Riding The Rock Machine: British Seventies Classic Rock: 3CD Clamshell Boxset

Riding the Rock Machine: British Seventies Classic Rock is a fine overview of the various types of guitar heavy, window rattling sounds emanating from the U.K. during that wild decade where seemingly anything went. The three disc collection is equal parts proto metal, glossy radio pop, strutting stadium rock, wailing blues, glittering glam, brooding jam rock, twiddling prog, and even makes space for those arty weirdos Roxy Music, whose Street Life provides a stunning highlight. Any collection that contains the extremes of ELOs Showdown and Hawkwinds Quark, Strangeness and Charm is really stretching beyond the boundaries of the usual Seventies rock collection. The ratio of never-weres to classic rockers is high; anyone looking for obscurities will be glad to spot Tucky Buzzard, National Flag, Agnes Strange, and Rococo -- delivers a knockout punch with their Mott-like romp Hooligan Fun. -- nestled deeply in the running order. The last band there delivers a knockout punch with their Mott-like romp Hooligan Fun. Mostly though its the big names and big songs that hit the hardest. Its a fact that these kinds of collections show that the bands that made it big did so for a reason. B-list cuts like the Faces Cindy Incidentally or the Whos Success Story, shine the closest stars when compared to songs by Fat Mattress or Trapeze. Thats not to say that theres no pleasure to be derived from listening to Sad Cafe warble their woozy way through My Oh My, for example. Its just that the stack-heeled kick of Hellos New York Groove is more exciting. The same for Bullfrogs Ice Cold Dick. Its a fairly fun, super dumb rocker thats totally eclipsed by Foghats deathless Slow Ride. Which is fine, there is room for both and the compilers should be praised for piling the earnest clunkers right next to the classics. Good to see too that some acts led by women are included; Curved Airs romping U.H.F. is a blast, Yvonne Ellimans cover of I Cant Explain is always good to hear; and Babe Ruth show that they are more than just The Mexican with the paint stripping rocker Jack OLantern. Overall, this rock machine is definitely worth riding; spinning through the discs is like dropping back in time right inthe middle of a couple of hours of one really weird, constantly entertaining radio show. ~ Tim Sendra