FogBlueInSanFran
Well-Known Member
Oh cool! Ok I’ll think of a good ‘un.
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The Album Review Club - Week #141 - (page 1860) - JPEG Raw - Gary Clark Jr.
- Thread starter RobMCFC
- Start date
RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
Just a reminder that all Spring Break playlist song submissions should be sent to Coatigan and not me.
Coatigan has generously volunteered his time so that I can join in the fun this time around.
Coatigan has generously volunteered his time so that I can join in the fun this time around.
OB1
Well-Known Member
I’ll go for 7 on GVF.
This album is less Led Clones than some previous efforts but there’s still a huge scent of patchouli oil about it. They have a new album out soon so it will be interested to see if they develop more of their own identity, which I think Garden’s Gate is a step towards.
This album is less Led Clones than some previous efforts but there’s still a huge scent of patchouli oil about it. They have a new album out soon so it will be interested to see if they develop more of their own identity, which I think Garden’s Gate is a step towards.
threespires
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Well this has been an interesting one.
On paper I should pretty much hate everything about this. In thrall to multiple 70s rock tropes, overblown with pompous lyrics and a singer seemingly attempting to bring dogs to heel with his upper range. All very reminiscent of the kids in school with their stinking kaftans and greasy hair who failed to understand that a tie should be skinny and that their time was coming to an end to be replaced by the glories of ska.
And yet here I am trying to work out why in reality I have rather liked a lot of this.
It's patchy, obviously derivative in places and the lad singing often seems to be unable to decide if he wants to be in Led Zep, Rush or maybe even Slade but whichever one it is he's going to do it at 11.
However, it has an honesty and genuineness to it that is quite winning. For all the talk of rip offs it doesn't sound fake, it sounds like they are being their authentic selves at this moment in time which in turn gives proceedings a warmth and humanity. I actually thought some of it was quite touching.
I imagine the singer will over time add some subtlety, depth and control to his existing passion and commitment. Similarly as a band as they progress they will hopefully add more of their own unique voice and if they can marry that to the energy and feeling they already show, I would think they'll go from strength to strength.
Will be happy to listen to this again.
A wholly unexpected 7/10.
On paper I should pretty much hate everything about this. In thrall to multiple 70s rock tropes, overblown with pompous lyrics and a singer seemingly attempting to bring dogs to heel with his upper range. All very reminiscent of the kids in school with their stinking kaftans and greasy hair who failed to understand that a tie should be skinny and that their time was coming to an end to be replaced by the glories of ska.
And yet here I am trying to work out why in reality I have rather liked a lot of this.
It's patchy, obviously derivative in places and the lad singing often seems to be unable to decide if he wants to be in Led Zep, Rush or maybe even Slade but whichever one it is he's going to do it at 11.
However, it has an honesty and genuineness to it that is quite winning. For all the talk of rip offs it doesn't sound fake, it sounds like they are being their authentic selves at this moment in time which in turn gives proceedings a warmth and humanity. I actually thought some of it was quite touching.
I imagine the singer will over time add some subtlety, depth and control to his existing passion and commitment. Similarly as a band as they progress they will hopefully add more of their own unique voice and if they can marry that to the energy and feeling they already show, I would think they'll go from strength to strength.
Will be happy to listen to this again.
A wholly unexpected 7/10.
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Last call for song submissions to the playlist, and with the big match tonight might be mid day tomorrow I put the playlist out.
Most of the regulars here are now taking part, a couple still to join in, and we have 8 or 9 songs currently, almost an album length.
Via PM to me, rather than posting here.
Most of the regulars here are now taking part, a couple still to join in, and we have 8 or 9 songs currently, almost an album length.
Via PM to me, rather than posting here.
RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
The Battle at Garden’s Gate – Greta Van Fleet
I remember first hearing Greta Van Fleet’s From The Fires EP on Spotify about six years ago and being impressed. Here was a young band that wasn’t playing music that was hip now, they were definitely plowing a rich 1970s rock furrow.
