One of the more consistent packages of music I have ever heard from the band, ever - and that is saying something, considering there are a whopping 21 tracks to weed through - nearly 80 minutes of music! Tull takes us through a wild ride of all of their phases of their initial 20 year existence - right from the beginning as a rough-and-tumble blues-fusion act, covering "Stormy Monday Blues" for the BBC, through thrilling roller-coasters like a cool live version of "Living in the Past", then steaming past the eerie Scottish mists of songs like "Jack-A-Lynn" and "Kelpie", and finally cooling down with a final look back at the past on "Dun Ringill". This is where I heard the original version of "Two Fingers", here titled "Lick Your Fingers Clean", which in the liner notes states was originally slated for the Aqualung album. Proof-positive that Tull could kick-ass when they wanted to and add "Love Story" to that reputation. Hands down that is the heaviest, most enveloping rocker - not only on this CD - but possibly in Tull's entire career. The liner notes are quite extensive, complete with a Tull family tree with interlinking lineups. Overall, whether you want to be cheap like me, or go for the gold and get all of the good stuff at once - this is definitely worth your time. And by the way - it's the Cliffs Notes version of a larger 5 LP box set.
As far as all the Dust Brothers records go, this is the one that's most dated and entertaining at the same time. As far as pop rappers went, you couldn't get more pop than Young MC, yet for his debut record he pulls off the style rather cleanly, other than a weird penchant for rolling his R's. But "Bust A Move" and "Principal's Office" are so stupidly catchy it's diabolical. It doesn't nearly hold up through the entire record, the Dust Brothers' work is slipshod at points ("Know How"), but there are enough reminders to hold interest ("Fastest Rhyme").
This is a record which seems rather quaint when hearing it back years later, but believe it or not, for the time it was fairly forward-thinking and mainstream all at once. Tone's gregarious personality played a big part in shooting this record to the top of the charts in 1989. But the real power behind the throne was the production team of Dike, Ross, and the Dust Brothers, who also either produced or contributed heavily to a number of other highly successful records around the same time. The chart hits ("Wild Thing", "Funky Cold Medina") are the most cohesive tracks, but there's plenty of good times to go around, if you don't make this out to be a high-brow experience ("Don't Get Close", "Cheeba Cheeba").
Great character-driven show - and I'm not just talking about Darren McGavin's seersucker-suited portrayal of the classic paranoid tabloid-obsessed American newspaper reporter who sees a conspiracy 'round every corner, it applies to the entire cast - partially fouled by an obscure backlog of slipshod stories on legends and/or fantastical beasts. There are moments here and there which recall the thrills and chills of the TV movies (the ending of "Mr. R.I.N.G." was a definite highlight) but usually the fantasy parts of the show left me wanting more, and often the better payoffs were with guest stars (usually Kolchak vs. the chief cop in charge of the investigation) or ancillary characters like Gordy "The Ghoul" Spangler, the morgue attendant who ran a death lottery!
One of these days I may rewatch but seeing this first run - I remember it as overblown tripe. The Simcoe character was especially revolting. Save yourself the trouble and read Alexander Rose's excellent book on the subject.
