Editorial Review

By the mid-'70s, Alex Chilton's glistening pure-pop group Big Star had hit the rocks, ignored by the public and beset by internal problems. Chilton, backed mostly by session musicians playing both rock and chamber-music instruments, responded with this wracked, bizarre collection of deeply personal songs, venting oblique visions of terror (the much-covered "Kanga Roo" and "Holocaust"), sarcastically envisioning an imaginary circle of supporters ("Thank You Friends"), and covering the odd rock & roll classic in his messed-up teen-idol voice. The album was eventually abandoned and released in unfinished form years later, but the weird gaps in its arrangements make it even stranger and more powerful. Read more

Features

• Original recording reissued
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (62)

Best Big Star - start here
I burned Big Star's first two records from a friend and felt incredibly disappointed. While I had huge expectations from reviews I'd read and talking to a few people, I was sorely disappointed. I thought the songs were often great, but I didn't get what the big deal is. In my opinion, the only songs that didn't sound derived from Byrds/Beatles rock sounded a bit crappy - especially the rockier stuff. I can understand why people like the stuff, but other than "September Gurls" it wasn't for me. I wrote them off as a good but overrated band.
Yes, Big Star is brilliant but...
The fact is that this album is totally hit and miss. For every brilliant 5-star ahead of its time song (Holocaust, Thank You Friends, Oh Dana) there is an equally bizarre, poorly recorded song. I would unhesitatingly recommend this album for the songs that are deathless, but even a psycho Big Star fan like myself has to admit that this album is full of half-formed ideas, experiments, and poor production. However, having said that, I would once again say that the good songs on the album are AMAZING and the album as a whole (weirdness included) is still leagues better than 95% of the music that's out there. Big Star are absolutely amazing, even as they're disintigrating.

"Take Care Not To Hurt Yourself"
Alex Chilton is one of rock's most fascinating mysteries wrapped in an enigma. He has been worshipped by Paul Westerberg to the point of having a song written about him. According to a man I spoke to in a bar - a highly articulate, well-informed, and obviously intelligent man - Chilton was a janitor somewhere in Tennessee not too long ago. Most recently, this New Orleans resident was reported missing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, the reports of his possible demise were exaggerated. Musically, he was the teenage vocalist on the classic #1 single "The Letter", the unlikely producer for The Cramps, and a major influence on the folky, cryptic alternative rock of R.E.M., the trashier rock of The Replacements, and the more straightforward power pop of Teenage Fanclub. (And that's just to cite the ones who are keen enough to know that they were influenced by him and his band.)
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Subjects:  1. Pop    2. Pop/Rock    3. Power Pop    4. Proto-Punk    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

Cheap Trick's second album (and second of '77!) doesn't exactly pick up where its classic, hard-edged debut left off; it was the "Power" and this is the "Pop." Their workaholic gigs as an unsigned Midwest bar band in the mid-'70s left them with an impressive backlog of original material, another batch of which forms the core of Read more

Features

• Original recording reissued
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (22)

Their Best
What can anyone say about this album that hasn't already been said. It's CT's best. I can't offer any further insight to the greatness of this album that hasn't been said a thousand times before.
Pure POWER POP!
Juxtapose this with dreck that was around in 70's (REO/STYX/Boston), 'In Color' is a pure power pop masterpiece.
Worth it for the bonus "unreleased" b side insturmental all by itself!
If you are reading this you are probably over 40 and heard some of Cheap Trick's stuff in your carousing youthful prime heyday. The disc is a great combo of power pop and AOR metal. I re-bought it after hearing "Big Eyes" on Sirius Sat. radio's "The Vault" channel. (Had the vinyl way back when)I loved the insturmental track, (and the other bonus tracks are cool also.)My faves: "so good to see you", "clock strikes ten", and of course ..."hello there"
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Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Arena Rock    3. Hard Rock    4. New Wave    5. Pop    6. Pop/Rock    7. Power Pop    8. Rock    9. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

A two-for-one combo of the first two Big Star albums (they only recorded three). Heard side by side, Read more

Features

• Original recording reissued
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (103)

If only all pop aspired to be this good.
[#1 Record: 3.5 stars, Radio City: 4.5 stars]
Not the first-not the last. . .I did like the mellotron.
I agree with some of the other reviewers that think some are too harsh on Big Star. True you hear influences in their songs and you hear who they influenced. I think its just fun to listen to. Best tune for me was "What's Goin Ahn" though all was pretty consistent and had a great mood. One thing nobody seems to mention is the cool mellotron a some of these tracks. On "O My Soul" they get some weird sounds by messing with its pitch adjuster.

