THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: vinyl records (Page 440 of 491)

ANDY TAYLOR – Thunder

April 29, 2021 /

After being a member of the mega star pop combo, Duran Duran, Mr. Taylor wanted to be taken seriously as a musician in his own right. That’s the problem when you are in a teeny pop band, no one takes you seriously. Duran Duran’s popularity was slipping somewhat at the time, and Andy teamed up with ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones to record this album. Now if you’re like me, you would be expecting a hard edged rock n roll album, but no. What you get is a very polished American 80’s rock album with tunes and melodies.

I Might Lie is a good rocking opening track, and Don’t Let Me Die Young could have been on any eighties soundtrack album. Life Goes On is a very syrupy cheesy ballad and not my favourite type of track. The last track on Side 1 (and the title track) is Thunder and it’s a sure fire ringer for Billy Idol.

Flipping over to Side 2 with Night Train, and it’s quite a limp track and has a weak chorus and melody line. Filler anyone? A very eighties keyboard driven Trembling is next, and it doesn’t seem to go anywhere – just round and round. Bringin’ Me Down is next and it fairs better as the chorus and melody are a lot stronger. See boys and girls, if you don’t have the skills to do a muso style solo record and you go down the tunes route, then you have to have strong material, or else what is the point? Broken Window again suffers from not being well written, and the last track, French Windows, is a rather pointless instrumental that again goes nowhere. So not a great record I’m afraid.

5/10 from The Grooveman.

KING’S X – Dogman

April 28, 2021 /

When I reviewed Out Of The Silent Planet, I mentioned that the first 5 albums are all bonafide classics, well this is the 5th album. It was also the first without long time manager/svengali type figure – Sam Taylor. The sound is a lot heavier and the vibe is a lot darker. The album was also produced by hot producer of the time, Brendan O’Brien, and he worked his magic well as everything is louder, clearer, and fuller in the mix.

I will not ever hide my love for this band as there was a time when they were everything musically to me, and as I have already mentioned – the first 5 still do it for me. The opening track and title track is a statement of intent of the album as a whole – the huge sound just engulfs you. The trademark melodies and harmonies are still present – just surrounded by a new found heaviness. I think by this point they were also getting huge pressure from the record company to give them a hit single, and Let’s Pretend is this album’s attempt. It’s a great song, but by now I think everyone knew they were not a singles band. The melodies, vocal harmonies and the dirty groove of Shoes is just beautiful. The slow soulful blues of Flies And Blue Skies is just incredible. The vocals alone send shivers down your spine. It’s just a really moving song. The dirty drop D funk of Black The Sky follows, and jeez what a heavy sounding track. The guitar tone is off the charts. The laid back tones of Fool You are next, and shows just how versatile the band are. Fat, dirty, and heavy grooves return with Don’t Care – another epic tune. Harmonies, melody and big fat tone. This is what they want!

O’Brien’s production shines through on Sunshine Rain, everything is crisp and crystal clear. The short sharp blast of Complain is next, and if I were an A&R guy at the time – this would have been my choice of a single, simple and to the point. The supremely heavy, Human Behaviour, is next up. Nobody else do tunes like this…and I mean nobody. This is heavy in sound, not in speed or thrash. The tones and the groove are just huge…and the ever present harmonies. Jeez this is good!! Then with a flick of the switch the mood calms down with the beautiful Cigarettes. The 51 second short sharp punk rock blast of Go To Hell comes and goes, before penultimate track Pillow arrives with that deep bass rumble. The final track is a great cover of Hendrix’s Manic Depression – and we’re done.

Things were never the same after this album. Sure, they still made good records, and in places they were freaking awesome, but to me, this is the last great Kings X record.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

ALICE COOPER – Muscle Of Love

April 28, 2021 /

This was Alice Copper (the band’s) 7th and last release. After this, the band would end and Alice Cooper the solo artist was born with the release of Welcome To My Nightmare. There was something genuinely sinister about the band in the early seventies, before the solo performances turned into a Broadway type show performance.

The album is represented in a plain brown cardboard cover to mimic the censorship of the top shelf magazines of the time. The band were actually on a roll up until this point as Killer, Schools Out, and Billion Dollar Babies were all huge sellers. This album was not as commercially successful as the others, but it’s still a great album – even though it did not contain the hit singles. Only Teenage Lament ’74 was released with little chart success.

The album does have its moments, especially on Side 2 with the title track and Working Up A Sweat – a nod to more basic times before the record company wanted all the shock songs. There is still a loose concept lyrically to go with the cover art, of sex habits of the urban masses. Fun fact: The Man With The Golden Gun was supposed to be the soundtrack to the Bond film of the same name, but they handed the song in too late so Lulu did it instead.

Personally, I prefer the band version to the solo version of Alice Cooper. I guess it had more of an impact on me when I was a kid.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

FREE – Fire And Water

April 27, 2021 /

The band that launched a million other bands, and a style copied by many. Formed in ’68, they burned bright for 5 years and disbanded in ’73. Kossoff went on to form Back Street Crawler, and would die in ’76 due to complications from drug use. Paul Rodgers would go on to form Bad Company with mega stardom. This simple little blues combo was how they started, and this, their third album, was one of the best. Rodgers’ soulful vocals, and Kossoff’s guitar were the trademark of the band, but they also had a killer rhythm section in Andy Fraser and Simon Kirke.

It’s hard to believe this album is over 50 years old, it still sounds so fresh. Opening track, Fire And Water, is a tour de force of the band’s style – a true classic in every sense. Fantastic vocal from Rodgers – a blue print for the blues rock bands that followed. Oh I Wept is a slow blues groove tune, and again lifted by the great guitar playing and vocals. Remember follows and is carbon copy (style-wise) of the previous tune. The absolute awesomeness of Heavy Load closes out Side 1, and it has a superb almost gospel blues feel to it.

The often copied (but not bettered) Mr. Big opens up Side 2. Killer song, killer riff. It’s such a simple song – but what a delivery! Don’t Say You Love Me is next and slows the pace right down. This song is all about the feel – with a stunning vocal from Rodgers. The album closer (and everyone’s favourite) is All Right Now. What can you say about a track this iconic?! This sign of a great tune is that it sounds as good now than when it was recorded 50 years ago. Yet another one for the everyone should own one bin.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

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