Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band ~ Letter To You

This is the first album that Bruce did with the E Street Band, since 2014, when he put out “High Hopes”. As Bruce & the band get a little older, the music seems to be getting more mellow. This does nor mean that it isn’t good, it is, but as musicians get older most get mellower with age. The band still has that E Street sound. This album doesn’t have that “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” sound, maybe closer to “Tunnel Of Love”. This is a hard one to grade, but I would probably give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Once again, the big man’s nephew, Jake Clemons is on saxophone. I probably need to listen to this more to see if I like it better.

Coming Soon…

Coming soon…reviews of Sleep Makes Waves, Decarlo, & Enuff Z’Nuff, and, Bruce Springsteen with more coming soon. Also stay tuned for the best of 2020 list.

Decarlo ~ Lightning Strikes Twice

This band is a good blend of rock & pop. It has a feeling of the 70’s or 80’s without sounding like somebody else. This is a good thing. They are fresh with a sound of something familiar, yet, not. “A Better Day” starts off the album with a nice pick me up feeling, then goes into “You Are The Fire”, which again had a familiar sound. The familiar sound may be that Tommy Decarlo use to be in the band BOSTON. It doesn’t sound like Boston, but, just as every Boston song has a distinctive sound, Decarlo does as well. Tommy is the lead singer of this band & his son, Tommy Jr. is the lead guitarist & also does vocals. Also in the band is Payton Velligan on keys guitars & vocals, Christian Sturt on drums & vocals, and Edward Sturt on bass. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars. As I listen to it more, it may change to 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Anthony Garcia ~ Acres Of Diamonds

Anthony Garcia Acres Of Diamonds is really well put together. While his voice isn’t my cup of tea, it is not bad vocals at all. The music is very nice & forms well into good stories. The first song “Santa Rosa” almost sounds country. Most of the album has that country flair to it. While “For Your Love” is the love song on the album, I like the title track “Acres Of Diamonds” better. To me, this would be the single of the album. I give this 3.5 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Perhaps more with listening a few more times. I look forward to hearing more from Anthony Garcia.

Lars Eric Mattson ~ Silent Night – The December EP

Man, can this man play some good music. I think that this is suppose to be a Christmas EP, but some of the songs don’t really seem to fit into this category. Everything on this is really good, just not really Christmas-like. For example “Funk Fusion X” is not in any way, shape or form a Christmas song. It is a good song, just not a Christmas song. If this EP is NOT suppose to be a Christmas release, it is an excellent album. Of course, there is a nice version of “Silent Night”…so…maybe a Christmas release. The music is awesome. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Michael Des Barres & The Mistakes ~ Live EP

This is a short 6 song release starting off with “Hello New York”. After that, they do a faster version of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”. This song is perfection from Marvin Gaye, in this case, I can say I didn’t like it. Next up is T. Rex’s “Get It On (Bang A Gong)” This version didn’t bother me like the previous song. It is certainly not as good as T.Rex, but, not bad either. The rest of the 3 songs are pretty much the same as the first 3. Included is “Detective Man”, “16 & Savaged”, which reminds me of “She’s Only 17”, and, last up is the “Rock N Roll Medley” which has covers of “Good Golly Miss Molly”, and, “Long Tall Sally”. Not bad, not great, but a bit of fun. I give this 3 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Ruthless EP

I don’t know if the lyrics to this EP are supposed to be tongue in cheek, but, some might think that it’s serious, others may not. The music is not bad, but, most of the songs sound the same. The 1st song being the different one above them all. That song is “Make America Hate Again”. There are 6 songs on this EP & some of them could make you chuckle, if you listen to it in a tongue in cheek kind of way. The male vocals remind me of a band named Flash & The Pan. The vocals of that band were not the high point. The female vocals were very good. Really good. The band consists of Eden Pearlstein on vocals, Jon Madof on guitars, Yoshie Fruchter on bass, Manny Laine on drums. Additional musicians are Elana Brody on vocals, Talia Madof on vocals, Greg Wall on saxophone, Frank London on trumpet, Brian Marsella on keyboards, Marlon Sobol on percussion. I’m not sure where I would put this…so…I give this 3.5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Deep Purple ~ Whoosh!

Deep Purple ~ Whoosh!

Deep Purple, going all the way back to the 1960’s is back again in 2020, with a great lineup of great musicians including Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Don Airey taking place of the great Jon Lord & the great Steve Morse taking place of Richie Blackmore of the classic Deep Purple lineup. Deep Purple have had a bunch of different lineups, but this one, seems closest to the classic 1972 lineup. This album is a great Deep Purple album. The first track “Throw My Bones” doesn’t even sound like Ian Gillian singing, but then “Drop The Weapon” brings back that Deep Purple sound. Everything is right where it’s supposed to be. The vocals, the guitar, the bass, the drumming & of course, that great organ sound. Don Airey really steps up on this album. The band seems to be having a great time with this album, & hey, don’t we need that in 2020? I give “WHOOSH!” 5 out 5 Music Guru stars. Get this album NOW!

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia ~ Benefit For Moogy Kingman Boxset

This wonderful produced box set features the music of Utopia for a benefit for founding member of Utopia, Moogy “Mark” Kingman. This 4 CD/2 DVD box set features 2 performances. One at the Highline Ballroom in New York, NY on January 29th, 2011. The other performance was at the Peekskill Performing Arts Center on November 18, 2011. Some songs do repeat themselves, but, most do not, and those that do, sound different than previous versions. These performances were done as a fundraiser for Moogy for covering medical expenses. The music is good. The band seems to be having a lot of fun. I didn’t get a chance to see the DVD’s but I’m sure they were done just as good as the audio CDs. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Give this a listen. I think you’ll like it.

Gosta Berlings Saga ~ Konkret Musik

This instrumental Swedish band is putting out a new album. This one is very laid back. I would almost call it New Age music, except it is a little heavier than that…but not by much. If you’re a fan of New Age music, you may like this. I like New Age music, but, wasn’t a big fan of this album. It’s not bad, it just didn’t want me to keep playing it. I give this 3 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Gosta Berlings Saga are Rasmus Booberg on guitars, David Lundberg on keyboards, Gabriel Tapper on bass guitar & Moog pedals, and, Alexander Skepp on drums and percussion, of which there is more of than on previous albums. I may need to listen to this a few more times to see if it grows on me more.