Bob Seger - Smokin' O.P.'s (2005)

As a kid, I was lucky enough to live within the limited midwestern sphere of Bob Seger’s musical shadow. Growing up in the industrial wasteland of Erie, Pennsylvania – a mere few hours away from Seger’s Detroit home – I heard the artist’s earliest ventures into rock & roll, songs like “Persecution Smith,” “East Side Story” and the classic “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man,” played on my local rock radio station.

A subsequent move southward to the Nashville area coincided with Seger’s major label recording contract and album releases like Noah and Mongrel, which I eagerly dug out of the bins of local record stores. Half a decade later, after Live Bullet and Night Moves propelled Seger into the upper reaches of ‘70s arena rock stardom, I was living in Detroit and had the chance to witness in person a string of sold-out 1979/1980 hometown concerts by the rust belt phenomenon.

I mention all of this merely to establish my long-held Seger bona fides. Your humble scribe was no mere “johnny come lately” on the Seger front, no sirree! The Reverend was down with Bob back in ’69 and ’70. Of all those pre-stardom album releases – nearly every one, sadly, long out-of-print and unavailable on CD – none was nearer and dearer to my heart than Seger’s 1972 “covers” album, Smokin’ O.P.’s. Released by Motor City indie label Palladium, the album was a bitch to find outside of the Midwest. Thanks to the wonders of the postal service and an editor in Illinois, a young rock critic in Tennessee got his grubby little hands on a copy of this often-overlooked entry in the classic Seger canon. Recently reissued on CD by Seger’s long-time label Capital, I’m glad to say that Smokin’ O.P.’s sounds every bit as great as it did over thirty years ago. Hopefully the label will see fit to reissue some of the other early Seger material on CD in the near future.

At the time the album’s release, Bob Seger was in a state of transition. He had delivered an understated, underrated singer/songwriter styled disc, Brand New Morning, as the final album of his contract with Capitol. Returning to Detroit, he put together a touring band that included drummer Dave Teegarden and keyboardist Skip “Van Winkle” Knape, a pair of musicians from the Tulsa, Oklahoma scene that had relocated to Detroit on the heels of a fluke hit, “God, Love And Rock & Roll.” Recruiting guitarist Michael “Monk” Bruce, the four of them recorded Smokin’ O.P.’s as an unabashed hard rock album. Taking its title from a slang term – “smoking” other people’s songs – Seger and his short-lived pick-up band would run through a selection of songs that included classic rock & soul gems like “Bo Diddley” and “Let It Rock” as well as newer material from artists like Stephen Stills and Leon Russell. The album’s primal D.I.Y. dynamic was provided by recording the songs in a studio beneath a bowling alley, the balls rolling down the lanes accidentally providing bass rhythms.

Seger’s choices in material and his vocal performances both hold up well, even after almost three-and-a-half decades. The singer manages to rework much of the material in his own image, infusing the performances with his charismatic energy and personality. Kicked off by Van Winkle’s churchy-organ riffs, “Bo Diddley” rocks as hard as any of today’s young punks, while a scorched-earth cover of “Love The One You’re With,” featuring some raw fretwork from Bruce and vocal assistance from Pam Todd and Crystal Jenkins. Turning the tune into an energized, R&B styled rave-up, Seger and crew manage to out-distance Stephen Still’s classic original.

Tim Hardin’s “If I Were A Carpenter” benefits especially from Seger’s soulful vocals. Fueled by Van Winkle’s dynamic keyboard work, Seger’s voice soars, reinterpreting the folk-ballad as a spiritual passion play. The blues romp “Turn On Your Love Light” rocks like a church revival, with Van Winkle’s organ and Teegarden’s jazzy percussion driving the tune towards the stars. Seger even covers his own work here, delivering, perhaps, the strongest version of his “Heavy Music” yet. Stripped down to a mere two-and-a-half minute explosion, the song builds slowly towards a powerful crescendo, delivering sort of classic Motor City rock & roll thrills that made cult favorites of bands like the Rationals, SRC, the Up and Seger’s Last Heard.

In the end, Smokin’ O.P.’s would serve to reinvigorate Seger’s career, which had been treading water for at least a couple of years by 1972, serving as a crucial point in Seger’s transition from cult rocker to musical superstar. By embracing the music of other artists, Seger laid the path for his future commercial breakout, figuring out the formula of flat-out rockers and mid-tempo ballads that would later become his musical trademark. It would take a couple more albums before 1975’s Beautiful Loser album would cement Seger’s lyrical and performance voice and lead him towards his eventual destiny.

