THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: vinyl of the day (Page 66 of 450)

STAGE DOLLS – Commandos

January 22, 2024 /

This is album number two from one of Norway’s finest exponents of AOR/ Melodic Rock. You can see why this album did really well in the US, because the whole vibe is tailor made for American FM radio. The production is huge and very clear, all the tricks and gizmo’s have been applied to give the songs that extra everything. There is no way that they could do this live. Well, not without help anyway!

Commandos (the song) is a quality piece of music with a great melody and hook, it was a huge single for the band. Young Hearts is another song that you can imagine playing in your soft top cruising down the Pacific coast highway singing along to the melody. My favourite tune however is Rock You where they mix the rock with the smooth, crank those guitars, and give it the full rock party anthem.

A very good album that sounds great.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

DIAMOND REXX – Land Of The Damned

January 22, 2024 /

Some bands can pull off the whole glam image really well, but others (like Diamond Rexx) look like a bad drag act on a Friday night bender. This album was Diamond Rexx’s debut album, released back in ’86 (on Island records nonetheless), and I really like it.

The production is quite raw and that works in the band’s favour as the guitar is nice and loud with the minimum of overdubs. Vocalist Nasty Habits has an Iggy Pop feel to his vocals and musically they are a glam version of Raven. Highlights are the metal romp of Cuz I Wancha; my favourite Up And Down, which has a nice solo from S. St. Lust, (*waits for everyone to stop giggling*); and the anthemic Rock Gun.

They were never going to reach the heights that they so obviously wished for, but their first album’s “let’s go do it” attitude is quite endearing.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

TESLA – The Great Radio Controversy

January 22, 2024 /

It’s been a while since I gave this a spin. You forget what a near perfect hard rock masterpiece this is.

This was album number two for Tesla released in ’89, Geffen must have thought they had struck gold with it. Hang Tough is such a great tune to open up with and then boom, Lady Luck with those huge backing vocals nips in behind. The dirty blues of Heavens Trail follows that opening, major props to the record company for releasing this as a single. It’s a great dirty sounding tune. Be A Man sounds as though it belongs in the Deep South instead of California. You can pick any of the first three as my favourite tune as they are all equally as good.

I won’t do song by song breakdown here because this is such a class album that all melodic rock fans will know intimately, but I will tell you the album has been certified double platinum and still gets squillions of streams. Class will always be class.

Tesla are still releasing albums with quality tunes and long may they do so.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

DIRTY HONEY – Can’t Find The Brakes

January 15, 2024 /

This is album number two from California’s latest exponent of retro rock grooves. Now, Dirty Honey has class oozing through every note and in Marc Labelle they have one of the best rock n’ roll vocalists around.

Don’t Put Out The Fire has a Stones feel to the proceedings with a very simple riff and that voice drifting over the whole piece. Won’t Take Me Alive is a funk tinged beauty, with hints of old school Aerosmith. That funk continues (albeit with a slower groove) with Dirty Mind until the hook and pre chorus rip it up. Roam is essentially a blues ballad and I love just the hint of a Hammond in there to add to the atmosphere of the song, and the clean tone solo is cool. Get A Little High is taking a lot of pointers from a few Zeppelin tunes, but that voice just makes them their own. A total change of vibe with the acoustic Coming Home that closes out Side 1.

The title track opens up Side 2 and it is my favourite tune. The tempo is high and the groove is rockin’. Satisfied is next up and I’m feeling a touch of the Steve Marriott and Humble Pie vibes here. Ride On has a cool, loose mid-seventies rockin’ groove that reminds me of so many bands. You Make It All Right has huge Zeppelin vibes, and the fade out track Rebel Son is pure old school rockin’ R’n’B.

Now, when you play this old school retro music it’s inevitable that songs trigger memories and nods to other bands and that’s not a bad thing, it shows respect to what came before. Very cool record!

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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