It Came

The Smithereens already have a single-disc compilation, 1995's excellent Blown to Smithereens: The Best of the Smithereens. Released in 2004, From Jersey It Came! The Smithereens Anthology expands on that collection, taking 15 of its 16 songs (a cover of the Outsiders' "Time Won't Let Me" is left behind) and adding 24 other tunes, including their version of "Downbound Train" from a Bruce Springsteen tribute and a selection from 1999's God Save the Smithereens, for a grand total of 39 tracks over two discs…

WD is one of those rare groups that started with a double album for a debut (Chicago Transit Authority being the other example I can think of), and the least we can say is that for a double album, it is a monster debut album. Just like Chicago, WD is a brass rock band, with the particularity of not having any brass instruments (no trombone, trumpet or tuba), so they might sit better with the compatriots If, if musically WD was not way proggier than both other groups…

Reality is all well and good, but you can hardly blame bands like KING BASTARD from diving enthusiastically into the grand lysergic sludge tsunami and letting the tides of time and doom take control. "It Came from the Void" is the New Yorkers' debut, but it sounds like a snapshot of something ongoing: a never-ending, whacked-out, post-SABBATH-ian jam, chuntering inexorably away in the swirling shadows, as the mortal realm disintegrates into dust. KING BASTARD call it "psychedelic filth" and that's just about perfect…