Smokin’ O.P.’s would prove to be the only album Seger recorded with this particular trio of musicians – Michael “Monk” Bruce would disappear into obscurity while Teegarden would rejoin Seger later in the decade as a member of his Silver Bullet Band. Regardless, the chemistry and focus of the musicians on these songs is undeniable, the album a triumph of the spirit of pure, unvarnished rock & roll. Although Seger would go on to write some great songs and to make (much) more successful albums, never again would he capture the raw immediacy and reckless spirit of Smokin’ O.P.’s. (Capitol Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Smokin' O.P.'s from Amazon.com)

Mardo - The New Gun (2006)

None of the current crop o’ revival kiddies trying to relive the boozy glory days of their grandparents can walk the ‘70s-styled cock-rock mambo line like the brothers Mardo. Weaned on mildew-crusted 45s by the likes of T-Rex, Slade, Sabbath and Zeppelin, the band’s self-titled debut was a brilliant bit o’ retro rock. With this second shot at overnite success, it seems like a committee of advisors, consultants, image-shapers and other ne’er-do-wells have chopped and screwed, flanged and wah-wah’d away the psyche-drenched booger-rock of Mardo’s debut in favor of a blatant grab at respectability. The money men behind the band smell a quick return on their investment and they’ve brought back producer Les Pierce to make sure that the boys play ball.

It’s the jazzman that fumbles the pill this time out, though, cleaning the band up a little too much, injecting bits-n-pieces of balladry where there should be strutting, funk where there should be mindless riffing, and jazzy licks where there should be, well…more mindless riffing. The New Gun has its moments, tunes like “Lolita Live & Learn” displaying the Mardo of yore, the guys showing more chops than a Kobe chef. Far too often, however, they’re reduced to merely mimicking Bon Scott and AC/DC, or worse yet, Bret Michaels and Poison. It may grab them some airplay, but it sure won’t get them any respect. Better luck next time, boys…. (House Of Restitution Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy The New Gun from Amazon.com)

Mardo - Mardo (2005)

Swaggering out of your speakers like a drunken Robert Plant, with effects-laden, multi-tracked guitars joyfully piercing your eardrums, Mardo's self-titled debut is the kind of stone-cold, live-wire rock & roll that the Reverend cut his teeth on. As the legend has it, brothers Aron (bass) and Robbie Mardo (drums) were raised on a central California farm, weaned on the kind of oldies station rock that was fashionable back in the day. You know the stuff...the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Motown junk and '70s funk that once lit up the airwaves before corporate consolidation and programmed playlists neutered rock & roll radio. The brothers Mardo, with guitarist Rob Small, have incorporated all of these influences and more into a single vision that has resulted in what is, perhaps, the best damn rock & roll debut that you'll hear this year.

Forget about retro-sounding acts like the White Stripes or the Darkness that pay lip service to the past with their musical tributes to sounds long gone. Mardo grabs its influences by the neck like a cat toying with a mouse, shaking that sucker until the essence drops into the grooves. These three longhaired fools aren't so much "retro" as they are mad scientists, reinventing arena-rock with a new millennial gloss. How many bands would have the cajones to cover a hard nut like Huey Lewis' "I Want A New Drug" and make it work? Infusing the petulant '80s new wave vibe of this treacley hit with big drumbeats, ripping guitar riffs and bluesy, echoed vocals, Mardo makes the song entirely its own.

So there's the obligatory cover tune, "how about the original music?" you ask. Take the reckless abandon of Black Oak Arkansas, throw in a little of Levi Stubbs' soul, Black Sabbath's unrelenting darkness, Led Zeppelin's metallic sturm-und-drang and add the memory of a hundred half-forgotten songs and you'll have Mardo's exciting and refreshing sound. "Cold Creepin'" takes a Golden Earring riff and mutates it into something even scarier than "Radar Love," pummeling the listener with a non-stop barrage of thunderous drumbeats and slashing guitarwork. "Broken Bones" kicks off like early Judas Priest, takes a left turn towards Metallica and finishes with overdriven Motorhead, Aron Mardo's growling vocals punctuated by Small's dangerous riffing and brother Robert's enormous drumwork. With staggered drumbeats and heavy, throbbing bass, "Poor Paul" takes the glam-rock roots of T-Rex and Slade and raises the ante with a soaring chorus and Small's fluid, imaginative leads.

