Rhinoceros

Never more than a footnote in rock history, and better known for their career missteps than for any music they actually made, there was sufficient interest in the late-'60s "supergroup" Rhinoceros for Collector's Choice to reissue its long out of print debut on CD in 2002. The enthusiastic response to their first, and best, album was encouraging enough to result in the band's final pair of discs -- both out of print even longer -- to get the same treatment, this time as a money-saving two-fer. Although the band was going through problems when these albums were recorded, including but not limited to shifting personnel, there are adequate highlights within these 22 tracks to justify their unexpected reappearance in 2003. Satin Chickens, Rhinoceros' 1969 sophomore effort is the better of the two, but still sounds rushed and even haphazard at times, a substantial change from their calculated debut. Some of the jams were written in the studio and sound it, especially on the unedited instrumental "Chickens," where the outfit hesitantly but ultimately finds a funky, Little Feat-styled groove. The group begins to morph from hard rockers to a white soul/funk outfit with occasionally worthwhile results, especially on the emotional ballad "Find My Way" and the sensually slow rocking "It's the Same Thing." Their final album, the prophetically untrue Better Times Are Coming, was a last gasp effort recorded by a group whose members had changed so critically from the original incarnation that little more than their name connected them to the early days. Like much of Satin Chickens, little is terrible, and none unlistenable, but it sounds like what it is: a bunch of musicians trying to generate a musical camaraderie that just isn't there. Still, the funky "Old Age" works up a frothy Sly Stone groove and "Groovy World" is a charming piece of let's-live-together fluff that could only have been recorded in the early '70s. They sound like a pretty good garage band trying to get a contract, rather than a once substantial supergroup in their final throws. The remastering of both albums is stunning, with sharp, crisply defined sound. Only the lackluster graphics, which reproduce the front and back covers in headache-inducing miniature (the inner sleeve and lyrics of Better Times is reproduced in print so tiny as to be unreadable) and ignore all track annotation or individual personnel, belie the budget sensibilities of the project. Matthew Greenwald's liner notes are helpful but a little too enthusiastic in their praise of these marginally interesting artifacts. ~ Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide