Heavy Metal Resource Reviews-Lotus and Tracy G

Lotus-Complete Fruitage

Tracy G-The G Factory

From one of the coolest classic rock labels out there comes 'Complete Fruitage' from Lotus. This is the newly remastered version of their debut 'Fruitage'. Also on the album are some unreleased tracks.

Lotus gives you the sounds of the 60's with an updated sound that really packs a punch. Some of the tracks that caught my attention were 'Rhubarb City' with it's heavy crunch and Tull sounding flute mixed in. 'Avocado Eldorado' has that good crunch along with some cool percussion added in to the mix. 'Grin and Bear it, pumpkin' with some familiar sounding rhythms. 'Granny Smith & Wesson' which is a favorite and also previously unreleased. 'Seven Stars' is a rockin' number with a little blues sound. 'Tangerine' has a familiar Mountain sound. The album tends to take a bit of a psychadelic turn as it progresses. Go figure, they have their influences in classic rock. The unrelease music was a nice addition to the album as well.

I have really grown to like Lotus a lot. My introduction was through Record Heaven who is probably the top classic rock label churning out discs in todays market. This album is a very enjoyable listen for those who appreciate good songwriting and musicianship with a bit of nostalgia thrown in for good taste. What are you waiting for... get yourself a copy!

From the most ambitious musician in the business comes 'The G Factory'. Tracy G has done a very large amount of projects in his career so far. 'The G Factory' is definitely one of my favorites. Let me explain.

It can be summed up very quickly with the music being very energetic, yet very precise. The creative juices really flow through Tracy G as is displayed on this album. It is a mixed bag of goodies. The title track starts off in the heavy vein and shows a lot of punch. If that track wasn't heavy enough, try out 'Warped out'. Very fast and heavy rhythms, but has the precision I mentioned before. To check out the third track, you shift gears a little. 'Opus in Bbm' cruises a long and shows the technical aspects of Tracy's guitar style. One of my favorites is the very smooth 'Goodbye to Sao Paulo'. This track proves that mellow can indeed be very heavy. The track is fairly slow in tempo, but very rich in style. 'The Elephant' is another favorite. Nasty guitar sound to a very crunchy tempo. 'Blutodidit' is another exercise in guitar with some cool effects on keys. Staying true to the Tracy G style is 'Climb the Walls'. The album to this point has been instrumental, but that all changes with 'The many forms of evil'. It is more of a narration with some nasty guitar shred. The ninth track is appropriately titled 'Number Nine'. This track almost sounds like soundtrack material. Pretty cool. Slowing things down a bit and really showing how multi-dimensional Tracy can be is 'A Lil' Sump'n'. How about crunch to close the album. 'Sciatic Notch' closes the album with the fitting Tracy G signature style.

I really like this album. It is for the most part instrumental in nature, and really shows a lot of different sides of Tracy's songwriting. If you are looking for an enjoyable listen, get this album, sit back and crank it loud!