Everybody ripped them off...
When you look at bands like R.E.M. and U2 you think to yourself, wow, they are popular. The few fans of #1 Record/Radio City will tell you that all of those kinds of bands ripped off the Memphis rock and rollers Big Star. It's in the music. Songs like "September Gurls" and "Life is Right" make me wonder why this band didn't get any airplay. At least they wrote great songs. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Pop    2. Pop/Rock    3. Power Pop    4. Proto-Punk    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop    7. United States of America   

Features

• Box set

Reviews (43)

The Real Epitaph
It somehow just makes sense that thirty years later you'd see a cd version of the same type of lame "new wave" cash-in albums that cropped up like mushrooms in '77-'78.The predictable and the loss leaders are all here, in a way that really makes me oddly nostalgic

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Boxset
Everyone can gripe about what they left out but I am more concerned about what was included. You get the obvious (Blitzkrieg Bop, Search and Destroy, White Riot, Blank Generation), a few real gems (Patti Smith's deconstruction of Hey Joe)and some real duds (The Strangler's "Peaches", Ian Dury "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll") to stuff that isn't even punk (Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello). Though its cool not to always pick obvious songs by an artist it seems that perhaps some of the choices were because they couldn't get the rights to better known songs. I mean whoever heard of The Soft Boys "I Want to Be an Anglepoise Lamp". I would have picked "I Want to Destroy You".Or Ultravox "Saturday Night in the City of the Dead". It was from the first album before they even developed their sound. So yes this is a history of punk but with pub rock and deservedly lesser known pop punk bands. Whoever thought that punk would some day be watered down into parent-friendly pop punk/emo that would crowd out the bands with real talent. So if you know about punk then the boxset may not really give you any more ideas but if you can't wait to catch the Warped Tour every year then "No Thanks" might save you from a life of desperation.

Nearly perfect, I love it
It could have had some more artists on it. Many of the ones that are already there have 2-3 songs. But that's hardly anything to complain about, this is a great set! The book it comes with is also very informative, and has great photos of just about every band here. It even gives a brief explanation of why the Pistols aren't here, but you'd probably be better off just purchasing "Never Mind the Bollocks" if you care that much. Personally, I don't care that they're not included.
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Subjects:  1. Adult Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Album Rock    3. Alternative Country-Rock    4. Alternative Pop/Rock    5. Ambient    6. American Punk    7. American Underground    8. British Punk    9. College Rock    10. Country-Rock    11. Electronic    12. Experimental    13. Glam Rock    14. Hard Rock    15. Hardcore Punk    16. Indie Rock    17. Industrial    18. L.A. Punk    19. New Wave    20. New York Punk   

Subjects:  1. New Wave    2. Pop    3. Pop/Rock    4. Power Pop    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop    7. United States of America   

Features

• Explicit Lyrics

Reviews (48)

Todd at the top of his game
Love this cd. When it was on record, I think Todd crammed more music on vinyl then anybody else. This is not a singles record like Something/Anything rather it needs to played through. The first half are mini songs, then he goes into eccentric middle eastern and soul stuff and then ends it with just one victory.
Perhaps I'm Disturbed....
But this makes complete sense to me. Todd is so gifted and prolific it nearly frightens me and "A Wizard/A True Star" is perfect from start to finish. To separate even one track from the others would do this masterfully twisted work of art an injustice. All 19 cuts whiz by in rapid succession and make the idea of total artistic control and freedom a blindingly colorful reality. A True Work of Genius.

mind-blowing!!!
in the mid-eighties, we obtained a copy of this from a used record store and I remember eagerly awaiting it's first play...
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Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Hard Rock    3. Pop    4. Pop/Rock    5. Popular Music    6. Power Pop    7. Prog-Rock/Art Rock    8. Proto-Punk    9. Psychedelic    10. Rock    11. Rock/Pop   

Reviews (20)

