There are many American bands who get mentioned when conversations of 'who were some of the first heavy metal bands' comes up, but one that doesn't, and quite frankly should, are the trio that called themselves Dust. Comprised of Richie Wise (guitars/vocals), Kenny Aaronson (bass), and Marc Bell (drums), Dust were a formidable group who blended early heavy metal, hard rock, and folk for a thunderous sound that also had its tranquil moments as well. The band recorded two albums in their brief career, 1971's Dust and 1972's Hard Attack, before splitting up and going on to other musical endeavors, Aaronson with Sammy Hagar, Joan Jett, Bob Dylan, and others, and Bell as Marky Ramone with the seminal punk legends The Ramones. Wise, and band lyricist Kenny Kerner, formed a successful production duo, and actually produced KISS' first two studio albums. SONY/Legacy are now reissuing & remastering these two classic heavy rock albums on a single CD from the original analog master tapes.
The ability of Dust to go from thunderous hard rock along the lines of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Sir Lord Baltimore, and Deep Purple, to more pop laden folk that wouldn't sound out of place on a Beatles or Barclay James Harvest album is what made this band so unique. Heavy numbers like "Pull Away/So Many Times", "Walk in the Soft Rain", "Learning to Die", "All in All", "Ivory", and "Suicide" are bruising, crushing hard rock songs filled with Wise's blistering riffs and searing solos, Aaronson's booming bass, and Bell's pounding drum work. The band could also deliver some sizzling blues rock & boogie, as evidenced by "How Many Horses" and "Stone Woman", and the pop/folk side comes out on the gorgeous "Thusly Spoken", "I Been Thinking", and "Goin' Easy". There's an almost garage rock feel to the rockin' "Love Me Hard" that's not far from bands like the MC5 or The Frost, and "From a Dry Camel" has some progressive elements to go along with the heavy rock bombast, like a meeting of Black Sabbath, Wishbone Ash, and Led Zeppelin.
Anyone who loves rare '70s heavy rock & proto-metal will no doubt have a blast with this reissue if you are discovering Dust for the first time, and those who perhaps followed the band back in the day and have been waiting for remastered versions of their old CDs or LPs, this 2 on 1 set will be a welcome surprise. The remastered sound is quite good, and while I can't comment on the packaging since we only received a pre-release copy for review, I'm sure it will be up to SONY/Legacy's normal high standards.
Track Listing
Hard Attack
1) Pull Away/So Many Times
2) Walk in the Soft Rain
3) Thusly Spoken
4) Learning to Die
5) All in All
6) I Been Thinking
7) Ivory
8) How Many Horses
9) Suicide
10) Entrance
Dust
11) Stone Woman
12) Chasin' Ladies
13) Goin' Easy
14) Love Me Hard
15) From a Dry Camel
16) Often Shadows Felt
17) Loose Goose
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