I eagerly awaited their full debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, which I subsequently bought. And listened to, about two or three times in the car. It just didn’t make me want to play it any more than that. The playing was fine, the singing was OK, it was the kind of thing I’d have lapped up in the late 80s, but it didn’t call me back for more listens like other albums would.
I didn’t know how I felt about this nomination when @BimboBob suggested it: a band I’m reasonably familiar with, but for whatever reason, didn’t feel the urge to listen to this album when it was released in 2021 even though it’s free on Spotify. So much stuff to listen to these days!
The opening track to The Battle at Garden’s Gate is absolutely terrific: that rising organ sound in the chorus, some nice acoustic interludes and great vocals from Jake Kiszka. Similarly, “My Way, Soon” is a great slice of rock.
There are some superb pieces of musicianship on this album – e.g. “Broken Bells”, which is an average song at best, is elevated by a guitar solo towards the end.
But by the time “Age of Machine” hoves into view, I’m getting a little weary of Jake Kiszka’s screeching … and there’s still another 7 songs to go at this point. Yikes! The Hotel California-lite introduction to “Tears of Rain” is quickly interrupted by Kiszka’s vocals.
I like the chunky guitar sound on “Caravel”, and while “The Barbarians” wails on for a bit, there’s some nice eastern-flavoured guitar at the end.
The last two tracks are two of the best on the album because I like epic tracks. “Trip the Light Fantastic” has some fabulous uplifting backing vocals and the instrumental textures feel just right. “The Weight of Dreams” is one of those long-form songs that I love: starts slowly with a bit of acoustic and builds nicely. The guitar solo in this is the definition of epic.
Thanks to @OB1 and others, I now have a better appreciation of Led Zeppelin from these threads, and it’s obvious that Greta Van Fleet are a LZ clone. Nothing wrong with that because they are writing their own material and I’d rather hear this type of stuff than a load of 70s covers.
As a result of this nomination, I’ve gone back and listened to the From The Fires EP and the Anthem of the Peaceful Army album, and I’ve come to the conclusion that The Battle at Garden’s Gate is the best of the three. But it’s not perfect.
As I’ve mentioned, I love Rush and don’t mind Geddy Lee’s vocals, but I think in Rush’s case, the songs and arrangements are far more interesting, and Lee’s voice becomes less of a problem set against this backdrop. But there were times on this album that Jake Kiszka’s vocal were a problem for me. There is some excellent guitar work on display here, and although the songs are missing those great hooks, there’s enough to appreciate, yet the whole thing feels like less than the sum of its parts and even I can’t explain why.
Tough to score. I did like a lot of it, but there’s too many average songs that hold me back from giving it more than 7/10.
I remember first hearing Greta Van Fleet’s From The Fires EP on Spotify about six years ago and being impressed. Here was a young band that wasn’t playing music that was hip now, they were definitely plowing a rich 1970s rock furrow.
I eagerly awaited their full debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, which I subsequently bought. And listened to, about two or three times in the car. It just didn’t make me want to play it any more than that. The playing was fine, the singing was OK, it was the kind of thing I’d have lapped up in the late 80s, but it didn’t call me back for more listens like other albums would.
I didn’t know how I felt about this nomination when @BimboBob suggested it: a band I’m reasonably familiar with, but for whatever reason, didn’t feel the urge to listen to this album when it was released in 2021 even though it’s free on Spotify. So much stuff to listen to these days!
The opening track to The Battle at Garden’s Gate is absolutely terrific: that rising organ sound in the chorus, some nice acoustic interludes and great vocals from Jake Kiszka. Similarly, “My Way, Soon” is a great slice of rock.
There are some superb pieces of musicianship on this album – e.g. “Broken Bells”, which is an average song at best, is elevated by a guitar solo towards the end.
But by the time “Age of Machine” hoves into view, I’m getting a little weary of Jake Kiszka’s screeching … and there’s still another 7 songs to go at this point. Yikes! The Hotel California-lite introduction to “Tears of Rain” is quickly interrupted by Kiszka’s vocals.
