THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: music review (Page 414 of 493)

MEGADETH – Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good! (The Final Kill)

July 7, 2021 /

Now, quite understandably, Mustaine was quite pissed off when he put MEGADETH together and went into the studio to record this album. He was angry at Lars and James for kicking him out of Metallica without giving him a chance, and he was super angry with them for recording their first album with his songs. Well, that’s how he saw it anyway. The trouble with addiction and addicts is that they always blame everyone and everything else for their failings. It’s an absolute miracle that this album was recorded as all of them were out of there minds whilst recording and playing live. It was the same for the first three albums. I guess that’s why I love them so much – as they are on the edge of falling apart. It’s a fact that when Mustaine started to clean up, the music he made changed accordingly. He changed from a thrash innovator, to speed metal creator.

Anyway I digress, this album is the 2018 remaster complete with bonus disc with live tracks and demos. Last Rites/Loved To Death is such a groundbreaking track as no one had put anything like this twisted thrash down on record before. A ground zero track. The title track is another innovative piece with some serious speed double kick drumming and fast chugga chop riffing. I remember Rattlehaed being the fastest track I had ever heard at the time – and it’s still up there! Chosen Ones is just a monster of a riff to loosen up the dandruff. Looking Down The Cross is just pure evil, both lyrically and musically, and is a killer track. Now everyone knows that Mechanix is the Four Horseman, and I assume this is the vision that Mustaine originally had for this track, and as you’d expect, it’s sped up somewhat. A great twisted cover of Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots closes out the album proper.

The bonus disc is worthy of inclusion for the demo versions of Mechanix, Last Rites, and The Skull Beneath My Skin. I always think it’s cool to see how tracks evolved. I don’t particularly care for Mustaine as a human, but you cannot deny his hand in creating a genre or two, and I do love the first three Megadeth albums.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

KINGDOM COME – In Your Face

July 7, 2021 /

I could never understand all the nonsense surrounding this band with the comparisons to Led Zeppelin. Now, Lenny Wolf does sound a little bit like Robert Plant, but he also sounds a lot like Geddy Lee, but musically they are miles away. Imagine if Greta Van Fleet had been around 30 plus years, there would have been music journalists who would have had a stroke. This is a great album with killer production from Keith Olsen, it’s not polished too much, just leaving enough raw around the edges.

Do You Like It is a great opening track with just the right amount of melody and crunch – it was the lead off single. Who Do you Love carries on with a nice hook and chorus. The only track that bears a passing resemblance to Zeppelin is The Wind, with the long drawn out middle section – it’s a very dramatic sounding tune. Gotta Go (Can’t Wage A War) follows and is possibly the weakest track on the record. Side 1 closes out with Highway 6 and it has a nice blues acoustic intro before the big blues rock crunch kicks in – and we’re off and running.

Side 2 kicks off with Perfect O, a cool riff and some nice slide playing make this a cool track. Just Like A Wild Rose is a nice change of pace with a nice slow groove, and again, is quite a dramatic sounding tune with a killer middle section. Overrated was the second single from the album and is very AC/DC in its execution – this is my favourite off the album, simple but effective! Mean Dirty Joe has a great opening and has a nice fat riff to drive things along – this is a joint contender for best track. The album closes out with Stargazer, and with a title like that the song has a lot to live up to, and it doesn’t quite manage it but it’s still a nice song to close out the record. If I’m honest, the album does sound a bit dated, but I still like it and that’s what matters.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND – Joyful Noise

July 6, 2021 /

Thanks to the amazing Music On Vinyl for this great pressing of this 2002 release. Before forming the family Tedeschi Trucks Band, and before being part of The Allman Brothers Band, Derek had his own band. The feel is a lot more loose and groovy than both The Allmans and the family band. He is an incredible slide player, probably the best there has ever been, as he puts puts so much soul and feel into everything he plays.

The band that recorded this is a four piece, but the band would expand greatly with members over the albums they recorded. There are no boundaries or barriers to the music that they play, everything from blues to gospel, and from jazz fusion to Latin – everything is on the table. The title track is a superb groove fest in true jam band tradition. Each member has their own little piece, but the focus is always on Derek’s incredible playing. The amazing Kofi Burbridge is a huge part of this record as he had a hand in writing nearly everything – sadly he is no longer with us. There are many highlights throughout this record, but my favourites are the very Latin Santana-esque, Kam-ma-lay, which is just superb, as well as the dirty funky groove of Every Good Boy, and the slow jazz vibes of Frisell where Derek shows the true expanse of his talents.

I would recommend getting any of DT’s albums as they are all a great listen.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

PINK FLOYD – Dark Side Of The Moon

July 6, 2021 /

There is a reason that everyone calls this album one of the best albums ever recorded, and that’s because it is. The ground work for this release was made with the previous album, Meddle, as that was the first proper album where the ghost of Sid Barrett was finally put to rest, and the psychedelia with it. Of course it helps when your record company lets you spend all the time you want in the studio to perfect your music. I’m not sure an album of this magnitude will be ever made again, at least not under a record company banner. Maybe now home recording is much more accessible and cheap, artists might do it with their own dollar, but no record company will ever do it again.

People always look at Floyd as this great technical behemoth, but in reality the songs are quite basic, it’s how all the instruments are layered and separated in the mix that creates this amazing aural experience. The band produced the album themselves with the great Alan Parsons as engineer, and to my ears, it’s one of the great sonic masterpieces of the seventies. 11 pieces of music and 6 songs, every second is perfection. Of course, they were still a band at this point before tyrant Waters wanted to belittle everyone other than himself to take total control.

Most people would agree that Money is the great track from the album, with a superb solo full of feel and tone by Gilmour. In fact, IMHO, all the songs where Gilmour sings are Floyd’s finest moments. One of the great songs not mentioned too often is The Great Gig In The Sky, with the superb wailing vocal from Clare Tory, I absolutely adore this track as it’s full of feel and expression.

So I don’t need to tell you that you should already own this, if you don’t then I suggest you rectify that immediately.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

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