Vinyl Review: "Sorry For Being Sexy" by Formosa

Sorry for being sexy

It's time to bring you into my process a little bit to help differentiate my regular reviews from the vinyl ones.

The vast majority of the albums I review are via digital promos, i.e. downloads, streams, whathaveyou and obviously, that's totally cool as you may have noticed how many have been posted over the nearly Six Years of Glacially Musical.

When the digital reviews are done, I'm sad to say, the records are typically streamed through my shitty desktop PC speakers.

As Glacially Musical isn't paying my bills, concessions have to be made and it's important to balance my life. This site is an avocation and a labor of love.

When we started the vinyl reviews back in 2016, it never occurred to me how different it might be listening to these bands' albums on my personal stereo system. If you've been reading the vinyl interviews, you know about my home setup.

LP Review: Self Titled by Hogan's Goat

Hogan's Goat

There's a Scottish folktale called Hogan's Goat.

Were you aware?

This was something that we didn't know about here. So basically, Hogan's Goat was this disgusting creature that was reported to smell just god awful.

Being compared to Hogan's Goat is actually a great insult, but here are with a band from Nashville (non-country) that's using this as their name.

They've even chosen to use a drawing of the goat as their album cover. This is where I think they've made a bit of a mistake. For black magic reasons, the goat has been used as a symbol in extreme metal for years upon years which have bled into decades.

Album Review: "Breakin' Outta Hell" by Airbourne

For the most part I try to approach these album reviews with some sort of journalistic objectivity.  Often I am not familiar with the band and have never heard the songs nor anyone else’s opinion of them before reviewing.  

This is not true of Airbourne, as I had the opportunity to see one of their famous live performances in August on the opening leg of their Breaking Out of Hell tour in Bergen, Norway.  (You can read my review of this show elsewhere on Glacially Muscial.)  So before the new album even arrived in my in-box they had already completely won me over.   

I went into this album already knowing at least the title track was top notch rock-n-roll.  The only question was would the rest of the album  live up to what I had already heard.  The answer is yes.

It bears repeating from my first postings on Airbourne, they are heavily influenced by their countrymen AC/DC.   There is no shame in this.  There is plenty of room in the world for more raw power hard rock anthems of this type.  As AC/DC sails off into the sunset, Airbourne, in every manner, is their heir apparent.  Fittingly, the album was recorded and mixed in Australia, and it seems to have harnessed the magical aura of Angus and the boys.

Album Review: "Remind" by Captain Crimson

Remind

Remind is the third offering from Swedish band Captain Crimson and their first on the Small Stones label. 

Set for release next week, there's nothing small about the sound you'll find here.  

Right out of the gate with "Ghost Town" you get pounding drums, guitar and vocals.

They're somewhat reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers melding into a heavier metal groove that provides the undertone of the entire collection. 

There's a lot of that funky sort of Texas blues in Captain Crimson's sound too, and it gives their tracks a boozy flow that keeps you wanting more.

Album Review: "As The Crow Flies" by A Rebel Few

As The Crow Flies

The past is something hard to fathom.

My entire life I have been obsessed with the idea and concept of time. Frankly, it's caused some serious issues for my enjoyment of the present.

Have you ever sat there during an event that you were waiting seemingly eons to attend? During my youth, there were times spent picturing myself looking down at the baseball diamond at Busch Stadium in anticipation of watching the Cardinals take the field.

We went to a game each year so it was a given that this would happen. That's how I contented myself during the waits, but then while sitting in those horrible red seats, the idea that this baseball game was only a three hour diversion crept in, possibly ruining my enjoyment, but who knows.

Album Review: "Hot Cakes" by The Darkness

Here is the first album by the newly reformed The Darkness in about 7 years. Apparently, they had broken up for about five years and decided to give this another go. Based on this particular record, I think we should all be quite glad that they did!

Recently, while reading the music section of My Les Paul.com someone posted about the greatest Les Paul tone in the world, and it was this band. Well, the curiosity's piqued and well, does this band really have a great Les Paul tone?

In a word, yes. The guitars are this album not only sound spectacular, but they were recorded expertly. In fact the production quality on this record is just top notch. It's always a wonderful thing when an album  has been recorded well because the listener only focuses on the music.

Album Review: Coverdale and Page (Eponymous)

I've decided to return to my series that I've unofficially been calling "Jimmy Page Through The Years," or "The Forgotten Years." I do still need to purchase at least one more album, and then I'll have all of the source material. I think in the end, I'm going to need to purchase two.

Continuing with my idea of revisiting much of the work that Jimmy Page has done between Led Zeppelin and "Celebration Day," we arrive at Coverdale and Page. I've never been much of a Whitesnake fan and I've always felt that there have been some similarities between David Coverdale and Robert Plant. I'm not going to say that he was ripping off Mr. Plant, but I think the similarities are too large to ignore. In fact there was a song that I heard over and over on rock radio that I thought was a Zeppelin tune, but it turned out to be a Whitesnake song.

We all know whom Jimmy Page is. I really think he is the most valuable rocker of all time: writer, producer, arranger, musician.  Before I gush too much, let's dig into this record, again with eyes unclouded.