THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: vinyl records (Page 400 of 491)

EAGLES – Hotel California

August 7, 2021 /

Born out of Linda Ronstadt’s backing band, they were up and running immediately with the success of their first album – mainly due to the singles, Take It Easy, and Witchy Woman. This was their 5th album and would be the peak of their commercial success. It would also see the first line up changes, as Joe Walsh would come in to replace Bernie Leadon.

There is no doubt that the Eagles are the kings of soft rock, or more correctly, country rock. It was fashionable at one point to bash the Eagles as a figurehead for all that was bad and overblown about the music business. What gets lost on people is that they wrote some fantastic tunes that sold in there squillions, and you don’t do that by being terrible.

Side 1 is loaded with all the hits. The amazing Hotel California has that odd reggae under groove that leads off the album, followed by another smash, New Kid In Town, and if that wasn’t good enough, Life In The Fast Lane, steams in after that. I think I’ve mentioned before how record company’s load albums up on the first Side with all the good stuff – this is a perfect example of that. Side 1 closes out with Wasted Time, which takes the tempo right down into super ballad territory.

Side 2 starts with an instrumental reprise of Wasted Time before Victim Of Love. I think it’s safe to say that these are the tracks that people are not too familiar with – even so, they are still great tracks and the hardest sounding on the album. Pretty Maids All A Row is Joe Walsh’s first writing credit for the band and first lead vocal, and I’ll admit to having a soft spot for all things Joe. I really love the tone to his vocal, and this does not disappoint, it’s a nice slow groove that fits the Eagles brief perfectly. Try And Love Again would be Randy Meisner’s final contribution to the recorded output of the band, as this would be his last album and it’s pure country. The Last Resort is the final track and the big showpiece track on the album -weighing in at 7.25.

Just to put things in perspective here, the album has been certified platinum 26 times and has sold over 32 million copies worldwide.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

VANDEN PLAS – The God Thing

August 6, 2021 /

This is one of my favourite releases from the last 25 years, and it’s nice to see it get a release on vinyl, having originally only being available on CD. However, they have now swapped labels from Inside Out to Frontiers. Try to think of Judas Priest mixed with Images and Words era Dream Theater, and you would be close. The production on this record is exceptional, and it always amazes me how full and huge the instruments sound. The guitar sound is bigger than the biggest thing you can think of, and the drums sound so full and massive. They certainly know how to make a record.

The opening salvo of instrumental piece Fire Blossom that leads into Rainmaker is a freakin’ awesome opening to a record – it really sets the scene for the rest of the album. Every song sounds epic and grandiose, and vocalist Andy Kuntz sings for his life on every track. The ending of Day I Die is so huge and monster sounding that it will send goosebumps down your body. They definitely have a sense of the dramatic, and it can be heard in the opening to Garden Of Stones. It has a slow almost operatic build up, with a beautiful guitar lead in to the fat monster riff of the main song – it is really well put together. This is the format for the whole album, and the quality of each piece is off the charts.

If I’m pushed for a favourite track (and believe me, it’s so hard as they are all awesome) I would go for We’re Not God. The guitar tone alone is just unreal, coupled with the melody and the composition of the tune – its incredible. The band are huge in their native Germany, and I am at a loss why world domination has a eluded them.

This is 10/10 all day every day from The Grooveman.

H.S.A.S – Through The Fire

August 6, 2021 /

The only album ever recorded by this supergroup of the time. It’s always listed as a studio release, but the only thing that was studio was all the guitar overdubs. If you listen closely, you can still hear the crowd in certain songs that they couldn’t remove. This was recorded when Steve Perry was having voice problems, Schon was obviously bored and needed an outlet, and Sam The Sham would do anything to lift his profile at the time.

A very weird choice for the single with a Whiter Shade Of Pale, I get that it’s a cover and everyone has heard of it, but surely Missing You and Top Of The Rock would have been better choices as these are great tunes. Schon, as usual, plays his ass off and is obviously enjoying stepping out of his day job. Some of his playing is on a different level here, especially on Animation where he really lets loose, and on album closer, My Home Town, where it’s definitely welcome to the Neal Schon show! To be honest, he really rips throughout the album. Awesome stuff!

This is one of the few albums I can actually tolerate Hagar, and Valley Of The Kings is a definite highlight of the album. Everything is held together by a killer rhythm section of Michael Shrieve on the pots and pans, and Kenny Aaronson on bass. As a one off project, it’s pretty killer and it gets 9/10 from The Grooveman for Schon’s brilliance.

ARCHITECTS – For Those That Wish To Exist

August 5, 2021 /

This is the ninth album by the British metal core outfit, and the first that topped the metal charts on release. The band’s leader and main songwriter, Tom Searle, died in 2016 from skin cancer, and its great to see the band carry on and reach new heights. The album is a loose concept album based around the battles that rage each day between the negative and positive, and the way we treat things around us – especially Mother Nature.

I personally would love for social media to be taken away from the human race for a year to show them what an amazing thing it is. Anyhoo, to the music. And it’s a typical huge expansive piece from the band with a lot of bases covered musically and vocally – from the screamo, to the clean and beautiful. Some track highlights for me are Black Lungs, which has a great under groove and tone, Discourse Is Dead, which changes from supremely heavy to the beautiful and melodic, and the unbelievably epic and huge An Ordinary Extinction, which is my favourite on the record. It has a great riff and huge groove and vibe – a big shout out to drummer Dan Searle. Animals, with its big pounding intro and the subjective matter is really dark, a message for all. The almost pop metal of Meteor is as catchy as an un-named virus – this is what the band are really good at.

It’s nice to see a band that are this far into their career still trading to evolve and grow.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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