The Index - Anthology

All Music Guide

A 23-song anthology of material recorded by this intriguing, mysterious band between 1967 and 1969, the bulk taken from their two rare albums. This sounds enticing, but there are problems with the execution. The beginning and ends of some of the cuts, unaccountably, are shortened. This is especially counterproductive considering that a large part of the Index's appeal was their over-the-top weirdness; to shorten the amazing feedback swoop that opens "Feedback," to take the most egregious example, is remarkably dumb. In addition, some of the cuts that surfaced on the Voxx LP compilation in the mid-1980s are missing, including their interesting cover of "John Riley" and their best track, "Eight Miles High" (a considerably inferior version appears on the CD). As compensation, there are a few previously unreleased bonus cuts from 1969 that show the band in a more conventional (and less interesting) hard rock mode, though the instrumental "Livin' in Detroit" shows some of their tough energy...; there are also extraneous covers of David Crosby and Neil Young tunes. There's good music here, but overall this has to be considered a botched opportunity, and the rarer-by-the-day Index+ LP on Voxx remains the best compilation of their work, even though its running time is much briefer. - Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide Read more Less