THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Tag: vinyl (Page 45 of 50)

WHITE LION – Big Game

January 4, 2021 /

This is the third of the four albums that White Lion put out towards the end of the whole “Hair Metal” thing at the end of the eighties right into the grunge episode. In fact, White Lion were one of the bands whose career virtually ended overnight by the birth of grunge, which is a shame really as they are quite talented and great musicians unlike bands like Poison who deserved to be wiped out. And in Vito Bratta they had an incredible guitar player right out of the Eddie Van Halen school of histrionics. In fact the VH comparisons are a little to close on Let’s Get Crazy, which is a clear rip of Hot For Teacher.

This album, although not the strongest of the 4, still made Top 20 on Billboard and spawned 4 singles – the most successful was Little Fighter. Mike Tramps strained vocal style is not my thing but it does suit the music well. Though its Bratta’s six string wizardry that holds the attention as nearly all songs have his stamp all over them, and the excellent production by Michael Wagner bring it to the fore in the mix. One other notable member of this line up is James Lorenzo who has played with just about everyone, and I do believe is now playing with John Fogerty. Other than the cover of Radar Love, may favourite track is If My Mind Is Evil. All in all a quite enjoyable album.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

THE RODS – s/t

January 3, 2021 /

This is the Arista version of the album as the original was called Rock Hard before they were signed. If anyone is unfamiliar with The Rods, they were part of the USA’s answer to the NWOBHM around the early eighties, and Dave “Rock” Feinstein was Ronnie James Dio’s cousin – in fact they were in the band Elf together. I remember really liking The Rods at the time mainly due to Feinstein’s guitar playing.

In classic power trio tradition, Feinstein handles lead vocal duties on all songs apart from Ace In The Hole, which bassist Gary Bordonaro sings. I guess they were going for that Ted Nugent style which Feinstein’s vocal suit, but Bordanaro is the way better singer. Nothing Going On In The City and Power Lover probably sum up what The Rods are all about the best as they are the stand out tracks. Heads down no nonsense mindless rock n roll. It’s still a fun record to listen to even though it does sound dated.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

ELECTRIC BOYS – Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride

January 3, 2021 /

One of the joys of reviewing my records by using the randomizer, is that I get to play things I haven’t played in forever. The Electric Boys were part of the so-called Funk Metal off shoot of the late 80’s early 90’s. Definitely funky, but they could rock as well. Saw them twice at the time and they put on a great show. No matter what genre of music, the Swedes seem to be masters of it all!

Kicking things off with the up-tempo Psychedelic Eyes, and straight into All Lips and Hips – this was the Electric Boys at their best. Front man Conny Bloom, although not the best singer in the world, has the swagger to fit the music perfectly. The only weak track on the album, The Change, is followed by the serious groove of If I Had A Car. Side 2 opens up with the funky anthem like Rags To Riches. My favourite song Electrified follows the Hendrix like Cheek to Cheek. The groove and the solo on Electrified is epic and worth buying the album for by itself.

Whilst I am playing this after all these years I am struggling to see why they never made it huge. They had everything going for them, killer production courtesy of Bob Rock no less, great songs, and great crossover appeal as the ladies loved them just as much as the guys. Maybe even a couple of years too late? Who knows. Anyhoo a great overall record.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

HAWKWIND – Quark, Strangeness and Charm

January 2, 2021 /

Somewhat of a British Institution, Hawkwind were called new age before it came fashionable. This version is the 2020 RSD double clear vinyl. More famous outside of the UK for giving birth to Motörhead – as them firing Lemmy directly led to the birth of that band. The term Space Rock was, to my knowledge, first given to Hawkwind as their imagery and lyrics were all about other worlds and science fiction – partly due to there collaboration with sci-fi author Michael Moorcock.

This album, believe it or not, spawned 2 singles. The lead off track Spirit of the Age, which is just a simple rocker, and the title track Quark, Strangeness and Charm, which I have always liked – with a robotic simple chorus by Bob Calvert that won’t leave your mind. The second disc is given over to alternate versions and takes.

I remember seeing them play live and the track Damnation Alley would extend forever in the middle eight section so all the hippies could trip out. Hawkwind would do that quite a lot as their gigs were really long. I always thought their albums were really out there at the time, but the years that have passed I have realized that is not the case and the songs are quite simple.

I am sure if Hawkwind had all the technology available to them from today, their imagery and themes would have blown peoples minds. Dave Brock is still out there touring as Hawkwind, or which other incarnation of Hawk he is doing, and more power to him for doing it.

7/10 from The Grooveman.

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