Record Label: Sanctuary Records
Genre: Classic rock
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com link

As a drummer, Keith Moon is one of my heroes. Besides influencing the greatest drummer of all time, Neil Peart, Moon was actually the first truly ROCK, if not PUNK, drummers. Dude smashed his kit apart for no good reason, drove a Rolls Royce into a swimming pool, and died from ingesting a bazillion pills. I mean, how cool is that?

But Moon is similar to his buddy Ringo Starr – overshadowed by his peers, and honestly, for a reason. Both are awful singers, foppish and silly in nature, and utterly ineffectual in their solo careers.

Two Sides of the Moon is actually Moon’s only solo album, and thank god for that. Shit is awful. It’s one of those albums where there’s a million guest stars and just about every song is either a 50s r&b cover (complete with cringe-worthy backup female singers) or covers of 60s tunes (including the Beatles and even the Who), and yet nothing sounds good. It’s pathetic. Moon sings throughout (like most drummers, he can’t sing), and strangely, he doesn’t play drums on the album. If I recall, I think Ringo actually plays drums on it, and technically speaking, Ringo is about one-tenth the drummer that Moon was.

Okay, so the original album sucks, but everyone knows that. So let’s rate the re-release. It’s actually quite impressive – Sanctuary has offered the original album, plus 40 – yes 40! – tracks of studio outtakes, unreleased tunes, and dopey studio banter.

Now, none of it is extraordinarily amazing for the casual Who or Beatles fan, but this is a lot of interesting stuff for the completist. So I’m giving this sucker 3 stars because it’s a lot of bang for your buck, but ultimately, all this stuff – including the original album – should’ve just remained in the vault.

Bottom Line: Original album plus 40 more tracks, but it’s still pretty awful.
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