THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: music review (Page 408 of 493)

OVERLAND – Scandalous

July 21, 2021 /

Most people will know Steve Overland from his time with Wildlife, who for a brief time were managed by Zeppelin’s manager Peter Grant and were actually on the Swan Song label, and FM (the mildly successful British AOR outfit). Now under the Overland name, this is the band’s fifth release. Go on – admit it – you probably thought this was the first under this name. That’s because the melodic rock scene is so underground now, that unless you know where to look, you would easily miss all of these releases. Steve is joined here by Tommy Denander who is a co-writing partner and plays all guitars, Brian Tichy on drums, and Brian Anthony on bass.

Don’t Give Up is a standard good AOR song highlighting Steve’s great voice. Never Say Die is a more hard rockin’ affair with some tasty guitar from Tommy. Lost In The City is the first real highlight of the album with a really cool riff, groove, melody and chorus – it’s a really good song. Closest Thing To Heaven is ballad city, and the intro reminded me of Thin Lizzy in their quieter moments. Blackheart changes things up with a nice funky intro and groove. Again, great vocal and melody with some superb guitar from Mr. Denander. Side 1 closes out with Changing Times, a slow blues groove that builds to a killer solo section, along with some great vocals from Steve.

Side 2 starts off with The Trouble With Love, which has a funky Steely Dan groove and is a nice change of pace and feel. Diamond In The Dust has a very Bad Company vibe going down, and the emphasis is on the melody and hook. Nice tune! Testify follows and is another slightly different tune with an interesting groove and hook with a great middle eight. God Made An Angel is a return to ballad city with a slight harder edge. Joe Cocker came to mind here, which is more to do with the arrangement than the vocal – Tommy really wails on this one. Blaze Of Glory starts with a very southern country vibe, and then the power goes up and we start rockin’. Long Road To Heaven closes out the album. It’s the heaviest track with a monster riff that has an early seventies feel to it.

Overland and Denander make a great team, and this album deserves all of your attention. If this was 1986 this band would have been huge, but alas, that is not the case. I suggest you take a trip over to Escape Music’s web page and purchase this beauty ASAP.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

TOTO – Isolation

July 21, 2021 /

How do you follow up an album that was as successful as Toto IV? Well, in Toto’s case, you would struggle to even get the band back in the studio. At the time, there were problems with vocalist Bobby Kimball’s voice due to his ongoing drug problems. The problems really started on the tour for Toto IV, as a lot of shows were cancelled. When it came time to record this album, they gave Bobby the old heavo and recruited Fergie Fredrickson as his replacement. Anyone who knows Toto well will realize that as well as having a lead singer, they had Steve Lukather and David Paich occasionally singing leads on certain songs as well. Surprise, Surprise, Fergie would only last for this album and tour, as he also had vocal issues that caused huge problems.

Before Toto became a thing, all the members were high end session guys that played on squillions of albums in the mid-to-late seventies, and even into the nineties, so these guys knew how to write tunes. Even though Isolation never achieved the chart success that IV did, it was still a great album full of pop rock classic tunes, and the single, Stranger In Town, was the highest charting rock song the band had. Toto being Toto, the instrumentation and playing is second to none, and for guitar aficionados, Luke really rips in his usual style. If you love Toto -especially the more poppy side – then you will love this album.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

JOURNEY – Captured

July 20, 2021 /

When people talk about great live albums, no one ever mentions this, which blows my mind. This is a great live record that was recorded on the Departure tour. They were huge all over North America at this point, and world domination would elude them. It would be their next album, Escape, that would make them huge all over the world. At this point, Greg Rolie was still in the band and still got to sing the opening on Just The Same Way. It’s hard to believe that a few years earlier they were basically a jazz fusion/jam band. The addition of Steve Perry changed them for ever over night.

This live album is all about Steve Perry and Neal Schon. Perry’s vocals are incredible, and there is no denying that no matter how much people hate the band, Schon’s guitar playing is stunning. His tone has changed over the years and has got a lot more distorted, whereas here he is on fire and a lot clearer. There are some killer tracks and performances here, Line Of Fire, Dixie Highway, Walks Like A Lady, Loving Touching Squeezing, Wheel In The Sky…I mean the list goes on, great tune after great tune. This is a must have album for me.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

SAHB (without Alex) – Fourplay

July 20, 2021 /

I’m amazed that this album was ever recorded as there was so much turmoil behind the scenes at the time, with Alex’s health and money troubles. Alex was amazed to find out that the band were still in debt after raking in a lot of money from live performances. Alex had basically quit the band at this point, and this album was made as a contractual obligation. Alex would return to record the Rock Drill album. This album is a much more polished radio friendly record, that if released properly in the US with the right backing, it would have done well. Emphasis is on the songs and melodies, the lyrics are a bit cheesy and naïve, but the music is top drawer.

Opening track, Smouldering, has a great riff from Zal, and the chorus and hook are really fantastic – this is one of my favourite tracks. Chase It Into The Night is slightly different, with a great groove and rhythm and some great guitar from Zal. Shake Your Way To Heaven is almost a boogie, but has a monster riff and guitar tone – plus a superb melody and hook. The vocals are mostly by keyboardist Hugh McKenna, but next track, Outer Boogie, has vocals by drummer Ted McKenna. The start has a very Celtic feel, and then we have an almost fusion vibe to the rest of the track.

Side 2 starts with Big Boy with vocals by Zal – this is the one track that has the SAHB vibe to it – complete with big riff and short snappy solo from Zal. The groovy funk of Pick It Up And Kick It is up next, and was released as a single and I remember seeing this on the Whistle Test. Love You For A Lifetime is a big power ballad before they became fashionable. Close out track, Too Much American Pie, is the production number and a monster way to go out on.

This would be the only thing they would record as this line up, which is such a shame as this is such a great record and they were such a great band. Alex would be dead a few years later, and the band all went their separate ways. They would get back together in the early toonies with Max Maxwell as front man to play as SAHB, but with no new material.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

« Older posts Newer posts »

Archives

© 2026 THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