Once upon a time, way back in the day, the Reverend did an interview with a Boston band called the Cavedogs. When asked to describe the band's sound, the lead singer said, "well, we make a lot of noise for three guys!" Ditto for Mardo, the last rock & roll innocents, three misguided fools with one foot in 1973 and the other in 2005, blasting a new take on the classic rock & roll sound out of massive Marshall cabinets, every song a feast of youthful recklessness. For three guys, Mardo makes a hell of a joyful noise. Everything you ever loved about rock & roll can be found right here, if you haven't gotten too old or too jaded to listen. (House Of Restitution Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Mardo from Amazon.com)

Special Retrospective: A Heap O' Heep! (2001)

Adored by their fans, reviled by critics, Uriah Heep are one of the most overlooked and underrated pioneer bands in heavy metal. With a peculiarly British perspective, Heep tossed out the rulebook, mixing elements of classical music, crash-n-bash hard rock, prog-rock and guitar pyrotechnics to create an entirely unique and distinctive style of rock & roll. While most American "metal kidz" circa 1974-75 were trashing their high school hallways to the strains of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple, Heep's band o' maniacs were blazing an artistic trail for bands like Rush and Rainbow to follow.

Founding members David Byron and Mick Box went through a number of band incarnations before adding multi-instrumentalist Ken Hensley to the mix and adopting the Dickensian name "Uriah Heep" in 1970. This threesome would make up the core of Heep until Byron's departure in 1977, with almost three dozen other members passing through the doorway during the band's lengthy history. The most commercially-successful band line-up included Byron on vocals, Box on guitar, Hensley on keyboards and guitar, Gary Thain on bass, and drummer Lee Kerslake. This talented group of musicians would record five best-selling albums between 1972 and 1975.

Interest in Uriah Heep continues to grow, the band still touring and recording, most recently releasing the live album Future Echoes Of The Past, the album Spellbinder in 1999 and the well-received Sonic Origami in 1998. Lucky for us long-time Heep fans looking to replace natty old vinyl copies and fill in some holes in our CD collection, Sanctuary Records has obtained the rights to many mid-70s Heep titles from Castle Music. Sanctuary's reissue series provides a welcome look at this era of Heep's lengthy career, adding bonus tracks to the discs and providing liner notes and credits along with original album artwork.

This is perhaps the most criminally-overlooked period of the band's career, a period of musical transition that saw Heep maturing as a studio outfit while still keeping up a breakneck touring schedule. Following up on the successes of Demons & Wizards (1972), Magician's Birthday (1973) and Sweet Freedom (1973), the band had little to gain and much to lose. Because of England's oppressive tax structure during the seventies, and because of the overwhelming success of the million-selling Uriah Heep Live (1973) album, the band was forced to record in Germany for purely financial reasons. If the various band members felt a strain at recording Sweet Freedom out-of-country, it didn't show in the grooves. However, with the subsequent release of Wonderworld (1974), being away from home and familiar turf during the creative process undoubtedly began to affect the band's music. A popular though unremarkable album, Wonderworld would nevertheless yield a pair of excellent songs in the rock raver "So Tired" and the otherworldly "Dreams." The title cut was an ethereal Hensley composition that would echo the sound of Heep to come, concerning itself with the familiar themes of dreams and life's many possibilities.

Return To Fantasy (1975) was Heep's eighth studio album and the first to bring aboard former King Crimson/Roxy Music bassist John Wetton to prop up the bottom line. Wetton brought with him a different sort of rock & roll professionalism, adding mellotron soundscapes to many of the songs, his vocals supplementing David Byron's operatic wail. Still, a lot of Return To Fantasy sounds like typical Heep with the exception of an abundance of Rick Wakemen-styled prog-rock keyboards, courtesy of Ken Hensley. The album would hit number seven on the British charts and go on to become Heep's most popular album in their homeland.

