ian singing and a piano, and you forget just how good a voice he has.

Full Tilt kicks Side 2 into gear and that riff is pure Sunset Strip. Great guitar sound and groove, and I love the time change! Heart Of Soul was released as a single. I love the huge drum sound in Bangkok Rain, channeling the inner Bonham for sure. Indian is the big acoustic ballad on the album with no drums, returning to the Native American narrative. Sweet Salvation is a big power ballad in true hair band style. The album closes out with Wonderland, returning to more Cultish sounds and grooves. The riff and swing to this are awesome and it’s my favourite track.

It’s very interesting, just as other bands were dumping the polished hair rock sounds for earthier grunge tones in ’91, The Cult came out with their hair rock album. I think that’s down to Ritchie Zito’s production. I do love this album, and the vinyl sounds awesome.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

AUDIOSLAVE – Out Of Exile

September 23, 2023 /

This is album number two for the alt/grunge supergroup and a band and sound that fitted the amazing vocal talents of Chris Cornell perfectly. The band by this time had honed their sound into a 70’s classic rock/grunge hybrid that was so unique. I think Tom Morello is a killer player, but sometimes he should dump the squeaks and squeals and put something with feeling into the song instead.

Be Yourself is a superb track and shows again, when you keep it simple it can be the most effective, and I love the vocal so much. The band have this great ability to flick the switch and the groove just flies, and I’m sure this is from the Lock Up days. Check out Drown Me Slowly, which veers from a most beautiful delicate tune into this heavy monster groove. This album is a lot more laid back than the debut, but when they do rock it up, like on Man Or Animal, it works more for me. However. my favourite track is Yesterday To Tomorrow. Yes, a more laid back groove but the vocal and melody are superb and Morello is playing for the song which sounds killer.

I do prefer the debut, but this is still a good album.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

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