Captain Fanstastic

Soft rock duo Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille definitely didn't fit everybody's notions of cool. "Muskrat Love" is a quintessential slice of novelty cheese that could only have scored during the '70s. But it's unfair to judge them by something they didn't write and isn't representative of their career. (However, Dragon's bare-chested poses on the original gatefold sleeve definitely fell into the "what were they thinking?" file.) Otherwise, there aren't any blemishes on this roundup of their first three A&M albums – a commercial coup accorded to few acts so early in their careers. The buoyant "Love Will Keep Us Together" is the natural opener – and set the template for a style centered around Dragon's lush, baroque keyboards and Tennille's breathy, intimate vocals.

Captain Beyond has a rather legendary status in the ranks of heavy prog '70s rock. Their fame is actually in the "cult status" category. Dawn Explosion, their third album, was a good disc, but really did not live up to the greatness of the first two releases. Still, in showcasing the group's unique blend of hard rock, psychedelia, and progressive-type arrangements, there is definitely some strong material present. The hard-edged and frantic "Icarus" and the nearly ethereal, building mini-epic "Breath of Fire (Part 1 and Part 2)" can arguably stand up to most of the material on the other releases. Where they falter here is on such songs as "If You Please" and "Midnight Memories," which seem to be trying to reach toward accessibility, but come much closer to banality and mediocrity. This disc cannot take away from the tremendous glory of the other albums, though, and several of the tracks certainly still hold up well.