Musically, Return To Fantasy mixed several styles as the band continued traveling the experimental path they began with Wonderworld. The title cut is traditional Heep with a return to mystically-oriented lyrics and church-organ Goth overtones, the vocals propelled by Lee Kerslake's powerful rhythms. "Devil's Daughter" features an extended instrumental jam that is dominated by Hensley's keyboards, matched with a funky drumbeat. "Prima Donna" is a horn-infused boogie romp similar to what Jo Jo Gunne would do stateside while "Your Turn To Remember" is a Journeyesque ballad with some great bluesy guitar from Mick Box. "Beautiful Dream" is the album's best tune, a wicked synth riff kicking off the song and Byron's vocals soaring as high as they've ever flown.

Of the bonus tracks provided Return To Fantasy, "Shout It Out" and "The Time Will Come," which were a B-side singles, are the best additions, true rarities that mimic classic Heep with over-the-top keyboards, heavy vocals and screaming guitars. Alternative versions of "Beautiful Dream" and the title cut are interesting, the latter shaving better than two minutes off the length of the album track. Return To Fantasy would yield several fan favorites, songs that Heep would play in concert for years to follow.

With High And Mighty (1976), the band decided to produce themselves, creating their first album without manager/producer Gerry Bron at the helm. The resulting effort is considered one of Heep's slightest albums. With vocalist David Byron rendered ineffectual due to a growing problem with alcohol, Ken Hensley emerged as the band's front man. Whereas previous Heep albums had been a group affair, with Byron, Hensley and Mick Box working out songs together, Hensley wrote or co-wrote every song on High And Mighty. Working with bassist Wetton to create an entirely new sound for Uriah Heep, Hensley took the band into a strange new direction, one that seemed to echo his own solo album from the previous year.

The least rocking album of Heep's mid-70s catalog, the band managed to hide some good songs among the chaff nonetheless. The album-opening "One Way Or Another" offers some nice six-string mangling courtesy of Mr. Box, Ken Hensley's keyboards wail like a banshee in heat and Kerslake's steady drumbeat propels the song along. "Weep In Silence" opens with some slash-and-burn riffage before drifting off into a mesmerizing ballad. "Can't Keep A Good Band Down" is a rocking reply to the band's (many) critics. Of the bonus tracks, "Name Of The Game" is an unreleased outtake from the album that only saw the light of day on a 1994 Hensley solo album. This tune is the best example of the band's lack of production experience. "Name Of The Game" is the strongest track on this reissue, with more power and emotion than any of
High And Mighty's other ten songs, yet it was left off in the final mix.

Overall, Hensley's dominance and the downplaying of Byron's strong vocals diminished the band's power and make High And Mighty mostly unforgettable, an album for hardcore fans and completists only. While touring the U.S. in support of High And Mighty, Byron would spiral further out of control. The band would end up firing the founding member for substance abuse, much as they had bassist Gary Thain a year earlier. Wetton left soon thereafter, later finding fame and fortune with Asia, leaving Hensley, Box and Kerslake to ponder their future. By the end of 1976, it looked as if Uriah Heep had run its course.

Jump ahead to Innocent Victim (1977), Heep's second of three albums with new vocalist John Lawton, formerly of Lucifer's Friend. As Byron's replacement, the band broke their new vocalist in with the Firefly (1977) album, following up with Innocent Victim a few months later. This quick creative turn-around would find Heep lacking in 'Grade A' material, even if the addition of Lawton and bassist Trevor Bolder from Bowie's Spiders From Mars band would improve the level of musical professionalism in the band. The stripped-down, back-to-basics sound of Firefly would retain the band a share of their early fans, while the more experimental direction of Innocent Victim, released at the height of the punk revolution in Britain, would struggle to keep those same fans.

A couple of hard rocking tunes stand out on Innocent Victim, especially "Free 'N' Easy," which featured Lawton's best operatic Byron impersonation. The single "Free Me," an engaging, sparse ballad, would end up becoming an international hit, topping the charts in Germany, Australia and New Zealand and selling well throughout Southeast Asia. The band was treading water, however, as musical trends in England had passed them by. Although both Firefly and Innocent Victim were slick, professional musical efforts, both album's radio-friendly tunes seemed designed to recapture the U.S. market that the band had enjoyed with Sweet Freedom.

Lawton would leave the band after a 1979 tour in support of Fallen Angel (1978), an even more desperate attempt by Heep to court the FM airwaves both in American and the U.K. Although a fourth album with Lawton was planned, internal conflicts and managerial problems would lead to a complete shake-up of the band. Drummer Lee Kerslake, the backbone of Heep's sound for years, left soon after Lawton, followed by band mainstay Ken Hensley and bassist Trevor Bolder. As the '80s dawned on Uriah Heep, founding member Mick Box was left to travel the path alone.

