Rollins Band

Weight

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/1013918-Rollins-Band-Weight

Year Of Release: 1994

Review

I was eager to hear Weight after falling head over heels for The End Of Silence (the first Rollins Band album I owned). It wasn’t until a few years after it was released that I finally got my hands on the album though, as I was living in France for some of the time, and didn’t have access to a CD player when I returned to Australia. Weight is a powerhouse album – taking the listener through rock, blues, and spoken word, while dishing out some absolutely punishing tracks. It’s the kind of album that plays through well, but you can also take what you need from it without having to take on the entire load. I’m guessing it’s a result of my advancing years, but my favourite tracks on this album are now Volume 4 and Shine. When I first heard the album though, Liar and Disconnect were my go-to tracks, and I loved the message behind Civilized. The video clip for Liar and subsequent live performance of the song at the Grammy Awards in 1995 put Rollins Band on the map for some people (and absolutely freaked some other people out), but for Rollins Band fans, this was situation normal. This was one of my favourite Rollins Band line-ups, and I thought (and still think) that Melvin Gibbs was an absolute beast on bass.

I don’t know if this pressing is official or not, but they seem to be a lot harder to come by now than when I randomly stumbled across this one on eBay years ago. That’s thanks to the record label. If you can, check out Weighting as well – some brilliant tracks on there that didn’t make the cut but popped up elsewhere. Right Here Too Much was on the Disconnect single and it is an excellent non-album track. 

Rating: 8/10