THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: music review (Page 371 of 493)

RAY GOMEZ – Volume

October 16, 2021 /

I’ve always had a soft spot for this record as I love Ray’s playing. I’m guessing most of you won’t have heard of Ray before, but in the seventies he was a go to guy for a lot of fusion and groovy projects. He played in albums by Narmada Michael Walden, Lenny White, and Stanley Clarke to name a few. So when I heard he was putting out his own album I was very interested. This album was released in 1980, and I managed to get a remastered version of this album on CD from the man himself – with a different running order. Anyhoo, Ray writes all the tracks himself, apart from a cover of the classic, Summer In The City. It’s great to hear a guitar player releasing an album with songs, rather than a purely instrumental album I guess he got to do all the widdly stuff in all of the other projects he was involved with.

Make Your Move is a great rock track with a great harmony, hook, groove, and some great playing. More of the same with next track, USA, and I really like the way this song swings. Waiting For The Big Time has a great funky groove and some killer playing. The side rolls out with what I think is Ray’s trademark tune, West Side Boogie – the playing is outstanding. Ray gives Beck a run for his money on this track. Killer groove and riff!

Side 2 opens up with Summer In The City, which I’m sure most of you will have heard of, but this version gets the full treatment complete with horns and everything. Love At First Sight is my favourite Ray vocal track on the album. It has an almost disco beat played in a rock style with a really tasty solo. The World Will Keep On Turning has Ray playing everything with a weird drum machine. The last track is Blues For Mez, and I would have paid the money just for this track alone. Some of the best guitar you will hear.

This is just one of those albums that connects and hits the spot for me, and I would recommend this album for anyone’s collection.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

TNT – Intuition

October 16, 2021 /

Only two albums after the awesome metal-ness of their killer second album, Knights Of The New Thunder, this, their fourth album is a completely different beast. Whether that was record company interference, or the band taking advantage of Harnell’s voice for a more softer radio friendly sound – I guess we will never know. One things for sure, this album raised their profile in the US thanks to the singles, Tonight I’m Falling, Intuition, and Take Me Down (Fallen Angel).

Now if you’re like me and love all things guitar, then Ronnie Le Tekro was something slightly different to the usual LA copycat crowd – his style and sound were like a breath of fresh air. He doesn’t get to shine so much on this record as the emphasis is more on the songs, but when he does it’s a joy to hear like on tracks like Caught Between The Tigers, which is trademark old school TNT with a killer riff and superb playing from Ronnie. Forever Shine On, a throwback to the older sound with a superb riff, killer playing, and Harnell’s voice and range is just insane. Even on tracks like End Of The Line, which is a very syrupy ballad but Ronnie’s solo is superb.

Still the same band, but changes a plenty. It’s hard to beat Knights as that was such a killer album, but I really like this album a lot and it’s still an enjoyable listen.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

ELTON JOHN – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

October 15, 2021 /

I remember buying this album like it was yesterday, back in the good old school days. There was so much amazing music released in that four year period when I was at high school. When I look back on that period now, it blows my mind that I was surrounded by such amazing music. This is hands down Elton John’s finest hour, as this album is just superb from beginning to end.

I love every inch of this album right from the almost Prog opening of Funeral For A Friend, to the beautiful ending of Harmony. I don’t care who you are, but any artist would have been proud of just Side 1 alone. The aforementioned Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Candle In The Wind, and Bennie And The Jets. I mean come on! Elton and Bernie sure tapped into something in ’73 – this is such an incredible side of music.

Funeral For A Friend (Love Lies Bleeding) is my favourite Elton piece of all the things he has recorded – it’s such an epic awesome piece of music that I love dearly. There are two other big singles on the album, namely the awesome title track and the rockin’ Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting. Nobody could touch Elton in his prime, and he had the knack of painting pictures in your mind with his music -that’s a gift not many musicians have. The record company must have wet themselves when Elton handed them this, as they must have seen dollar signs going off into the sunset. Elton has sold over 300 million albums throughout his career, and this has sold over 30 million of them. I would advise handing over your cash to be one of them.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN – Parabellum

October 15, 2021 /

It’s been a while since I bought a new Yngwie album. It’s not because he doesn’t put many out, on the contrary – he throws albums out quite regularly. It’s just that I can only listen to so much new classical metal then all the lines seem to blur. It’s definitely more of the same, except with one big change. He now seems to sing as well.

The opening track, Wolves At The Door, is not a bad track with lots extreme widdly-diddly to keep all his disciples happy, and not a bad vocal either. It’s the songs with vocals that are actually the best for me anyway. The very Rainbow sounding, Relentless Fury, is probably my favourite track as it’s him at his best. Most of the album is shred, shred, and more shred, with as usual lots of classical pieces interspersed throughout the record.

There is no denying he is at the top of his game, and no one can play this new classical stuff as good as Yngwie can, it just leaves me a bit cold after a while. Sonically, the album does sound a bit dead in place and I would have liked a bit more brightness, but overall it’s a good effort and he produced it himself. I am not sure when I would go out and buy another Yngwie album, but this one will keep me going for now.

7.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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