The first couple of Lovin' Spoonful albums were a bit subdued compared to this, their third record, which was a deliberate attempt to make something in a multitude of styles. Running less than 27 minutes over a scant 11 tracks, there would seem to be not much room to achieve this goal, but the group achieves it quite easily - almost too easily. The only drawback is the usual one - the content is never very substantial, just direct, simple, and well executed. The second side is nearly immaculate, ranging from moody jazz-inflected ballads ("Coconut Grove") to a great tongue-in-cheek take on country ("Nashville Cats") to a defining era pop song ("Summer in the City").

This is where the group truly arrives, even though it took a year or more for the album to really break to the mainstream. Whatever the case, there are only nine tracks on this record and the first seven are tried and true pop gems. Only the last two fall short of that status - "You Crack Me Up" feels like the prank of the album, and "Honky Tonk Blues" is a cover of Hank Williams song (and not a good one) - which knocks the album down a peg. But otherwise, something magical and/or nefarious happened (depending on your point of view) and it was ordained from on high that Huey Lewis & The News create the near-flawless 80's pop-rock album.

More historically known for his extensive collaborations, production credits, and other background contributions, Al Kooper's own music career has been quite an odyssey unto itself, highlighted by a string of solo albums stretching from the late 60's to early 80's. However, his debut may be the most revelatory of them all. Released in the fertile, eclectic, post Sgt. Pepper environment vacuum that was album rock at the time (with his own Blood, Sweat, and Tears and Super Session albums looming in the shadows as well) Kooper ably blended a wealth of disparate sounds and genres into what turns out to be a unified, committed gesture of humanism.

As the 90's beckoned, some hair metal rockers adjusted their sound to the new standard. But Kix? Most of their 1995 release sounds like they time-warped back to their 1985 selves to make another album. I call it the most ideal Kix-sounding album to date - every up-tempo track has a catchy hook and has the word "fire" or "ball" or some other crass reference in the title. But there are a couple of strange ballads here, along with an odd funk-rock thing ("I'm Bombed" with its' thuggish "napalm" retort), which ends the album and leaves one with a gritter taste in the mouth than most Kix records.

Before Kix hit the big time with 1988's Blow My Fuse, their inital shot was this record released three years prior, which was every bit as enveloping, but for some reason, completely went under the radar. Produced by glam metal whisperer Beau Hill (producing Ratt's debut was his entry to the big leagues), all of the elements were in place for Kix to follow in their footsteps, but the album did not chart. The AC/DC-like stomp of the title track sets the tone, there is the prerequisite power ballad ("Walkin' Away"), and by and large the group has moved away from the bar room rock and New Wave which they flirted with on the previous album (1983's Cool Kids). However, despite the glut of impactful tunes, you get the feeling the band has not completely gelled. And Steve Whiteman's screaming mug on the cover surely had to switch a lot of people off, right? Still, it's a relatively fun ride.