Rush: Rush Through Time (Mercury/1982)

Rush have always been a very divisive band amongst music fans and musicians alike. Aside from their most accessible singles, I have never really been much of a fan of this band's extensive catalog. The band, as musicians, are very capable and have no problem reminding the listener of this fact. Their drummer Neil Peart, who also serves as the bands' primary lyricist, does not subscribe to the less-is-more philosophy. He is a great drummer, but his tendency to overplay undercuts any notion of feel or soulfulness. Bassist Geddy Lee is the front man and lead vocalist. His voice has always been something of an acquired taste, or rather when he raises his voice to a high-pitch (ala Robert Plant) it can become unpleasant. Otherwise, he's fine. Guitarist Alex Lifeson is a fairly traditional bluesy, hard rock player and is capable of many nice lead runs. The "progressive" tag seems to exist more for the tricky chord progressions than the overall oeuvre of the majority of their back catalog. Like Cream or Led Zeppelin - two of the bands' bigger initial influences - the bands' greatest strength is their interaction musically.

Rush Through Time was first released without the band's knowledge or consent, as a picture disc in 1979 for the German market. It was then reissued in a traditional sleeve in 1982 in Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico and New Zealand. It contains selections from the Fly By Night, Caress Of Steel, 2112 and A Farewell To Kings albums. Standout tracks include "Fly By Night", "Closer To The Heart", "The Twilight Zone" and "Bastille Day". If you're a fan of Rush, this piece of vinyl would make for a nice little addition to your collection. Otherwise, it's something of an okay, if randomly representative collection that, if you're a Rush fan, perhaps doesn't amount to anything more than just product.

Here's the video review:

The Clash: Black Market Clash EP (Epic/1980)

The Clash have been dubbed "The Only Band That Matters". Coming from the original UK punk scene, The Clash were an important band, both genuinely and superficially. I often wonder what a modern audience would make of the Clash now. They were as impassioned as they were insufferable and they cared as much about "the message" as they did their well-groomed image. They have always been one of my favorite bands, but I've always been able see both sides of them. Their documentary Westway To The World was as riveting as it was revisionist (the band curiously failed to even mention the last three years of its' history). The band released twenty singles and six albums in only eight years time.

Black Market Clash was a 10" EP released as part of Epic's Nu Disk series. Nu Disk was a brief series of 10" EP's released in 1980 (other notable acts to be part of the series are Cheap Trick and Gary Glitter). It's a collections of singles, B-sides, dubs and outtakes. "Capital Radio" and "Bankrobber" were both single A-Sides (the latter in an extended dub-form), "Cheat" is from the UK version of their self-titled debut album, "Time is Tight" is a cover of a Booker T & The MGs song and the remaining tracks were UK-only B-Sides.

 Black Market Clash was released right before the triple-album Sandinista!. All of these tracks were assembled on CD as Super Black Market Clash in the mid 90's.I personally like 10" vinyl records so I'll go out on a limb and say, sure, why not, buy it. It's a nice little fill-the-gaps release.

Here's The Video Review:

The Big Sounds Of The Drags! (Capitol Records/1963)

In the early 1960's drag racing/hot rodding was wildly popular in Southern California. Also wildly culturally popular was Surf Rock. Eventually out of Surf Music, grew Hot Rod music (i.e. Dick Dale & His Deltones, The Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, etc.). That is, surf rock with lyrics pertaining to Hot Rods and Hot Rod culture. The Big Sounds Of The Drags! is not Hot Rod music per se. It is a spoken word album with a narrator who introduces the album followed by the sounds of drag racers, drag-racing and, for authenticity purposes, a race announcer off in the distance.

Released in October of 1963, The Big Sound Of The Drags! was produced by Jim Economidies (responsible for plenty of early/mid 60's surf rock records). It was the first in a series of five in Captiol's "Big Sound Series" (the other four being The Big Sounds Of The Sports Cars, The Big Sounds Of The Drag Boats, The Big Sounds Of The Go Karts! and The Big Sounds Of The Drags Volume Two). The Drags was the most successful selling over 100,000 copies (in just six months).

The sounds of revving car engines is oddly therapeutic/soothing. And I can imagine one falling asleep soundly to the long-droning sounds. The album is about twenty-eight minutes long. It's really a strange little 1960's pop culture artifact. If you're a fan of hod rod/racing or spoken word albums you'll most-likely love this slab of vinyl. Otherwise I'm not sure who to recommend this to. I personally enjoyed it in all its proto-ambient charming drone-glory..

Here's the video review:

The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations: Best Of The Beach Boys (Reprise/1975)

The Beach Boys are one of the greatest American bands to emerge from the second-half of the 20th Century. Brian Wilson is one of the most important modern-day American pop composers. His productions ushered in Baroque pop, Sunshine pop and Psychedelic Pop. However, to your average low-information consumer, they are primarily known only for recording a handful of well-crafted, but perhaps over-saturated early hits (i.e. "Surfin' U.S.A.", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "I Get Around", "Help Me Rhonda" and "California Girls"). Hits that have been heard in commercials, movies and all-over oldies radio, for quite some time now.

However some of their best material (bona fide hits or minor hits) come from their lesser-known-to-the-public-at-large era of 1966-1973. Some songs that are very well-known ("Good Vibrations") and have similar, near companion songs that are not as well-known ("Heroes And Villains"). Good Vibrations: Best Of The Beach Boys was the first time all of the baroque-pop period of The Beach Boys was compiled in one place. However it's release was not exactly of purest intentions. Endless Summer (Capitol/1974) and Spirit Of America (Capitol/1975) were compilation albums released of the bands' earlier material by Capitol after the band had been on Reprise for a few years. They were blockbuster albums peaking at numbers 1 and 8, respectively on Billboard. They single-handedly put The Beach Boys back in the general public's commercial consciousness again after years of releasing artistically-successful albums, but dwindling returns. Reprise had the rights to the bands Capitol catalog from 1966-1969 and the bands' own Reprise material (from 1970 onward).

Good Vibrations: Best Of The Beach Boys succeeds in (albeit modestly - it charted at 25) cashing-in on the band they seemingly could never sell in the same way that Capitol had, despite first-class material. Song-for-song it's basically a perfect album. "Good Vibrations", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Heroes And Villains", "Friends", "Add Some Music To Your Day", "God Only Knows", "Sloop John B", "Surf's Up", "Caroline, No", "Darlin'", "Do It Again" and "Sail On Sailor" are the songs on the album.  If there was to be a CD release for a complete 1966-1973 best-of, these are the tracks I'd include: "I Can Hear Music", "Cottonfields" (single version),  Bluebirds Over The Mountain", "Wild Honey", "Long Promised Road", "Till I Die", "Marcella", "Cabinessence", "California Saga: California" (single version) "Busy Doin' Nothin'", "This Whole World" and "You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone". But you could always make a compilation CD of all of this I suppose.

I cannot recommend the vinyl platter highly enough.

Here's the video review: