THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: vinyl (Page 1 of 50)

AUTOGRAPH – Sign In Please

May 7, 2021 /

Pasadena California’s other great musical export, behind the mighty Van Halen. In fact, guitarist Steve Lynch was a good friend of EVH. This is Autograph’s debut album from ’84 and was a massive hit all over the world – it’s easy to see why. Right from the get go the emphasis is on great songs that rock, but melodies and catchy choruses are high on the list of priorities.

First song in, Send Her To Me, is catchy as hell and a great song. If that wasn’t good enough, second track Turn Up The Radio is even better – it’s big radio rock at its best. A monster tune with a huge big sing-a-long chorus, and it rocks with big guitars high in the mix. What’s not to like? No let up in the quality as Nineteen And Non Stop kicks in with an up-tempo groove and another stuck in the brain chorus and hook. Side note: Steve Lynch is a killer guitar player, and often goes unmentioned when talking about hot shot guitar players. He plays his ass off on this record! Cloud 10 has a very eighties keyboard intro and is the poppiest track on the record, but still a killer tune. Side close out track, Deep End, is a great stomper of a rock track. What a killer riff to drive it along, and again, huge chorus and melody. Phew!!! What a great first side.

Side 2 starts exactly where we left off with My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend Isn’t Me. What a killer riff to start with, and is contender for best track on the album. It’s impossible not to sing-a-long to any of these songs. The songs just keep on comin. Thrill Of Love is another great rack, superb harmonies and a great riff with a killer solo. Friday is next up, and has a very VH intro that reminds me a bit of Panama – once again, a superb melody and chorus drive the song into greatness. In The Night takes us to Journey territory, a slower paced track with yet another great hook and chorus. All I’m Gonna Take is the final track, and I have to say, every song on this album could have been a single. It’s that good! Every song has a big chorus and melody that you can’t forget.

It’s easy to see why America went nuts for this band, they were tailor made for the mid-eighties scene there. The songs are so well written and arranged. This album rightly deserves a 10/10 from the Grooveman.

MASTODON – Emperor Of Sand

May 7, 2021 /

Atlanta Georgia’s best gift to the musical community, have released their seventh full length slice of awesomeness upon on the world. Again, it is a concept album and a story about a desert wanderer who has been handed a death sentence. Interwoven into the story are real experiences of band members’ family who had been diagnosed with cancer, and how they were coping with treatments for the disease. Teamed back with producer Brendan O’Brien, who was responsible for Crack The Skye.

Right from the first note to the last, this is the most incredible album. Each song is epic in it’s own right, each is well written and played with fantastic arrangements. There are definitely no shortages of riffs with Mastodon, as riff-meister Bill Kelliher seems to have an endless supply. Also of note, drummer Brain Dailor has more lead vocal turns this time around as he is the most melodic of the three vocalists. Every song is killer and does not disappoint. Highlights for me are the mega-top-tastic, Steambreather, which has to be up there as one of the best tracks the band have done – killer riff, groove, melody, and great lyrics. Roots Remain, which has a beautiful middle breakdown section where the vocals bring goosebumps. Scorpion Breath, which has everything and is the heaviest track on the album. If I was pushed, I would say this and the next track are my favourites on the album. This rocks hard! Last track, Jaguar God…my god…what an epic ending to an album. From the acoustic beginning with Brent’s laid back vocal, till the heaviness arrives and Bran takes over the vocal, this track should be held up as a standard bearer of how to present metal music in a modern age. It doesn’t get better than this kiddies!

Yet again another in the series of every home should have one. Go on then, what are you waiting for?

10/10 from The Grooveman.

SONS OF APOLLO – Psychotic Symphony

May 3, 2021 /

Now, no one can accuse Mike Portnoy of being lazy. Since his departure from Dream Theater in 2010, he has been involved in 706 different projects and none of them sound like Dream Theater…until this one. Personally, I’m surprised its taken 7 years for him to make an album like this. I’m aware that he did the 12 steps suite with Haken and Eric Gillette as his backing band. He always wanted to do them as a whole with Dream Theater, and for obvious reasons that never happened. So if you’re going to do a Prog metal record to rival what you have done before, then you’re going to need some kick ass musicians right?

Bumblefoot is on guitar, and what a great and innovative player he is. Billy Sheehan on bass is a monster player in his own right. Portnoy’s old DT band mate, Derek Sherinian, is on keys. He was my favourite DT keyboard player as he brought the rock big time – I was sad to see him leave. On vocals, Jeff Scott Soto, who has been around the block a few times, and to me, is the best possible vocalist for this band. He has great tone and range to his vocals. I’ll get this out of the way here: I was a huge DT fan and have seen them 36 times, but over the last couple of albums they have been coasting and all of the creativity and challenging music seems to have gone. So, this album is a shot in the arm for me. To see Portnoy still wishing to push himself and create challenging music is a joy.

Gods Of The Son is a monster opening tune, and whether MP admits it or not, it’s a big F-U to his former band. This has everything and will blow you away. Coming Home keeps the quality very high, and has the bonus of a killer chorus and vocal from Jeff. The opening riff and groove to Signs Of The Time is just epic, and you can see that the main difference between SOP and DT is the melodies as well as Jeff’s vocal tone. Of course, the music is top notch and all of them are out doing each other. Parts of this song remind me of the fusion bands of the seventies. I’m drooling…and that was just Side 1!!!

I’m going to skip to the final track – Opus Maximus, but take it from me, every song on this record is just amazing. The opening instrumental section is eerie and doom inducing before exploding into instrumental heaven. There are a thousand different riffs and grooves to keep the fidgety amongst us happy. One hell of album! My only gripe about this record is that Side 4 is one of those pointless etched sides. Yeah it looks pretty, but when I’m paying $50 for a record I’d like music all the way please.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

WAYSTED – Save Your Prayers

May 3, 2021 /

This is a very different sounding band to the one that recorded their debut album Vices in ’83. Vices was a very British sounding rock album with gravelly voiced singer, Fin Muir. Fast forward 3 years to ’86, and America is the prime focus this time around. This is a very slick sounding record, and they recruited a very slick sounding singer to give the tunes the treatment they deserved. Unknown at the time, Danny Vaughan was a revelation as he breathed life into a flagging band. Of course he went on to form Tyketto and Vaughan to showcase his talents more with his own songs. He is not credited on any of the songs here as they are all Way/Chapman compositions.

This was by far the band’s most successful album and is held in high regard in the melodic rock community. Walls Fall Down is a great opening tune and rocks hard with a great vocal and guitar. Black And Blue and Singing In The Night are the next two tracks, and Journey was definitely the footprint for these two tunes as they are very melodic and the song is the main focus here. Hell Comes Home has that British/UFO vibe to it with a cool choppy riff. It has a great vocal from Danny showing what a powerful voice he has. Hero’s Die Young is the stand out track on the album and is the big production number. Slow build up with some great harmony vocals before the galloping riff and groove kick in. Great tune!

Side 2 starts with Heaven Tonight and this was the big single from the album (depending on which country you were in) and is an “all American hero” type of song. it has a super catchy chorus and melody – it’s easy to see why it did so well. How The West Was Won has that Springsteen vibe to it, and is the weakest song on the record. Wild Night is a kick ass glam metal tune and rips along at a great pace, with a great riff and a hard driving beat. Out Of Control has a slow dirty sleazy groove and is a nice change of pace. Album closer, So Long, was obviously written with a live performance in mind as it’s cigarette lighters in the air time folks. So what we get from this is Danny Vaughan is a killer vocalist, Tonka Chapman is a great player, and this is not a bad album.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

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