Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

BIG SMASH! was the third release by Wreckless Eric (Goulden). Released as a double record in the late 1970s, it seems in hindsight to be an enormous risk --- a double package by a relatively unknown artist --- until one recalls that such risk-taking was commonplace at the time, when big-box record stores seemed to be on every street corner and you could (and did) pick up a vinyl LP for a few bucks. The industry was selling millions of records a week, rather than taking a year to do so; if a project flopped, maybe the next one would take off. Who cared? Certainly not Stiff Records, which signed Eric and sunk major bucks into him from the gitgo. The story behind BIG SMASH is that he got a call from Stiff, requesting a new album pronto in order to maintain label presence on the radio. Eric had about half of the songs already written, and the other half roughed out on tape. The sound of the recording was influenced by extraneous factors (among other things, the band had to play softly at night, since the studio was next to an eldercare home) and fueled by massive amounts of alcohol. When the final product was submitted, the decision was made to issue a second disc with it, a hodgepodge of B-sides, uncollected singles and outtakes which had actually consisted of Wreckless Eric’s first proper U.S. release. The collection, newly remastered and released on CD, reveals much about what was right and wrong with Wreckless Eric.

Disc One is about what you'd expect if you threw a band into the studio, gave them an improbable deadline which was all about money and unconcerned about art,, and fueled the project with gallons of alcoholic beverages (among other things). Whatever chops Wreckless Eric had --- Eric on vocals, two guitarists, a bass player, an organist, and a drummer --- they for the most part aren't evident here There are some exceptions, however, such as “Too Busy,” the Elvis Costello-influenced “Can I Be Your Hero?” and the odd “Strange Towns,” which contains a mish-mash of influences including Hank Williams and “Love Street” by the Doors.

It is, oddly enough, Disc Two that is the highlight of BIG SMASH! Originally conceived as an odds ‘n’ sods disc, it is a great deal of fun, and actually hangs together as a long player much better than does Disc One. It includes, among other things, the closest track that Wreckless Eric ever had to a hit, the immortal “Walking On The Surface of the Moon,” with an authoritative, unforgettable chord progression running under Eric’s snarling, in your face vocal delivery. It is this track, as much as any other, that embodies the image that Eric projected in his appearance and performance but only occasionally reached on record.

BIG SMASH!, for all of its shortcomings, is a rambunctious collection which typifies at its best the excesses of the music industry in a time and place we will not duplicate soon, if at all. It is of interest for that reason, if no other.