All time Favorite!
I have never before written an online review of an album for any artist.But having just recently replaced many of my old Rick Springfield albums and cassettes with compact discs, I was reminded just how special these songs were -and are- to me.For me, Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet was where it all began.Yes, I know Jessie's Girl (from Working Class Dog) had already been a hit, and Rick was already a heart throb on GH by this time, but for ME, this album was a turning point.Of course Don't Talk To Strangers was what sucked me in...but upon listening to the rest of the album, I found the songs that would stand the test of time for me.
Not A Spoiler
To quickly capitalize on the success of Working Class Dog, Rick Springfield released the appropriately titled Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet in 1982 less than year after its predecessor.Mr. Springfield doesn't reinvent the wheel as Success mimics the style of Dog.In fact Success improves on the sound.While nothing is as immediate and memorable as "Jesse's Girl", the album is sharper and better as a whole."Don't Talk To Strangers" is a great pop song that peaked at number two."Calling All Girls", "I Get Excited" and "What Kind Of Fool Am I?" are also solid tracks.

Rick's most consistent studio album.
Out of all of Rick's "Big 3" albums from 1981-83, I prefer this one the most. He basically takes the sound of his debut, WORKING CLASS DOG, and did a fairly soundalike album. However, this is anything but a copycat--most of the songs are good, the writing is a little more varied and there's no clunker (i.e. Inside Sylvia) to be found.
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Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Australia    3. Pop    4. Pop/Rock    5. Popular Music    6. Power Pop    7. Rock    8. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

The unexpected success of Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (30)

The Rockford Fab Four's coolest album.
I would say that this is the closest that Cheap Trick ever got to making a perfect album. There are only two songs on here that I'm not one hundred percent crazy about...the slow and gloomy depressing title track and ' On the Radio ', which I think kisses up to radio D.J.'s too much. I love the rest of this.
Could Be One Of The Greatest Albums You Ever Purchase...
I got into classic rock little over a year ago. Before that, I was soley and one hundred percent a country fan. I was scared off easily by harder music, which looking back on is strange because other than classic rock, my favorite music is metal.
Heaven Tonight (1978)
My own reviews of Cheap Trick albums written already, I'd give each 2 stars. They were poorly written, and didn't even delve into the importance of the band's output from 1976 to 1979. I'd rewrite my reviews of Cheap Trick / In Color/ and Dream Police, if I thought you'd read them. But it was in my early days of Amazon, so verbosity wasn't adhered to, and I just tried to ''sum it up''.
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Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Arena Rock    3. Hard Rock    4. New Wave    5. Pop    6. Pop/Rock    7. Popular Music    8. Power Pop    9. Rock    10. Rock/Pop   

Reviews (24)

Classic Rundgren
Often innovative and acknowledged for pushing musical boundries Hermit of Mink Hollow showcases his music at its most accessible. It is also probably Rundgren's most commercially successful album.The haunting "Can We Still Be Friends?" and the optimistic emotionally powerful "All the Children Sing" are Rundgren classics. There is a cool quirkiness to "Onomatopoeia" and Rundgren tugs at the heart strings with "Hurting for You" and "Determination". A must for any music collection.

Sad pop
(4.5 Stars)
I Forgot How Great This Album Is!!!
I first picked up this album when it came out on vinyl back in the Spring of 1978 and quickly wore my copy out.I hadn't listened to it in years and, after hearing some Todd on the radio, decided to order a copy of "Hermit" on CD.It still holds up as the best thing that he's ever done.This album jumps around various musical stylings but maintains the Rundgren signature sound on every song.From the Zen message of "All the Children Sing" to the heartbreak of "Can We Still Be Friends" to the child-like playfulness of "Onomatopoeia" to the social commentary of "Bag Lady" to the Motown groove of "You Cried Wolf" (you'd swear it was the Funk Brothers backing this song), to the final release provided by "Fade Away".This is an amazing collection of music and would definitely be placed in my all-time top ten.Buy it, listen, and enjoy! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Pop    3. Pop/Rock    4. Popular Music    5. Power Pop    6. Rock    7. Rock/Pop    8. Soft Rock   

Editorial Review

Crotchety critics complained that this Glaswegian quartet sounded too close to cult Memphis band Big Star for their own or anyone else's good, but Read more

Reviews (36)

yeah it's Big Star influenced but so what?
Big Star means Big Time for me. Their number one record is one of my fave records, all time fave and i think such records deserve admiration, respect and a following crowd behind them. And when the crowd is good like these fellows, nothing to say. Alex Chilton but mostly Chris Bell must have liked this collection of beautiful, haunting rock songs. Teenage Fanclub have never touched this perfection again (unfortunately).