As the third distinctive leader of the band, Box rose to the occasion, carrying Heep beyond its problems to create the strong Abominog (1982), forming an entirely new band after a brief hiatus. Heep would seem to have a revolving door throughout the '80s, changing members with every album and tour. Box's six-string talents would be the spark that kept the Heep flame burning in the face of punk, new wave and college rock until heavy metal became popular again in the late-80s. By then, a line-up had solidified behind Box that included former Grand Prix vocalist Bernie Shaw and keyboardist Phil Lanzon, Trevor Bolder back on bass and Lee Kerslake, returning from Ozzie's band, on drums. This formation of Heep, although not the most commercially successful, is the longest-lived and has earned an ever-growing audience that continues to increase today. After touring constantly for a couple of years, this line-up of the band made its first studio album with Raging Silence (1989).

A spectacular live band, Uriah Heep has released a number of successful concert albums. The above line-up was invited to perform a series of shows in Moscow, which has been documented on the Live In Moscow (1988) CD release. A greatest hits-styled performance, the album includes inspired, dynamic performances of such Heep standards as "Easy Livin'," "July Morning," "Gypsy" and "Stealin'." Sanctuary Records has also reissued Live In Europe 1979 (1986), a tour compilation that features a late-seventies line-up with John Lawton and Ken Hensley.

Critics usually divide Uriah Heep into two separate eras – the David Byron era (1970-1977) and the post-Byron era (1977-now). Personally, I'd divide it further, splitting the post-Byron era into the Hensley era (1977-1979) and the Mick Box era (1979-now). Box has had as significant an influence on the band's sound as any of the departing members, and his leadership has kept the band rolling with much the same line-up for fifteen years now. The double-disc Anthology II - Blood On Stone (2001) documents the post-Byron years and showcases much of the Box era of Uriah Heep, from the Firefly album to Different World, including material from Abominog, Raging Silence and the live discs. An excellent anthology with liner notes by Joe Geesin, Blood On Stone includes the best of Heep's late-70s/early-80s output, songs like "Free 'N' Easy," "Free Me," "Woman Of The Night," and "The Other Side Of Midnight."

Uriah Heep are a crucial link to early heavy metal pioneers like Dust and Sir Lord Baltimore, contemporaries of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, and were major influence on artists like Iron Maiden and Metallica. Thirty years after their initial assault on our ears, Uriah Heep are still plugging away at it, the band entering its fourth decade of ear-blistering, speaker-shredding rock & roll. Thanks to these reissues, young fans of the genre can discover the hard-rocking sound of Uriah Heep for themselves. (Sanctuary Records)

(Unfortunately, most of these titles have gone out-of-print since I wrote about 'em in 2001, but if you click on the album cover links, there are still vendors on Amazon.com that have them for sale....)

Jimi Hendrix - Experience Hendrix, The Best Of Jimi Hendrix (1998)

In their efforts to clean up the legendary artist's catalog during the past couple of years, the family of Jimi Hendrix has worked with former Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer to remix and restore classic Hendrix albums like Are You Experienced and Electric Ladyland. In many instances, previous reissues of Hendrix on CD were taken from low-generation tapes rather than the original masters. In digging around dusty tape vaults and studio closets, Experience Hendrix – the company run by the artist's father and stepsister that won back the rights to the Hendrix legacy – discovered previously unknown tapes, uncovered numerous abuses and revealed all sorts of horror stories about the state of the rock legend's great body of work.

With the release of Experience Hendrix, The Best Of Jimi Hendrix, the family has finally compiled a definitive "best of" disc for Jimi. Replacing the original MCA release The Ultimate Hendrix, this twenty-track disc covers the entire scope of the artist's all-too-brief career. Signature Hendrix songs like Purple Haze, Fire, Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and Foxey Lady are all here, as well as lesser-known classics like Castles Made Of Sand, Red House and Angel, from the restored First Rays Of The New Rising Sun LP. Jimi's incredible rendition of the Star Spangled Banner from the original 1969 Woodstock Festival closes the collection.

