Mud - Rock On / As You Like It (2009)

This 7T's two-fer combines two albums Mud released at the tail-end of their career -- 1978's Rock On and 1979's As You Like It, adding a couple of bonus tracks for good measure. Mud's prime didn't last long, and these two records definitely arrived outside of it, just as the glitter fad was winding down, much to the blissful ignorance of Mud, who tried to carry on as if nothing had changed. This is the most painful on Rock On, where the oldies covers -- "Walk Right Back," "Cut Across Shorty" -- are silly and anemic, where they're paired with oddities like the mock-reggae of "Slow Talking Boy," a spangly overhaul of "Drift Away," and the turgid ballad "Too Much of Nothing." Mud is at their best when they get closest to the heavy stomp of before -- "Careless Love," "Who You Gonna Love," "Burn on Marlon" -- but those don't compare favorably to their earliest hits, leaving this as a mess. Mud bounced back somewhat on As You Like It, at least in terms of delivering silly guilty pleasure. For glitter purists, there may be too much disco here -- particularly on the opening cover of Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover," which practically creates a holographic glitter ball, and the KC & the Sunshine Band knock-off title track -- but this has a cheerfully stupid, goofy spirit, best heard on the delirious "1-2 Love" and rampaging "Right Between the Eyes," which surely trump the sub-Happy Days medley of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" and "Book of Love."