I like the chunky guitar sound on “Caravel”, and while “The Barbarians” wails on for a bit, there’s some nice eastern-flavoured guitar at the end.
The last two tracks are two of the best on the album because I like epic tracks. “Trip the Light Fantastic” has some fabulous uplifting backing vocals and the instrumental textures feel just right. “The Weight of Dreams” is one of those long-form songs that I love: starts slowly with a bit of acoustic and builds nicely. The guitar solo in this is the definition of epic.
Thanks to @OB1 and others, I now have a better appreciation of Led Zeppelin from these threads, and it’s obvious that Greta Van Fleet are a LZ clone. Nothing wrong with that because they are writing their own material and I’d rather hear this type of stuff than a load of 70s covers.
As a result of this nomination, I’ve gone back and listened to the From The Fires EP and the Anthem of the Peaceful Army album, and I’ve come to the conclusion that The Battle at Garden’s Gate is the best of the three. But it’s not perfect.
As I’ve mentioned, I love Rush and don’t mind Geddy Lee’s vocals, but I think in Rush’s case, the songs and arrangements are far more interesting, and Lee’s voice becomes less of a problem set against this backdrop. But there were times on this album that Jake Kiszka’s vocal were a problem for me. There is some excellent guitar work on display here, and although the songs are missing those great hooks, there’s enough to appreciate, yet the whole thing feels like less than the sum of its parts and even I can’t explain why.
Tough to score. I did like a lot of it, but there’s too many average songs that hold me back from giving it more than 7/10.
BlueHammer85
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- Joined
- 13 Oct 2010
- Messages
- 36,013
Dam it. Another album that completely grew on me and that I simply have to credit a lot. Seems along time ago I gave any Album a Bimbo seeing too
At first listen I thought it was all abit overblown, whilst I don’t like others being critical of vocals every-time at first I agree, the Geddy Lee screeching took some getting used too - however music would be boring if every vocalist sounded like Adam Lambert.
Definitely a lot of Led Zep and 80’s power rock combined here - It’s interesting a band can pull this off nowadays but it works.
So many great tracks - ‘Age Of Machine’ with an awesome riff, haunting crashing sound and solo.best one on here.
‘Light My Love’ the one that sticks the most. A big love power ballad. Nice strings.
‘Weight of drums’ - another massive sounding song and really takes off after the 5 min mark - the guitar solos, the drums, the whole musicianship is superb.
Sure some talent in that band, I saw on a couple of their videos the solo guitarist also playing the piano.
for a full listen it can be a bit too much personally- so overblown and epic without much break, hence British Indie/Rock is more my type of thing.
But overall it’s hard to fault this, so many good tracks,big crashing guitars yet holding the melodies, drums, strings and other sounds all in the mix.
Impressed.
8/10
At first listen I thought it was all abit overblown, whilst I don’t like others being critical of vocals every-time at first I agree, the Geddy Lee screeching took some getting used too - however music would be boring if every vocalist sounded like Adam Lambert.
Definitely a lot of Led Zep and 80’s power rock combined here - It’s interesting a band can pull this off nowadays but it works.
So many great tracks - ‘Age Of Machine’ with an awesome riff, haunting crashing sound and solo.best one on here.
‘Light My Love’ the one that sticks the most. A big love power ballad. Nice strings.
‘Weight of drums’ - another massive sounding song and really takes off after the 5 min mark - the guitar solos, the drums, the whole musicianship is superb.
Sure some talent in that band, I saw on a couple of their videos the solo guitarist also playing the piano.
for a full listen it can be a bit too much personally- so overblown and epic without much break, hence British Indie/Rock is more my type of thing.
But overall it’s hard to fault this, so many good tracks,big crashing guitars yet holding the melodies, drums, strings and other sounds all in the mix.
Impressed.
8/10
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journolud
Well-Known Member
I've struggled for time a bit his week so the listens to this have mainly been incidental to doing other staff at the same time or driving and I'm not sure that constantly interrupting an album is the best way to get the full flavour of it.
