Real Stinkers

Mdoughty & Jond, thanks for your comments. I listened to Live Art again (I only listened to it once, it sounded so bad). Since my initial listen, I replaced my amps, preamp, speakers, I2S cable, listening room (much more alive), outlets -- and added dedicated lines -- and had my cd player cleaned/repaired. Maybe that's it, because Live Art sounds great now! Who knows, maybe I just had wax in my ears before ;-) Of course, I'll tell myself that all those new purchases were worth every penny!
In any case, it pays to listen more than once. Thanks -- I just added to my music collection by removing something from my junk bin. Hmmm ... I wonder how many others ...?

What a crack up! Captain Beyond! Haven't heard that name in quite a few years. That first one was an indispensible 70's longhair stoner record, the critics hated it, but it was one that you hung onto. They could have made it different, but better? The feel you pick up from certain records isn't quantifiable... Man if I could find one of those old green army coats, maybe there'd be a roach in one of the pockets.
Anyway, the first one worked, IMHO the rest of their stuff was different, but fell way short of being better or even good.

The first two B.O.C. records had a certain atmosphere and power nothing else came close to (maybe Mahavishnu Orch. Inner Mounting Flame), but their records after that had some real duds on em' and the image went down the toilet when I saw Buck Dharma in a gold and white Elvis jumpsuit on the Merv Griffin show (around the time of their Agents of Fortune album). He could have subbed for the guitar player in Slade. Hey they're not bad live though, and they're smart enough to mostly do stuff from the 1st two records.

Anything after Eliminator by ZZ Top. They used to get funky, but MTV popularity killed them.