Nuggets

As its title makes clear, Children of Nuggets is the first Nuggets release to stretch beyond the '60s heyday of garage rock and psychedelic music. Instead of once again returning to that seemingly bottomless well – which has not only brought the original 1972 double LP, Nuggets, but such imitators as the Pebbles and Rubble series, plus Rhino's expanded four-disc 1998 box set and its 2001 sequel, which focused on singles from the U.K. and around the world – the four-disc box Children of Nuggets is devoted to bands from the '70s, '80s, and '90s (but primarily the '80s) that were inspired by the original Nuggets LP, along with other trashy, intoxicating rock and guitar pop from the '60s…

If one had to point to a single initial salvo that launched the garage rock revival movement in the 1970s and ‘80s, it would have to be the release of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 in 1972. Elektra Records had approached rock critic Lenny Kaye (not yet the guitarist with the Patti Smith Group) with the notion of compiling an album of great, overlooked rock tunes, but what Kaye came up with was something significantly different – an overview of the great, wild era when American bands, goaded by the British Invasion, began honing in on a tougher and more eclectic rock & roll sound, and kids were reawakened to the possibilities of two guitars, bass, and drum…

Nuggets, Lenny Kaye's original 1972 compilation of garage and psych, loomed large in the record collectors consciousness, canonizing a portion of rock that was originally laughed off while setting the standard for reissues. Rhino's 1998 box set of the same name expanded the scope of that record, replicating most of the original while gloriously spilling forth over three additional discs – and, in doing so, it spurred a minor revolution, becoming one of the most talked-about reissues of the last half of the '90s…

This superbly recorded double disc (the original engineer was Eddie Kramer, best-known for his work with Hendrix) captured over a weekend worth of dates in February 1970 at the venerable New York City venue catches the Brit boogie quartet at the peak of their powers. These shows were sandwiched between their triumphant Woodstock set and the release of Cricklewood Green, generally considered the band's best work. They find the group primed through years of roadwork, as well as obviously excited to be playing in front of an appreciative N.Y.C. crowd…

'Right By You' was Stephen Stills' reward for the yeoman effort he put forth on the 1982 Crosby, Stills and Nash reunion disc. Prior to his second reunion with Crosby and Nash, Stephen had produced two commercial duds in 1978, 'Illegal Stills' and 'Thoroughfare Gap'. Although both albums featured some tantalizing tracks, the disco groundswell engulfing popular music was making Stephen's patented folk-rock-blues sound passe…

This 18-track compilation of previously released versions of Rolling Stones' nuggets is a little longer than earlier attempts at the same concept such as 1998's Cover You: A Tribute to the Rolling Stones (with which it shares four tunes) and 2005's skimpy 11-cut Wild Horses: A Rock and Roll Tribute to the Rolling Stones (only one duplicate from that), but it's not markedly better…

Few metal bands have had their back catalogue repackaged as much as Motorhead has over the years, and the 1989 import compilation DIRTY LOVE can be added to the ever-growing list. Like such other similarly styled collections (OVER THE TOP, ON PAROLE, etc.), DIRTY LOVE contains much of the same selections, but also includes several other rarely heard oddities–"Waltz of the Vampire" and "Godzilla Akimbo."…

Released just six months after Gypsy '66, Gabor Szabo's second album as a leader (after leaving a sublime Chico Hamilton band that also included Charles Lloyd) remains one of his finest moments in the studio. Szabo utilized the tales of bassist Ron Carter and his old boss Hamilton on drums, as well as a pair of fine Latin percussionists – Willie Bobo and Victor Pantoja…