One thing I can say is that I've had some quite mixed reactions to it and the worst of these have been triggered by the obvious. Musically there have been moments I've found it pretty engaging although it has to be said that it isn't my usual type of music and on some of my car journeys I've been itching to put on something that suited me better.
The Rush comparisons are most obvious to me, especially with the vocals but there were occasions where it sounded like Led Zeppelin had gatecrashed the studio. All but the first Zeppelin album by the way were deleted rom my download library when I had a cull some time ago (although for overblow grandiosity I will go to the live album The Song Remains the Same from time to time and I do have good memories of seeing them at Knebworth in gods knows when) and I only have one Rush album. As Rob says above, so much to listen to.
The vocals. These are OK when he's not overdoing it. But when he does it's a difficult listen. No, it's horrible and a real spoiler for me. It's unlikely though that even if he had reined in his worst excesses that I'd be blown away by it. Not unlistenable on the whole by any stretch and some of the music is really well put together but not enough in it for me to give more than a 6
One thing I can say is that I've had some quite mixed reactions to it and the worst of these have been triggered by the obvious. Musically there have been moments I've found it pretty engaging although it has to be said that it isn't my usual type of music and on some of my car journeys I've been itching to put on something that suited me better.
The Rush comparisons are most obvious to me, especially with the vocals but there were occasions where it sounded like Led Zeppelin had gatecrashed the studio. All but the first Zeppelin album by the way were deleted rom my download library when I had a cull some time ago (although for overblow grandiosity I will go to the live album The Song Remains the Same from time to time and I do have good memories of seeing them at Knebworth in gods knows when) and I only have one Rush album. As Rob says above, so much to listen to.
The vocals. These are OK when he's not overdoing it. But when he does it's a difficult listen. No, it's horrible and a real spoiler for me. It's unlikely though that even if he had reined in his worst excesses that I'd be blown away by it. Not unlistenable on the whole by any stretch and some of the music is really well put together but not enough in it for me to give more than a 6
OB1
Well-Known Member
Some really good, objective reviews there, guys.
Wish I had time to write more.
Got to comment on the Rush comparisons, which I don't really see aside from the obvious hard rock band with a vocalsist who likes the upper register. Fog mentioned Rush's first album but that is a different kettle of drums.
JK's phrasing is not Geddy like, it is Plant like. And I don't love his vocals but I don't dislike them either. He definitely has a set of pipes but he needs to bring more warmth to his singing.
The individual musicianship is not in the style Peart or Lifeson or Lee, the song structures are not very Rush like.
The Zeplike touches do still abound but I don't consider them a rip-off or fake, just inspired by.
Wish I had time to write more.
Got to comment on the Rush comparisons, which I don't really see aside from the obvious hard rock band with a vocalsist who likes the upper register. Fog mentioned Rush's first album but that is a different kettle of drums.
JK's phrasing is not Geddy like, it is Plant like. And I don't love his vocals but I don't dislike them either. He definitely has a set of pipes but he needs to bring more warmth to his singing.
The individual musicianship is not in the style Peart or Lifeson or Lee, the song structures are not very Rush like.
The Zeplike touches do still abound but I don't consider them a rip-off or fake, just inspired by.
GornikDaze
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- Joined
- 9 Jul 2012
- Messages
- 9,423
Happy to see that in general this has been pretty well received. As I previously mentioned I got into GVF during lock down and I really love this album.
The vocal is not an issue for me, Led Zep I get, but Geddy Lee/Rush and Anderson/Yes comparisons have never struck me before.
The overall sound the band create is what really impressed me from the start. Great guitar and keyboard work always hits the mark with me. A solid 9/10 and back to the drawing board with my next nomination!
The vocal is not an issue for me, Led Zep I get, but Geddy Lee/Rush and Anderson/Yes comparisons have never struck me before.
The overall sound the band create is what really impressed me from the start. Great guitar and keyboard work always hits the mark with me. A solid 9/10 and back to the drawing board with my next nomination!