The debut Radio was marked by a couple of hell-raising singles, but BAD announces the Creature that is LL Cool J has arrived for real. But not completely, since a large slice of this pie could righteously be claimed by "Bobcat" Ervin's intentionally overwrought backing beats. But there's no doubt you're left with all facets of LL's heavyweight persona, at the end of this record…jack!

The follow-up May Blitz record does not have that smoked-out, echo-chamber feel, but it’s still interesting. Some of the tracks are upbeat, with a near proto-rap feel, but others are decent straight-ahead folk or just mellow rock - curiously reminiscent of another obscure Brit band, Hard Meat. You might as well pick this up if you see it next to the debut. TWO SENTENCE RE-REVIEW: I've pimped May Blitz out enough via word-of-mouth to warrant raising both albums rating a full point. The debut record alone is five careers' worth of mammoth rock groove listening gold.

This U.K. based power trio took the Cream blueprint and stretched it to deeper, darker, and more byzantine extremes on "Smoking The Day Away", a track which managed to consistently find its way on various playlists of mine for years. It's a hard act to follow, but for the rest of their debut album, May Blitz does a fairly good job, making some decent in-roads with other genres ("Fire Queen" feels like a heavier take on Mitch Ryder, "Virgin Waters" ventures into progressive/epic territory). Plus, the band's quirky sense of humor ("Squeet") matches up with the creepy album cover. This is one obscurity worth uncovering. TWO SENTENCE RE-REVIEW: I've pimped May Blitz out enough via word-of-mouth to warrant raising both albums rating a full point. The debut record alone is five careers' worth of mammoth rock groove listening gold.

This was a long overdue collection which purged all of the sins committed by the infamous "Six Pack" box set re-issue back in 1987. 4 discs of material, including some early tracks from the Billy Gibbons' pre-cursor group The Moving Sidewalks, paired with sizeable portions of the London Records catalog in its' original format! The only quibble I have is the second half of the last disc, which consists of assorted B-sides like go-nowhere 12" dance mixes of "Velcro Fly" and a Spanish-language version of "Francine" ("Francene"). I rather would have had more of the album stuff, but oh well. If you don't want to hunt down the records, then this is your next best deal.

That they selected this particular title tells you all you need to know. It’s not like you could accuse ZZ Top of ever being on the cutting edge of anything, but you could rely them for some basic things – irreverent Texas blues rock, humorous hi-jinks, sly put-ons, and a take-it-as-it-comes overall attitude about life. Much, if not all of this, is missing from Recycler, but then again, a lot of those characteristics were missing from the previous two albums as well, and it did not stop them from – a) being massive chart successes, and b) being enjoyable. Recycler, actually, did fit the first criteria. In fact, the band made a hokey appearance in “Back to the Future III”, and the song “Doubleback” was prominently featured on the movie soundtrack. But enjoyable album? I’m not so sure the band themselves enjoyed making this one. The band sounds like it is going in a couple of a different directions at once – trying to stick with the electro-robotic sound from the past two albums, but also reaching a bit for the old blues-rock boogie from the 70’s as well. The end result is, at best, mixed. The first four tracks here are about the most non-descript things the band has cut in a long, long time. I mean that not in a good way. Probably the first real signs of life are when “My Head’s in Mississippi” comes on, which has faint “La Grange” echoes if you really think about it. I would say the tracks on the second side are moderate improvements but then again, that is not saying much, either. Back in the day, I do not remember thinking very highly of singles like “Give It Up” or “Doubleback”, regarding them as inferior to Eliminator or even Afterburner in comparison. My opinion has not changed much since then. I think ZZ Top put this out to safely coast on their laurels. Whether you think it’s entertaining or not, is up to you. ONE SENTENCE RE-REVIEW: Not as bad as the title suggests but there's every indication here the 80's crept into 1990.