Recorded by the original lineup of , , and is famous as the debut album that the band recorded in 1975 -- only to be shelved by a U.K. label that simply couldn't understand what all the noise was about. Produced by , a man whose past with -era heroes should have guaranteed at least a little sensibility, contrarily turned in a bludgeoning blur of riffs and roaring, a bare-fanged threat to the order of things, a slobbering, slavering, three-headed monster that should have been strangled at birth. did the next best thing. They decapitated it. was buried, were dropped, and, by year's end, the band had shattered. And there the story should have ended. But was made of sterner stuff -- not only had the temerity to return, they compounded their audacity by scoring hit singles. By 1978, were arguably the biggest band in the world. And didn't sound so distasteful any more. Countless reissues followed, and here is another one, released in 1997 as part of 's centenary celebrations. And that in itself is a bit of a joke -- the last time the label celebrated , it was the day their contract went into the bin. This time, though, there's something to cheer about. Before the sessions, tried out some demos with producer , a quartet of long-lost songs whose legend has so increased in dimension that, umpteen reissues of later, one would still trade one's first born for the chance to buy it one more time, with the sessions appended as a bonus. Well, here's your chance -- and don't forget to pack up the diapers. The added songs themselves are familiarity itself -- and reappear not only on the main album, but in various forms across so many other / recordings. But the arrangements are devastating, steeped in , drenched in booze, the highest octane of all. No matter how well you think you know , still it's nothing like you're expecting. A true sonic symphony, this is with whiplash. Imagine ' own if the mallet flew straight through your head; think of if started the conversation. Even more alarmingly, however, it makes promises that themselves could never keep and posits a future so far from all that eventually transpired that the material itself sounds like abject surrender, or at least foul betrayal, by comparison. The that people know and love threatened to take on the world. The here would simply have taken it over. No wonder they got canned. ~ Dave Thompson