The set also includes numerous previously unpublished photos of Hendrix and extensive song-by-song notes by rock historian and Hendrix authority John McDermott. For those who don't understand the artist's importance and influence on rock & roll, Experience Hendrix is a perfect introduction. Jimi Hendrix redefined the role of the guitar in popular music, mixing elements of the blues, R&B, roots rock and improvisational jazz to give birth to an entirely new perspective on rock music. Coaxing previously unheard and alien sounds and tones out of his guitar, Hendrix opened the door for every six-string wizard to follow. Every single one of them – from Eddie Van Halen, Warren Haynes and Johnny Lang to the late Duane Allman and Stevie Ray Vaughan – owe a debt of gratitude to the pioneering work Hendrix did during a few short years in the late-60s.

If you're unfamiliar with Jimi, or know him only by reputation, then by all means "Experience Hendrix" with this set. Then go out and buy the rest of the Hendrix catalog. You'll hear some of the best music that rock & roll has to offer, songs that sound as refreshing and amazing today as they did some thirty years ago. (MCA Records)

(Click on the CD cover to by Experience Hendrix from Amazon.com)

Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell (1993)

Some sixteen years ago, an unknown vocalist by the name of Meatloaf, fresh from a stint with Ted Nugent's mid-70s "Free-For-All" band, hooked up with a songwriter named Jim Steinman and recorded what was destined to become an American rock classic: the Bat Out Of Hell album. Critics hated it with a passion, but to an American audience sick of watered-down rock & roll, disgusted with Disco and unfamiliar with the punk stirrings a continent away, Bat Out Of Hell – with its bombastic, guitar-driven tales of young lust, alienation and romance – was bigger than life. The album has been a consistent best seller since its 1977 release.

After a much publicized and highly public split, Steinman went on to write a handful of hits for artists like Bonnie Tyler, while Meatloaf recorded a bunch of albums (some good, some not-so-good) in a battle against obscurity. To the benefit of an audience still starved for the real rock thing, the duo has reunited to create a sequel to one of the most enduring albums in rock music history.

Slapping Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell onto the CD player is like being nineteen again. This is the elusive pulse of rock & roll, that hard-to-capture spirit of the music and all of its promise that makes Bat Out Of Hell II and its predecessor work so well. It's like trying to tell a stranger about rock & roll – if they don't get it, chances are, they never will. This disc is loud, overblown and exaggerated, but it's also got more hooks than a Bassmasters' tournament and it rocks like a house afire. Even as history repeated itself and critics slagged Bat Out Of Hell II, it shot straight up to number one upon its release.

The world is a different place than 1977, though, and this sequel reflects the urgency and identity of the decade. The cynicism of Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back, the erotic fantasies of Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire), the confusion of It Just Won't Quit all play to a different time and place. It's the two key cuts here, however – the idealistic, decade-old Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through and Wasted Youth/Everything Louder Than Everything Else – that serve as the youthful anthems around which all else revolves. It's the energy, the hope provided by these songs, and in rock & roll, that attracts the audience. It's what Meatloaf does best. It may be better to burn out than to fade away, and I'm glad that Meatloaf captured the chance to burn brightly again. (MCA Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Bat Out Of Hell II from Amazon.com)

Meatloaf - The Very Best Of Meatloaf (1998)

Okay, I'll admit it – I'm a Meatloaf fan. Have been, ever since Bat Out Of Hell pissed off my fellow critics so badly those two decades ago. Sure, Meatloaf's best work, i.e. the Steinman- penned songs, is overblown, bombastic and exaggerated. Then again, so is most rap music, but you don't see the big-league rock crits waxing negative over N.W.A. or 2-Pac, do you? When the 'Loaf reunited with Steinman on Bat Out Of Hell II a few years back, there had to be more than a few heart attacks at the Rolling Stone writer's retirement home. Especially considering that the carbon-copy sequel CD hit it big, scored multi-plat and provided the erstwhile Mr. Aday with another 15 minutes of fame.

"So," ask fellow Meatloaf fans, "what's the skinny on this new two-disc The Very Best Of Meatloaf set?" Well, your humble Reverend always provides his readers with the straight 4-1-1 with every review. On this subject, I can honestly say that if you're a true-blue, died-in-the-wool Meatloaf fan, then use the coin you'd spend on this turkey to dig up a copy of the 2-CD live set on Tommy Boy instead. Why? Because there's nothing really new here to attract the marks, much less satisfy the hardcore faithful.

