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A full review of Groove 1 courtesy of Hammond Beat
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Hammondbeat Review When my mate Alan O. told me about these guys nearly a year ago, I think he generated a fair(ly sizable) amount of friendly jealousy that I hadn't discovered them first! Alan's enthusiasm about his first time hearing Groove O Matic Deluxe (live) was simply infectious, and I loved them too and hadn't yet heard a note! Many, many months later, pretty much a faded memory, an email from guitarist Rob Booth brought those memories flooding back...with a vengeance, and I was biting the postman everyday (a trial date on that matter is set for February 3rd) until this album finally arrived. Why am I telling you all this? Because this is one of those exciting moments that Hammondbeat was created for! And I'll be damned if you don't understand that this community can and will get bands from across the street to places around the world!! So, now that the stage is set for Groove O Matic Deluxe to take a serious belly flop from 60 stories onto a busy New York sidewalk, let's get down to business. For the short attention span folk out there that aren't going to read any further (shame on you)...in a nutshell, I love this album and if you can track one down (they are nearly gone) I urge you to buy one immediately. My bootlegs should be available on eBay anyday now...kidding, Rob!...or am I? But seriously, when you order the Groove O Matic Deluxe, be sure to ask that it be shipped in a plain brown wrapper if your landlady is of a suspicious persuasion. First things first: with "Jungle Strut", "Mrs Robinson", "Mission Impossible", and "Starsky and Hutch" you've got serious makings for a homage album covering the covers of The James Taylor Quartet. Combine that with this debut being nearly all covers, it's an easy leap to feel the vibe set by JTQ's "Mission Impossible" album. But "Groove 1" is much more mature than JTQ's humble beginning, and while a debt may be owed to JTQ for establishing the trail, G-O-MD do not find themselves panhandling as some sort of knockoff band in the slightest. Second things second: what a broad spectrum of sounds and styles all on one record. I thought for sure that Gershwin's "Summertime" was going to...well, um, suck...and so totally does not suck. Phil Harris is mindblowing on sax, and while the rest of the band lays down a nice steady groove, Harris owns this song, as well as a good number of moments elsewhere, most satisfying perhaps on Ammons' "Jungle Strut", with a sweaty keyboard workout by Dean Baker, and dare I say it?...horndog guitar from Rob (ladies beware!). Equally groovy is "Blue Juice" by Jimmy McGriff, who is a constantly underrated B3 man...usually by me...what can I say, his sound engineers were terrible most of the time, but damn if he couldn't create great songs! On the other end of things Roy Ayers "Ivory Tower" is sultry vibarific goodness, just drug the kids and get the candles lit and you're off to the races. Super cool keyboard effect on "Turtle Walk". What the hell were they thinking? Admittedly this one made me jump out of my skin in the first few seconds. Absolutely hated it, but alas I've only heard about 10 versions in the last couple of years, and after I put my spleen back in and got the blood back to my brain it was all that afterall. I was not about to like "Starsky & Hutch", afterall that song belongs to JTQ (and I've got my flamethrower on order for the film in 2004), but damn you Groove O Matic Deluxe!, you didn't even try to make me hate you by ripping off the master, and went off and put your own stamp on this classic. Hand claps are definitely a nice touch too. "Mission Impossible" is so tricked out with an overdose of wha wha and double beat that I think the horror of the MI:2 score has now been magically washed away from the face of the Earth forever. Meanwhile, back in the nutshell, "Groove 1" is a licensing nightmare to be sure, but there is no doubt that these boys are prime to strike a half dozen originals and kick your ass but good. © Kahlil Breithaupt 2004 Re-published with the kind permission of Hammond Beat www.hammondbeat.com |