DUST were a hard rock trio from Brooklyn NY, formed in 1968 by 18-year old Richie Weis and 16-year old mates Kenny Aaronson (bass) and Mark Bell (drums). They released 2 albums "Dust" (1971) and "Hard Attack" (1972) which are now considered early proto-metal, although the music is much more complex, combining crunching hard rock with melodic psychedelia and even country elements. Black Widow, Mountain and Led Zeppelin are often mentioned as kindred spirits. Black Sabbath too, for the heavier songs. This compilation contains both albums, starting for some reason from the last. "Pull Away/So Many Times" opens the proceedings with some acoustic guitar to transform into a bass-driven hard rocker. "Walk In The Soft Rain" and "Thusly Spoken" are excellently produced softer songs, even incorporating strings in an effort to display versatility. "Learning to Die" and "All In All" is what The Yardbirds would sound if they had gone on for another 10 years and evolved into a Metal band. "Ivory" is an instrumental propelled by super-fast drumming and guitars. "I Been Thinkin" and "How Many Horses" are a couple of nice country-ish songs and "Suicide" a monster rocker with a riff worthy of Sabbath or even Metallica. Pretty dark subject matter, too. Dig these lyrics "I thought of hangin'/But I knew it was wrong/Then thought of poison/But what I had wasn't strong/Electrocution I thought would make me a star/I stood in the rain/With my electric guitar". "Stone Woman" from the first album is a straight rocker, a bit like Steppenwolf meets the Allman Bros."Goin' Easy" is a blues number, "Chasin' Ladies" and "Love Me Hard" a couple of great hard rockers and "From A Dry Camel" is an atmospheric metal piece that sounds like it escaped from the Black Sabbath debut. Although the records did not sell, people were paying attention. Richie Weis was offered a job in production, masterminding the first two KISS albums. Kenny Aaronson joined Stories and later had a long career as sideman. Mark Bell developed a reputation for his fast and tireless drumming which eventually brought him to the fastest live band in New York City. He changed his name to Marky Ramone and became part of rock'n'roll history. He's still going strong today.
**** for Pull Away/So Many Times, Learning To Die, Suicide, Stone Woman, Chasin' Ladies, From A Dry Camel
*** for Walk In The Soft Rain, Thusly Spoken, Ivory, Love Me Hard, Often Shadows Felt
** for All In All I Been Thinkin, How Many Horses, Entrance, Goin' Easy, Loose Goose
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