Omnivore Recordings

Since shortly after its initial release in 1970, the solo debut from former Mystery Trend frontman Ron Nagle has been passed down and around amongst hardcore fans of Album Oriented Rock (AOR) like a best kept secret.

Back in the late 90s, when Billboard was still run by actual music journalists, Bad Rice topped a readers’ list of which album still stuck in vinyl obscurity they’d most like to see given a revamp on CD. I got that little tidbit of info, coincidentally enough, from the long-awaited deluxe reissue of Bad Rice, making its overdue debut on compact disc—two decades following that straw poll, mind you—courtesy of Omnivore Recordings.

Not only are you getting an expertly remastered restoration of the Jack Nitzsche-produced LP featuring arguably the most fiery guitar work Ry Cooder has ever tracked on wax, you get a whole plethora of bonus material that tells the complete tale of his oft-overlooked gem of a rock album, namely an entire second disc entitled Pre-Cooked/Converted: The Bad Rice Demos. And while the Nitzsche sessions that yielded the original thirteen cuts rank amongst the most scorching and soulful electric rock ever produced out of San Francisco in the late 60s/early 70s, hearing tracks like “Dolores” and “61 Clay” in demo form gives you a whole new perspective into Nagle’s songwriting process and the true beauty of his prowess as a performer. That’s not even mentioning the entire LP’s worth of previously unissued songs that would have made one outstanding follow-up to Bad Rice had the record been properly marketed back in the day.

Bad Rice is a brilliant jewel of hardcore AOR that served as a wild middle ground between Randy Newman and the Flamin’ Groovies, and this most essential reissue from the great folks at Omnivore tells the complete tale of this most understated classic rock classic.