THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: music (Page 337 of 454)

JEFF BECK – Blow By Blow

October 4, 2021 /

This album (and the one that came after, Wired) are my two favourite Beck albums. We are in the prime mid-seventies fusion experimentation era, and Jeff lapped this up. A switch was flicked and away he went with some of the most inventive playing of his career. Jeff is one of those players where as soon as you hear him you know it’s Jeff, he has such an original style and tone to his playing. A big bonus to this record was that it was produced by George Martin and it sounds awesome, the separation and placing of the instruments is perfect.

There are some of Jeff’s most popular pieces on this album, namely Scatterbrain and Freeway Jam, both incredible fusion showcase pieces where Jeff and the band really let fly. As well as these two tracks, I love the funk groove of Air Flow which has seventies cop movie written all over it – superb track, and Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers which is amazing and dedicated to Roy Buchanan.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

URIAH HEEP – Abominog

October 4, 2021 /

This is the 14th studio album by one of Britain’s finest rock bands. This was something of a mini rebirth, as their fortunes had been fading somewhat after the bands 70’s heyday. This was the first album after the departure of Ken Hensley, one of the originators of the band and a main songwriter. Bob Daisley, after his removal from Ozzy’s band, was brought in to obviously help with songwriting duties, as half of the songs were cover versions by other artists but given the Heep treatment.

This was one of the band’s most successful albums in the US, as two of the tracks: On The Rebound, and That’s The Way That It Is, both charted. The band’s sound was a lot more up to date and contemporary sounding with the emphasis on melody and hooks. This is one my favourite Heep albums, and they sound like a totally different band on this record. Great arrangement of the songs, great playing from all involved, and the production from Ashley Howe is fantastic. As well as the aforementioned singles, the other great tracks are Too Scared To Run and Running All Night. Both have great melodies and hooks with memorable sing-a-long chorus’. It’s also great to hear Mick Box let loose more on this record, as Hensley was taking more control and there was less guitar. Still sounds great nearly 40 years later.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY – No Cross No Crown

October 2, 2021 /

What started out as their main gig, over time turned into a project as the members went off and did other things. Pepper Keenan even auditioned for Metallica. Blind is one of my favourite albums from the early nineties. I was really looking forward to this album when I heard it was coming out with the classic line up, and it definitely delivers with a heavy doom vibe. There is a tinge of sadness as Reed Mullin passed on in 2020.

After the short intro, it’s the epic Sabbath-esque The Luddite that starts things off in great fashion – it’s a monster track. Cast The First Stone is even better with a freakin’ great riff and groove. I’m happy to report this awesomeness carries on throughout the record. My favourite tracks (other than the two lead off tracks) are Nothing Left To Say, Elm, and the very groovy Wolf Named Crow. Even in the quieter moments, like No Cross, the evil shines though. If there is one album that could be Sabbath in this modern age, it’s definitely this one. Great record and I definitely recommend it.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

BLACK SWAN – Shake The World

October 2, 2021 /

This is yet another one of Frontier’s put together projects so that they can get their love child (Alessandro Del Vechio) gainful employment, this time in the mixing process. I don’t usually go for these projects, but lately the quality has stepped up somewhat.

The band are Robin McAuley on vocals, Reb Beach on guitar, Jeff Pilson on bass, and Matt Starr on drums. The involvement of Beach and Pilson had me sold. Every song is a great slab of melodic hard rock with fat huge riffs and grooves with melody and hooks brimming over. Honestly, there is not a bad song here as everyone brought their A game.

Shake The World starts things rollin’ and we are off to a winner, killer everything, what a great tune. Big Disaster follows and has a different tempo and groove, but is an awesome track with added monster solo from Mr. Beach. Johnny Came Marching ends Side 1, and what a great beginning – although the song does remind me a bit of The Stroke by Billy Squier. Immortal Souls could be my favourite track on the record. It has a superb intro and great melody, and this would make a good choice as a single. It’s the dreaded ballad next with Make It There. She’s On To Us has an almost Native American drum pattern and groove at the intro, before we are back to more familiar territory with the hook.

The Rock That Rolled Away is the most rocking track so far with a great up-tempo groove and great riff. Long Road To Nowhere has a great harmonic intro, and again, we have a killer melody and hook -the great tunes keep a comin’! A lighter vibe and pace next with Scared Place and I could see this being a Dokken track. On to Side 4 we go with Unless We Change, and it’s a great up-tempo rocker. Divided/United closes out the album with a big power ballad. I get the message, but to finish an album with a power ballad is a meh from me. On the whole, a great album but minus a point for the ballads.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

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