Coming a couple of years after their most universally acclaimed effort (Blues for the Red Sun), this loose conceptual sprawl of an album sees Kyuss at their most ambitious point. This did not translate into anything beyond cult success, but the spark here is a burning sense of adventure, and it helps if you are predisposed to heavier sounds.

Even though the title hints at this, I’m not sure the band themselves thought it would be the last proper studio album. I think they thought it was business as usual. However, there is no getting around one simple fact about this CD – it’s a heavy, lumbering beast, more like Black Sabbath and early 70’s sludge rock than any Kyuss effort thus far. The dual opener of “Hurricane” followed by “One Inch Man” comes at the listener like a flying ton of bricks. “Hurricane” is neat because the band brings back the old punk-infused energy that was a big characteristic of Wretch, with Garcia howling like mad against the current of fuzz (“I can’t feel nothin’ at all all all!”). Then “One Inch Man” follows like a tongue-in-cheek version of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”. From this rousing start takes a more mercurial path, generally relying on Josh’s heavy guitar tones to lead the listener through the rest of the affair. The dank dungeon-ready thump of “Gloria Lewis” – a real showcase for some of Garcia’s greatest screams ever – sets the tone for a mid-section of a CD tailor-made for fogged-up marijuana smokers and bong hitters. The mazes of passages where the band takes you are revelatory (“El Rodeo”), with only “Jumbo Blimp Jumbo” making the mistake of being static. Then the ending section picks up with another punk-influenced track (“Tangy Zizzle”) followed by a couple of interesting asides – “Size Queen”, which is reggae-meets-metal, and “Catamaran”. Finally, Homme’s showcase “Spaceship Landing” is a throwback to the multi-part madness of Sky Valley, but does not feel as essential as anything from that album, I’m afraid. The other thing which annoys me mildly here is the actual track runs for over 34 minutes with added oddities tacked on which are quite unnecessary to hear. Overall, a pretty nice way for Kyuss to go off into the sunset…at least, this is how I prefer to remember them going off into the sunset. I don’t get the general critical downturn of opinion – …And the Circus Leaves Town is worth price of admission, and then some.

Way before he scaled the charts in the 80's Eddy Grant honed his songwriting and performing craft in this multi-racial 60's pop act which was popular in the UK. The tracks collected on Equals Explosion were not really meant for more than nice earworm territory, but that is the charm of it after all. Plus, now you know who did the original "Police on My Back" - and yes, I do prefer The Equals' psychedelic-shaded take over The Clash's more raucous cover.

This is, for all intents and purposes, the Infectious Grooves second album, even though they rehash quite a few tracks from their first album along with the overall presentation. By this point, Mike Muir’s main gig with Suicidal Tendencies was still making mainstream waves, although I am fairly sure it was at the end of its’ run, so here was another chance for him to make a quick buck, as the Grooves were on a major label at the time as well. I find this CD to be amusing but I can see where a lot of people would think it is basically crap, or just dated to its’ time and place. Basically, what we have here is a debatable side of “new” material, the rehashes in one form or another, and a ton of these skits which you may or may not find to be amusing. I think they are. The main musical anchor is Robert Trujillo’s bass work, and overall, the sound comes off like a tongue-in-cheek version of Muir’s main Suicidal gig with heavy funk overtones. There are two different cuts titled “Infectious Grooves” here, because one is a live version and the other one is a glossier, very 80’s-sounding studio version. The covers are decent – “Immigrant Song” and “Fame” – although the “Immigrant Song” cover has far more depth to it than “Fame” does, IMHO. The norm are these fun little exercises like “Slo-Motion Slam” or “You Pick Me Up (Just to Throw Me Down)” which are showcases for the Trujillo bass lines, nothing more or less. The best of the skits is a toss-up between “Caca De Kick” and “The Man Behind the Man”. One of the most fun 3-star CDs out there in existence today! It will give you a real caca de kick in de pants, to steal a line from one of the skits.

Herbie Hancock is mainly known for a couple of things - playing with Miles Davis, and staking his own claim to fame in the early 80's through a massive synthesizer-laden hit, "Rockit". This particular disc happened to be part of a slew of popular jazz-fusion albums from the early-to-mid 70's. In fact, Head Hunters was the first one of these to sell more than a million copies. But whereas many other albums in the genre were fairly challenging, Head Hunters was smooth and accessible. Then again, compared to other jazz composers from his era, Herbie wasn't exactly in that transcendent category, more like an entertaining, mid-level operator. When someone like Miles Davis crossed jazz with rock 'n' roll and funk, the results were often bewildering, astounding, and just plain on another level, but Hancock? Well, you get Head Hunters - which sounds nice, even logical, but doesn't justify all the space it aims to take up.