String Driven Thing - The Machine That Cried (Reissue, Remastered) (1973/2008)

While this group's name is often the impetus for String Driven Thing falsely acquiring a folk-rock classification, they were in actuality a boogie and psychedelia-laced rock & roll band who happened to have electric violin as their lead instrument. In 1973, when this album was initially released, very few rock bands featured the violin as prominently as they did. Violinist Grahame Smith helped blaze the trail for fiddlers like Ric Sanders and Robbie Steinhardt to openly strut their stuff within the confines of rock & roll. This album at times showed signs of creativity, but unfortunately its inconsistency was symptomatic of String Driven Thing's career. The slow soft rock numbers are the bane of this recording, while the manic psychedelic pieces like "Sold Down the River," "Heartfeeder," and "Night Club" showed this band at its finest. Too bad the former outnumbered the latter. The 1996 reissue contains three bonus tracks "If Only the Good," "It's a Game," and "Part of the City."