The Very Best Of Meatloaf offers eighteen tunes, broken down as follows: there's five cuts (out of seven) from the original Bat Out Of Hell, including the title track, the hit Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad and the still-hilarious-after-all-these-years Paradise By The Dashboard Light. There are four cuts from the Bat sequel, including Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back, although the producers here have ignored the Bat Out Of Hell remake from that MCA album. You've got a couple songs from the Dead Ringer LP, including the title track – a spirited duet with Cher – and you've got the obligatory Midnight At The Lost And Found, the title track from Meatloaf's best non-Steinman album.

Continuing, there are a couple of songs from the misguided Welcome To The Neighborhood (we're up to 14 now) and the rocking Modern Girl from Bad Attitude. There's nothing from the limpid Blind Before I Stop, and they've ignored hot songs like Razor's Edge from Midnight or Wasted Youth from Bat Out Of Hell II. That leaves three songs that don't come from a Meatloaf album, proper – two Andrew Lloyd Weber compositions with Steinman lyrics and Is Nothing Sacred, easily the worst song Steinman has written in eons. All three tracks are real snoozefests, certainly not representing the "very best" of Meatloaf.

The upshot here, true believers? If you've got Bat Out Of Hell and it's sequel, then you've already got half the songs available on this set (and a few more). There are no real rarities here, no creative programming – why nothing from any of Meatloaf's unavailable import discs, or perhaps his inspired Hot Patootie from the Rocky Horror soundtrack? If you just discovered Meatloaf with Bat Out Of Hell II a couple of years back, then buy the original disc. If you have that and still want to know more about the 'Loaf, then dig up copies of Midnight At The Lost And Found, Bad Attitude and Dead Ringer, if only for the Cher duet. You can score all three for about twice the price of The Very Best Of Meatloaf and end up with three times as much music, tunes that really represent the "very best" of this underrated vocalist. (Sony Legacy Recordings)

(Click on the CD cover to buy The Very Best Of Meatloaf from Amazon.com)

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies (2001)

By 1973, Alice Cooper was one of the hottest bands in rock & roll. Featuring the flamboyant on-stage antics of lead vocalist and band namesake Cooper and a sound that was a cross between metal-edged blues, hard rock and camped-up show tunes, the band struck gold with their fifth album, 1972's School's Out. By the time that they would enter the studio to record what would become their masterpiece – Billion Dollar Babies – the band was on the verge of breaking up. Suffering from tensions created by constant touring, the ever-growing complexity of their stage shows and problems created by the extreme overuse of alcohol, the band nonetheless put together ten songs that would become the keystone of the Alice Cooper legacy.

Remixed by producer Bob Ezrin and reissued by Warner Archives and archival experts Rhino Records, Billion Dollar Babies was originally released in 1973 to overall critical acclaim and great commercial success. It became the band's best selling album, it led to one of the largest-grossing and spectacular tours in rock history and it inspired a legion of hard rock, punk and heavy metal bands to follow. Today, nearly thirty years after its release, it stands out as a landmark of rock music. Cuts like "No More Mr. Nice Guy," "Hello Hooray" and the vastly underrated and oft-overlooked "Generation Landslide" stand as rock icons. "Elected" is every bit as funny and relevant in the new millennium as it was in the Nixon era while lesser-known tracks such as "Raped And Freezin'" and the macabre "I Love The Dead" did their best to launch the Goth and death metal genres.

Released by Warner/Rhino in two versions, those who merely want a taste of one of rock's most unique and influential bands can go for the single-disc reissue of Billion Dollar Babies. For long-time fans or the curious, the "deluxe edition" of Billion Dollar Babies includes a second disc of live tracks and outtakes that is well worth the few extra dollars to buy. Featuring eleven songs taken from two Texas shows in April 1973, it offers killer performances of "Elected," "Hello Hooray," "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Billion Dollar Babies." It also includes live versions of older Alice Cooper faves like "I'm Eighteen," "My Stars," and "I Love The Dead" as well as a handful of outtakes from the Billion Dollar Babies sessions.

Two years after the release of Billion Dollar Babies, Alice Cooper the band would break-up and Cooper the individual would start a lengthy and productive solo career that continues to plod along today. Along with his contemporary Ozzie Osbourne, Alice Cooper has been granted "rock godfather" status by today's heavy metal kids. Through the years that followed, however, Cooper and his bandmates would never again make rock & roll as primal, vital and energetic as they would with these ten tracks. (Rhino Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Billion Dollar Babies from Amazon.com)