(2021) VA – Riding the Rock Machine: British Seventies Classic Rock


Review:
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.





Track Listing:
CD 1
01. Rainbow - Long Live Rock 'n' Roll
02. Uriah Heep - Easy Livin'
03. The Moody Blues - I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)
04. The Alan Parsons Project - I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You
05. Foghat - Slow Ride [Single Version]
06. The Spencer Davis Group - Catch You On The Rebop
07. Yvonne Elliman - I Can't Explain
08. Faces - Cindy Incidentally
09. Procol Harum - Robert's Box
10. Blackfoot Sue - Standing In The Road
11. Medicine Head - Back To The Wall
12. The Who - Success Story
13. Trapeze - Black Cloud
14. Chris Squire - Hold Out Your Hand
15. Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Spirits In The Night
16. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Boston Tea Party
17. Jethro Tull - Bungle In The Jungle
18. Anges Strange - Clever Fool
19. Fancy - She's Ridin' The Rock Machine
20. Sweet - Action

CD 2
01. Foreigner - Feels Like The First Time
02. Nazareth - This Flight Tonight
03. Free - Wishing Well
04. Man - Out Of Your Head
05. Strawbs - My Friend Peter
06. Hawkwind - Quark, Strangeness And Charm
07. Silverhead - Ace Supreme
08. Status Quo - Mystery Song
09. Curved Air - U.H.F.
10. Magnum - Baby I Need
11. Electric Light Orchestra - Showdown
12. City Boy - Momma's Boy
13. Duffy - The 1959 Rock 'n' Roll Bop
14. Rococo - Hoodlum Fun
15. Mick Ronson - Only After Dark
16. Strider - Straddle
17. Stray - Move It
18. Bullfrog - Ice Cold Dick
19. Maggot - Shoelace
20. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man

CD 3
01. Roxy Music - Street Life
02. Be-Bop Deluxe - Maid In Heaven
03. Atomic Rooster - Devil's Answer
04. Family - In My Own Time
05. Dana Gillespie - Get My Rocks Off
06. Hello - New York Groove
07. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
08. Tucky Buzzard - Can't Live Without It
09. National Flag - Blowing A Million
10. Hard Stuff - Monster In Paradise
11. Fat Mattress - Black Sheep Of The Family
12. 10cc - Life Is A Minestrone
13. Sutherland Brothers - Dream Kid
14. Smokestack Crumble - Got A Bad Leg
15. The Winkies - Fever
16. Mott the Hoople - Ready For Love
17. Sad Cafe - My Oh My
18. Babe Ruth - Jack O'Lantern
19. Argent - God Gave Rock N' Roll To You


Media Report:
Genre: rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits