Raw and Rare, a collection of live BBC recordings from 2001 and 2002 -- plus a couple recorded at Detroit's own Lager House for good measure -- finds the Von Bondies in their element. The group's ferocious attack is captured just as well, if not better, than on their debut album, Lack of Communication; there's an added snap and electricity to these performances that remind one what all the fuss surrounding Detroit's garage rock scene was about in the first place. Nearly all of Lack of Communication and the band's early singles are reprised here, including particularly stellar versions of Lack of Communication itself, a swaggering, menacing Sound of Terror, an explosive version of Please Please Man, and a slow-burning rendition of My Baby's Cryin', sung by Marcie Bolen. There are two versions of both Cryin' and It Came from Japan, which might be a little excessive, but at least they're all equally good performances and they don't take away from the album's flow. However, there's still room for more than competent covers of the Compulsive Gamblers' R R Nurse and the Sorrows' Take a Heart as well as frenetic takes on their own Vacant as a Ghost and Unknown, one of the appropriately scuzzy, fuzzy tracks recorded at the Lager House. Raw and Rare is an especially interesting document, considering that it came out not long before their second proper album, Pawn Shoppe Heart, produced by Jerry Harrison; while it's doubtful that their future output will be anything approaching slick, this album is a welcome reminder of the Von Bondies' rawest roots. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi

1		Lack of Communication
2		Nite Train
3		Sound of Terror
4		Going Down
5		It Came from Japan
6		My Baby's Cryin'
7		Cryin'
8		R & R Nurse
9		Please Please Man
10		Vacant as a Ghost
11		Save My Life
12		Cryin'
13		Take a Heart
14		Unknown
15		It Came from Japan