Review of Various Artists - ...And Back To Earth Again: Ten Years Of Meteorcity (3 Discs)

Too few words will be used in the following review to try and capture the enormity of this massive, fantastic collection from MeteorCity. The truth is, two factors make the details of writing at length difficult if not also unnecessary. The first is the sheer quantity of tuneage on this bulging three disc, nearly four-hour compilation. The second reason is that …And Back to Earth Again: Ten Years of MeteorCity practically speaks for itself, and the bottom line is as simple as this: you need this collection. This retrospective is a goldmine for any and all fans except those that have already made up their mind that they’re not interested in stoner/desert rock. For the neophyte, this compilation serves as a rich, detailed introduction to the genre. MeteorCity was a lynchpin in the development of the stoner rock movement, and although noobies will obviously have to explore outside this label for a more complete orientation to this style, MeteorCity offers up a boatload of quality tunes from a variety of the genre’s stalwarts. For the more experienced listener, AbtEA:TyoMc offers a ton of chances to find more bands to pursue. Besides some of the stuff you already have—your The Hidden Hand’s, Lowrider’s, and Unida’s, etc., this album is sure to turn you on to some less common acts, or ones you simply haven’t gotten around to yet. Finally, the desert rock aficionados will love the oversized, collector-edition styled packaging, excellent 15-page booklet, and the fact that these songs have been remastered, and include a handful of unreleased and out of print tracks. The genre-faithful will also no doubt appreciate the chance to support and celebrate a label that has gifted fans with a lot of great music over the years.

…And Back to Earth Again features over two-dozen bands, with most of them contributing between two and four tracks. Part mix-tape, part family album, the collection is not assembled chronologically, and tracks from each band are scattered across discs. Vets like Lowrider, Sweden’s Blind Dog, Solace, and Wino’s Spirit Caravan are represented four times apiece, between and among contributions from newer acts like Truckfighters, Spiritu, and Village of Dead Roads. The pair of unreleased tracks from Slaprocket, featuring The Atomic Bitchwax, Solace, and Nudeswirl members, is a great find, as is the Monster Magnet-meets-surf-rock western swagger of The Ribeye Brothers’ “Last Place Champs.” There's also a handful of interesting, if loyal, covers here, including a pair of Maiden tunes—Solstice’s “The Prophecy” and Cosmosquad’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue”, along with I Are Droid’s (a side project of Lowrider’s Peder Bergstrand, with help from some of the Dozer crew) workup of The Steve Miller Band’s “Serenade.”

While most compilations have some highlights, they’re usually pretty hard to recommend very enthusiastically. The fact is, …And Back to Earth Again just doesn’t have any losers. Oh, and did I mention you can pick this thing up for something like $18 at Stonerrock? That’s not a plug, by the way, MeteorCity founders Jadd Schickler (also frontman for Spiritu) and Aaron Emmel have recently handed the label over to the folks at Stonerrock. Thanks and best of luck to Jadd and Aaron. This is a Cadillac of a compilation, folks. Total no-brainer.

Release Details

Various Artists

...And Back To Earth Again: Ten Years Of Meteorcity (3 Discs)

Comments

Related