The Best of the Scorpions, Vol. 2
Artist: Scorpions

The Best of the Scorpions, Vol. 2 contains ten songs from the Scorpions' late-'70s and early-'80s records, prior to their crossover hits "No One Like You" and "Rock You Like a Hurricane." As a result, there's not much here that the average metalhead will be intimately familiar with, but it does capture some of the highlights from those records,... Read More

Strength in Numbers
Artist: Tyketto
Clumsy
Artist: Samiam
Community Score: 6.00

Conventional wisdom holds that when a well-regarded indie rock band buckles down and signs on to a major label, the cash flow increases and the credibility ceases, both overnight. No one bothered to tell that to Samiam: although Clumsy, their first high-profile release, is a career highlight musically, it was virtually ignored by the general... Read More

I'm Not Happy
Artist: Love/Hate
Objection Overruled
Artist: Accept
Community Score: 9.00

As various versions of Accept had been only sporadically recording mostly subpar material throughout the late '80s and early '90s, 1993's Objection Overruled -- featuring an essential lineup and a sound quite reminiscent of the group's most popular releases -- is generally considered a strong comeback effort. Udo Dirkschneider's return to the... Read More

Water
Artist: Saigon Kick
Community Score: 10.00

Water is another fine album by Saigon Kick that unfortunately undermines its own merits by trying to employ too many sounds at once. The same problem plagued Saigon Kick's first two releases, as the bandmembers hedged their bets while trying to embrace the dying metal scene as well as the embryonic alternative one at the same time. The band... Read More

Superfriends
Artist: Sweet Water

Releasing its self-titled debut at the height of the Seattle grunge explosion, like many others before them, Sweet Water would fall prey to corporate rock politics. As painfully indicated by the frigid welcome afforded to the band's 1993 major-label debut, it became clear that the rookies had their work cut out for them on their follow-up. After... Read More

Hurricane Rock 74-88
Artist: Scorpions

Imported from England, this 18-track disc is a compilation of the Scorpions' studio hits from Fly to the Rainbow through Savage Amusement. Many of the classics are here, but the album possesses one noticeable flaw -- its lack of the Scorpions' ballads. Although the Blackout hit "When the Smoke is Going Down" made it to the album, songs like... Read More

Uncanned! The Best of Canned Heat
Artist: Canned Heat

For most non-completists, this anthology should more than suffice as an apt compact disc retrospective of Canned Heat's releases on Liberty Records. To that end, it's a more or less chronological overview of the combo's LPs, commencing with a trio of tunes from a spring 1967 studio session that predates their self-titled debut (1967). Primary is... Read More

Groove Family Cyco
Artist: Infectious Grooves
Community Score: 10.00
Built to Perform
Artist: Phantom Blue
Community Score: 8.00

Boasting impressive performances and arrangements, Built to Perform could be the most instrumentally accomplished all-female melodic hard rock recording ever. After Phantom Blue caused quite a buzz with their 1989 eponymous debut, this follow-up was delayed years, causing the band to loose all commercial momentum as their '80s style had become a... Read More

1982-1992
Artist: Europe
Community Score: 10.00

1982-1992 is a 17-track compilation that contains all of Europe's greatest hits ("The Final Countdown," "Carrie," "Rock the Night," "Cherokee," "Superstitious"), plus several album tracks and a pair of rarities, the single edit of "Prisoners in Paradise" and the acoustic version of "I'll Cry for You." While this is certainly the way to go for... Read More

Honour & Blood
Artist: Tank
Community Score: 5.00

On this album, Tank strains to match This Means War's critically lauded raunch, right down to aping its predecessor's blueprint: three songs on side one, four songs on side two. That's not to say the group's single-minded chugalug has gotten tamer: "The War Drags Ever On" shudders with a ferocity that would make Motörhead proud, but is also a... Read More