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, and twiddling prog, and it even makes space for those artsy bands like
Roxy Music, whose "Street Life" provides a stunning highlight. Any collection that contains the extremes of
ELO's "Showdown" and
Hawkwind's "Quark, Strangeness and Charm" is really stretching the boundaries of the usual '70s 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 (the latter band delivers a knockout punch with their
Mott-like romp "Hooligan Fun" nestled deeply in the running order). Mostly, though, it's the big names and big songs that hit the hardest. It's 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" and
the Who's "Success Story" shine the most when compared to songs by
Fat Mattress or
Trapeze. That's not to say that there's no pleasure to be derived from listening to
Sad Cafe warble their woozy way through "My Oh My," for example. It's just that the stack-heeled kick of
Hello's "New York Groove" is more exciting. The same goes for Bullfrog's "Ice Cold Dick" -- a fairly fun, super dumb rocker that's totally eclipsed by
Foghat's deathless "Slow Ride." Which is fine -- there's room for both -- and the compilers deserve praise for piling the earnest clunkers right next to the classics. Good to see too are acts led by women:
Curved Air's romping "U.H.F." is a blast,
Yvonne Elliman's cover of "I Can't Explain" is always good to hear, and
Babe Ruth show that they are more than just "The Mexican" with the paint-stripping rocker "Jack O'Lantern." Overall, this rock machine is definitely worth riding. Spinning through the discs is like going back in time for a couple of hours of one really weird, constantly entertaining radio show. ~ Tim Sendra