THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: music review (Page 277 of 480)

BAD ENGLISH – s/t

May 27, 2022 /

This project existed after Journey took an indefinite break. If you ever wanted to know what a full Journey/Baby’s collaboration sounded like, then this is for you. A very similar band to Journey but with a more gutsy sound.

The album opens up with an absolute monster of a tune with Best Of What I’ve Got. Killer riff and groove and a superb hook and chorus. Man what a great tune. As usual it’s the ballads that get all the attention as When I See You Smile was a huge hit for the band, and there are 5 more on the record. I don’t mind one or two, but 5?! It’s a shame, as this band can rock like on the opening track, Ready When You Are, and on Forget Me Not, Rockin’ Horse and Lay Down – they are all crowd pleasers.

As we all know, Neal Schon is a great player, and he lets loose all over this record. I would have bought this album just for Best Of What I’ve Got – even with ballad overload it’s still a great album.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

LED ZEPPELIN – Coda

May 27, 2022 /

This is basically a bits and pieces album of leftover tracks throughout their career, and was released two years after they disbanded. It consists of eight tracks and two covers, the first of which, We’re Gonna Groove by Ben E King, is superb and this is what they did best – taking an old standard and making it their own. Poor Tom is killer just to hear that floor tom groove by Bonham, and you realize what a great drummer he was. I Can’t Quit You Baby is a tad sloppy, but Plant’s vocals are on the money. Walter’s Walk is all about the groove and the backbeat. Ozone Baby is a very average tune, and I can see how it was a leftover. Darlene is a good tune with a great groove, and is the only full band composition on this release. Bongo’s Montreux is a drum solo?! I think another track would have been more worth it here than a drum solo. The album closes out with Wearing And Tearing, and it’s a fun little fast blues groove and riff. It’s an ok album but nothing special.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

HALFORD – Resurrection

May 26, 2022 /

Having left Priest to pursue other musical adventures (namely Fight, a very Pantera influenced groove metal combo, and 2wo an electronic industrial unit), Uncle Rob thought it was the right time to comeback as the saviour of heavy metal with Halford.

This is the first fruit of those labours, Resurrection released in 2000. To be fair, it’s a really good album and it’s Priest 2.0. I’m sure if he’d have sat down with the Priest guys and said, “do you mind if I did some side projects and stayed the singer of the band?” I’m sure that would have been a goer. Instead, it all got weird and ugly.

There is not a bad song on the record – it’s an old school metal record on steroids. From killer uptempo monsters like the title track, Made In Hell, Cyberworld, and Drive, to the more traditional head groovers like Locked And Loaded, The One You Love To Hate, and stompers like Temptation – this is the best Judas Priest album they never made – it was only a matter of time before the inevitable reunion happened.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

ROBERT PLANT – The Principle Of Moments

May 26, 2022 /

This was old Percy’s second solo outing after leaving the behemoth that was Led Zeppelin. This album gave him his biggest solo hit with Big Log, which has that haunting old blues riff with the chorus effect, along and Robert’s superb vocal. It’s quite a simple song but so effective. The rest of the album is Robert trying his hardest to be as far away as possible from Zeppelin.

Messin’ With The Mekon flirts between reggae and 80’s synth pop, Wreckless Love is very Talking Heads as they were becoming flavour of the month at this time, Thru With The Two Step dipped its toe into the blues with a superb solo from Robbie Blunt.

Big Log is such an obvious choice as favourite track because it’s the best track on the album. All credit to him for keeping as far away from the obvious, and he has made some good albums as a solo artist.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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