THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: music review (Page 164 of 479)

TKO – In Your Face

May 17, 2023 /

There was such a long period between TKO’s first and second albums. Five years to be precise, and a lot changed. The first album Let It Roll was okay, but not a patch on this record. But then again, a whole lot happened musically between ’79 and ’84.

The majority of the songs on the album were written with main man Brad Sinsel and young hot shot Adam “Bomb” Brenner who would leave before this album was recorded. The overall sound and vibe is an overdriven glam rock masterpiece, which the band would never match again. You listen to what came after them, and you’ll find that TKO were an influence for that whole late eighties scene.

Although, this band could metal it out with the best of them and tracks like End Of The Line keep the pedal to the metal and double kicks blasting from the get go with epic riffage to match. Chock full of cracking rockin’ tracks and if you’re  a lover of huge, fat, dirty riffs then why isn’t this in your collection already?

Run Out Of Town, Give Into The Night, Working Girl, All I Want To Do, man the whole goddam album is one big riff fest and one that I love dearly. Favourite track is a difficult one as I love it all, but today I’m going with So This Is Rock N’ Roll. The guitar sound alone is epic but couple that with an Aerosmith style swagger and it’s bonafide contender.

Without a doubt their best effort, and a classic of its time.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

ARK – s/t

May 16, 2023 /

Killer band who burned bright for oh so briefly and only released two albums, of which this is the first, released in ’99. I was a huge fan of Conception and loved Tore Ostby as a guitar player and when I heard he was teaming up with Jorn Lande to record as a group I was super stoked to hear what they came up with. I first heard Jorn’s vocal talents as a member of Vagabond, a group put together by TNT’s Ronnie Le Tekro after they went on one of their many breaks.

In brief this album is a monster record and if you like your progressive metal with a huge chunk of melody thrown in along side crushing riffs, then you should love this. I’ll go straight to my favourite track The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, this is one of my favourite tracks ever as I love how all styles come together to produce one epic piece. Jazz, funk, Latin, metal, and melody all collide in a burst of awesomeness.

The intro to Mother Love sounds like early Santana but revamped and improved for a modern generation of listeners. Jorn’s voice is superb on this one and John Macaluso is a beast on the kit. The staccato chugga grooves of Center Avenue sound so huge and make this one epic track. What a way to close out a record with Cant Let Go. A vast musical piece that that builds through varying styles and feels like the band’s Pink Floyd moment.

As I mentioned already, this is a superb album and you should really own this.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

HEAVEN – Where Angels Fear To Tread

May 16, 2023 /

I guess it must be something in the water in Australia that makes nearly all of the hard rockin’ bands from the land down under have the same DNA. Heaven were probably one of the least well known, having only released three albums in the early eighties, of which this was the second. It sees them tweaking their sound somewhat, moving away from the obvious AC/DC raw grooves and adding some Priest style riffing into the mix.

The album sounds a bit dated and that drum sound isn’t the best either, but overall it’s quite an entertaining album if you are a lover of that straight up no nonsense rock n’ roll sound. Highlights are opener and title track Rock School (which if the rest of the album had been as good then we would be looking at a possible full marks) which is a great fun tune that reminds you of early DC and Madness with an appearance of Glenn Hughes and Lita Ford on Bv’s.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

BEGGARS OPERA – Pathfinder

May 15, 2023 /

This is a nice change from the randomizer picking a Prog album. I have a love of Prog and I have quite a few, but for some reason they don’t come out too often.

This is another album from my youth. A friend back then used to play this all the time. It was the cover and the poster that initially got my attention as the artwork of the spaceman on a horse is incredible.

Of course, the big production piece on the album is MacArthur Park. The song was a hit for actor Richard Harris in ’68, but this version is a 70’s Prog masterpiece and is head and shoulders above anything else the band ever did. It’s the instrumental sections of the piece that are fantastic, as the lyrics and melody are set in stone. The other track that stands out is the title track Pathfinder. The twin guitar wah wah groove is really cool, and the harmonies are very reminiscent of Wishbone Ash.

This was recorded in ’72 so it does sound a tad dated with that flat drum sound, but I have very fond memories of this record.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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