Dave Q either pitched to Chuck Eddy at the Village Voice or Chuck demanded his prose or it was both -- and that was the start of some good times. Some choices below:

• ZZ Top's Mescalero -- "Then they bring back Alfredo Garcia's head, then "Dusted" "combines IDM and rock" a lot more effectively than some other popular bands I could name, then you take the Alamo and bless it in the name of the tres hombres and Billy says (over a Don Brewer-type drum solo-that is the genius of this record in particular, in that the '80s bits are like being in the '80s except better, and the '70s bits are exactly like the '70s bits that everybody probably missed because they'd passed out by the time J. Geils or ARS or whoever was opening finished), "Bitch took my liquor.""
• Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will -- "Y'already know Say You Will's actual title: Lindsey Snorts 'Sunflower' Through 'Keeping the Summer Alive' [oh yes] and Creates 'Tusk 2' While Using the Bits Falling Out of His Nostrils For the "Stevie Tracks." (Working title: Whatever Happened to Chivalry). But the real title should be "Say You Will" Was Another Great Hit By Foreigner-Yet Another Band We Invented! Well, Us and Free-but We Were Noshin' at the Same Stamford Hill Deli!"
• Rush's Rush in Rio -- "Unfortunately, the cunnilingus epic "Xanadu" is missing, as is Victor Jara's "They've Got an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil.""
• Alice Cooper's The Eyes of Alice Cooper -- ""Detroit City" tastefully buries Ted "Death by Misadventure"'s hatchet; "Be With You Awhile" comes back from hell with candy canes for diabetic Muppets; "Spirits Rebellious" and "I'm Angry" briefly revisit AC's Slow Train Coming gospel period, so chickens may not die in vain."
• Rick Springfield's Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance -- "This record would send Anna Kavan to an igloo with a canned daiquiri."

All selections of Dave's are his alone! All links to outside sites and selections originally published there, that's under their copyright deal. Anything else, I guess that's copyright me, 2004-whenever.