HardReviews 6
by Martin Popoff

Motley Crue - Music To Crash Your Car To: Volume II
(Motley/Hi-O/Universal)

Upholding the rawkin' design standard of the first one, this second in a set of three boxes (Vol. III to come before year's end) covers Dr. Feelgood to the Corabi Crue record. If you've bought all the individual reissues along the way, you've got the best bits. But if not, man, here ya get an all-new high-end booklet, a Crue comic (from the old Rock 'n' Roll Comics series), a not great poster, and then all the hits, misses, deletions and first tries. Highlights on disc one include the gey "Ooh Aah" demo of 'Kickstart My Heart', the church organ version of 'Without You' and a non-LPer called 'Get It For Free'. Onto disc two, there's a creepy previously unreleased oldie called 'Black Widow', goofy instrumental 'Mood Ring' and cool rarities in 'So Good, So Bad' and 'Say Yeah'. Glad to see 'Primal Scream' there as well, fave track o' mine, both a crusher and a cruiser. Looking at the last two discs, you've got more rarities from the band's Supersonic And Demonic Relics disc (probably the most concentrated way to get many of these songs), various single tracks, plus all the tunes from the shambling Quaternary EP and more alternate versions, including three of 'Hooligan's Holiday'. All told, there is actually more rare stuff on here than on Volume I, as that one had to carry all of the band's hits to the box, Volume II spanning a total of one hit album. As a result, this thing plays "loopier," as we watch the band list from one side to the next, letting their individual personalities shine (or flop), letting John Corabi have a lot o' spotlight.
Rating 8