Awesome CD!
A friend of mine gave me this cd about a year ago, I listened to a few minutes of it and was like "What is this crap?" and I shelved it for a couple months. I then picked it back up and gave it another listen. To my surprise it was really catchy to me. The music (and lyrics) are simple, but thats what I like about them. Theyre simple! This is a great college-rock cd. I plan on checking out more Teenage Fanclub, and I suggest you do the same. Notable tracks are Sidewinder, What You Do To Me, and Is This Music?

Is this music? O Yeeeessssssssssssss!
Pop muzika u kojoj se uziva dugo. Pravi indie klasik.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Indie Pop    3. Indie Rock    4. Pop    5. Pop Underground    6. Power Pop    7. Rock    8. Rock/Pop    9. Scotland   

Editorial Review

When this material originally resurfaced in an earlier Rhino-celebrates-the-'70s program, many rock scribes contorted themselves into revisionist pretzels: this isn't so bad, they argued--none too convincingly. There'll be none of that here: much of the music on this colossal box set is godawful. The world doesn't miss the likes of Sammy ("Chevy Van") Johns and Sammy ("Candy Man") Davis. Or at least it doesn't miss the records they cut during the decade of disaster flicks and Read more

Features

• Box set

Reviews (51)

Excellent Collection... but...
The 70's was the best decade for music. I call it the golden era of music. Outstanding artists such as Electric Light Orchestra, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Paul McCartney and Wings, Elton John and Carpenters were riding high on the charts. Unfortunately we don't get any of these great artists on this collection. Yes, there are some excellent tunes included but there's also a great amount of schlock such as Climax's "Precious And Few and Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again Naturally". This song choices for this set I feel could have been better. Though all in all it is worth giving a few listens.

a decentset of hits ( and flops )
i can only give this set a 3 star rating because some of the selections here should have died in obscurity. i grew up in the shadows of the 70s (born in 66) and i can only relate to the songs that were popular on AM radio......in my opinion,the 80s decade was musically superior. as far as box sets are concerned? time-life hit the jackpot with a 10 disc set of outstanding hits

Soundbites On Every Disk
It's simple.I'm sorry I bought this.Soundbites connected to the tracks of 33 songs!I didn't realize the soundbites aren't separate, but connected to the actual song track. Some of the bites are in front of the song and some at the end.You can't edit them away from the song without some time and editing equipment.Everytime you listen to the song you get to hear the soundbite.I gave it a generous 2 stars because the songs alone sound great. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 70's    2. AM Pop    3. Album Rock    4. Arena Rock    5. Blaxploitation    6. Blue-Eyed Soul    7. Blues-Rock    8. Boogie Rock    9. Box Sets (Audio Only)    10. Bubblegum    11. Club/Dance    12. Country-Pop    13. Country-Rock    14. Dance-Pop    15. Disco    16. Film Music    17. Folk-Rock    18. Funk    19. Glam Rock    20. Hard Rock   

Reviews (12)

Repercussion - a new horizon for powerpop and new wave composition
This review is for the Db's second record - Repercussion:
Nice guys but...
I bought this album on the strength of these reviews-what a mistake. After listening to this comp, I am again truly amazed at the reviews. I understnad that one persons floor is anothers ceiling and all that, but hey... these guys are nowhere even near Bigstar or other bands that I see other reviewers use as a comparrison. Anyway, as a heartfelt sign of the times or nostalgia for people who saw/ know them, maybe this album is great, but for a lot of us who did indeed never hear of them (no surprise there) their music doesn't really stand up to the test of time. Dated? You bet! Musicianship? Basic at best. Coming from someone who likes listening to anyone who puts it on the line- no matter how wavering, I gotta say, if this is their best example, these guys were amateur warblers who came to NYC to just hang out and take in the sites and music scenes.

Finally, I Own the dB's
I remember looking for the dB's back in the early 80's and only striking out. This previously unavailable in the US set of discs were on my to buy list for quite a while. I believe the wait was worth it. I like the Holsapple tunes the best, but Stamey's contributions add a nice quirkiness to the set.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. College Rock    3. Jangle Pop    4. Pop    5. Power Pop    6. Rock    7. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

Once largely written off by critics as arena-rock dinosaurs, Rockford, Illinois's favorite musical sons have become darlings of an influential cadre of alternative and modern-rock superstars and the subjects of an overdue catalog upgrade--and for a slew of good reasons. The first of those would be Read more

Features

• Original recording reissued
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (40)

