The
Music Machine
were one of the more fascinating one-hit wonders to emerge from the garage rock movement of the '60s. Led by singer and songwriter
Sean Bonniwell
,
the Music Machine
only scored one major chart success, 1966's "Talk Talk," but
Bonniwell
was a prolific songwriter whose tunes tackled the social and philosophical issues of the day in a style that was at once thoughtful and broadly theatrical, accompanied by sneering garage rock dominated by savage fuzztone guitars. By all accounts,
led
with an iron fist, and the group's original lineup crumbled before they could record a second album, but
landed a new record deal with
Warner Bros.
and assembled a new version of the group that he dubbed
the Bonniwell Music Machine
. The
Bonniwell Music Machine
's sole eponymous album was a more musically ambitious set than
's LP for
Original Sound
, with horns, woodwinds, acoustic guitars, and esoteric keyboards dotting several cuts, while allowing
plenty of room to explore his individual world-view.
Big Beat
's
The Bonniwell Music Machine
is a comprehensive anthology that includes
's complete
recordings -- all 14 tracks from the
BMM
album as well as 11 single sides and alternate mixes -- along with a bonus disc featuring demos and rarities from
, and
's early group
the Ragamuffins
. While
's LP has an uneven reputation among fans, there are plenty of tracks that anyone who dug "Talk Talk" would be likely to latch on to, including "Double Yellow Line" and "The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly," while "Soul Love" is a proto-hard rock number that suggests these guys could have hopped on a tour bus with
Blue Cheer
and done just fine. Despite conventional wisdom regarding
period, this material sounds very much like
's best-known work, just with an extra coat of varnish; the real surprises are on disc two, where the acoustic demos and home-recorded tracks allow
to show off his inner folkie (and his songs fit the unplugged format better than you'd imagine),
deliver some spirited uptempo folk-rock that boasts attitude and charm, and tracks like "Dark White" and "She Is" show
could have pulled off a more subtle approach if he'd been given the time and resources. While this is best recommended to obsessives (and who else is likely to buy a two-disc reissue of an album that was a resounding flop?),
's edition of
shows the guy was smarter and had a broader range than most would have you believe. ~ Mark Deming