Cheap Trick [1977], the first album I ever bought! Ah, the memories
1977's Cheap Trick LP is the first in now 25 or so (including
4.5 stars - An incredible debut album
Cheap Trick (1977.) Cheap Trick's first album.
Still Their Best
Among the top 10 best debuts in rock history, Cheap Trick hit their zenith with this one. The follow ups, "In Color" and "Heaven Tonight" should have been nearly as good, but stiff, dull production kept them from reaching the rock stratosphere that CT's debut rocketed into with the help of producer Jack Douglas, who captured a young, raw and brilliant rock band making history. Fans have been waiting for an album this good for nearly 30 years, and there's probably not one of us that doesn't think they can do it. Viva Cheap Trick! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Arena Rock    3. Hard Rock    4. New Wave    5. Pop    6. Pop/Rock    7. Power Pop    8. Rock    9. Rock/Pop    10. United States of America   

Editorial Review

In Read more

Reviews (68)

Amongst the mess, there are a lot of good songs here
The Dandy Warhols' album, Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, is a release where the band throws everything at the wall to see what will stick. Sporting a very over the top production, the band writes songs in a variety of genres and the band clearly wear their influences on their sleeve. Listening to the album as a whole is quite a challenge as you'll dig one song and the next one will come on and you'll be saying, "What is this?" However, if you cut out the fat, most notably several minutes off the two longest tracks, this is a pretty good album. When the band stay in their element on the catchy "Down Like Disco", the rave-up "The New Country", the dreamlike "Everyone Is Totally Insane", or the killer rocker "Smoke It", they shine like the sun. And even though tunes like "Holding Me Up" and "Easy" are a little long, there are enough hooks to keep them interesting. Even the short little ditty, "Did You Make a Song with Otis", is pretty cool. Where the album slips is when they attempt to write a bombastic epic. "Love is the New Feel Awful" starts out as a cool pop song but becomes very repetitive and that goes double for the closer "A Loan Tonight", which drags on for 12 excruciating minutes. Also worth noting is that "There Is Only This Time" sounds way too much like Pink Floyd. All told, the highs clearly outweigh the lows on Odditorium or Warlords of Mars and it's worth checking out.

Well I like it!
I put off getting this for so long since I'd read all the whining reviews about long songs and lack of tunes, etc.Come on people!This is a great album!If you've got the first two Dandy albums it's somewhat like a return, only with a whole load of Bohemian-Monkey attitude in the bag! Yeah, some songs are long but it's all about vibe and feel - this hangs together and it works.Except for the last song which is pants.Still - you can't have it all can you!

I've given it time...
So I've given this album a LONG time to sink in.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Pop    3. Power Pop    4. Rock    5. Rock/Pop    6. United States of America   

Reviews (7)

GREAT SONG
What i like about you is a great song and one of my favorite songs yet. I recommend you listen to it.

THE GREATEST SONG
Wow! This song is amazing, What I Like About You. It is one of my favorite songs you'll most likely ever hear. Please play this
fidelity is lacking, not a good quality recording
I just got this in the mail today.I hate to say it, but the fidelity on this CD is, while not awful, still noticeably inferior.I have the single "What I Like About You" on a various artists' CD called "Ultimate New Wave Party 1998" (unfortunately mixed), so I bought the Romantics' Greatest Hits album to get a "clean" copy of the track.Comparing the track on the two sources, the copy on the mixed CD simply blows away the copy on the romantics CD, on the fidelity issue.It may not be too noticeable if you just have this copy, but you will notice when comparing with other CDs in your collection.Perhaps it is that the CD was issued in 1990 and is not remastered.Well, obviously there is a better fidelity version out there somewhere, so if you want decent fidelity, you might take a crack at one of the other Romantics' selections further down the page, and spend a bit more money (they may, or may not, be better). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Detroit Rock    3. New Wave    4. Pop    5. Pop/Rock    6. Popular Music    7. Power Pop    8. Rock    9. Rock/Pop   

Reviews (8)

Good compilation, but...
I don't know why American "BEST OF" and "GREATEST HITS" CD compilations are always so 'fluffy'. Compare with any good Brit or German compilation, not only the song selection but the CD sound itself is ALWAYS BETTER!!! This 'KIHNsolidation' is no exception to the rule! Why not thinking about reissuing GREGROCKIHNROLLBAND and KIHNTINUED digitally remastered instead? Both are good pieces of the best American Rock'n'Roll!!!