Despite an impressive resume that includes co-writing songs like Werewolves of London and Her Town Too, and playing guitar on dozens of successful albums in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, the closest Waddy Wachtel has come to working as a frontman was his band Ronin, which made one LP in 1980. Wachtel puts his toe in the water of a solo career with this brief collection, half-a-dozen tracks available for download through mp3.com, which can also be purchased as a CD. On it he frequently makes you recall the soft-rockers he often backs, turning in a series of melodic pop songs that could have appeared on albums by James Taylor or J.D. Souther. He sings on five of the tracks in a modest voice that sounds like Tom Petty most of the time. Though these are basically demos they demonstrate that Wachtel shares the talents of the people who have employed him all these years as well as exhibiting the rock edge (especially on the apparently autobiographical Told You) that he brought to their records. It's no doubt too late for him to score a major-label recording contract, but maybe with these tracks he can convince a smaller label to take a chance on him. In the meantime they are available for anyone who's heard and enjoyed his work with Warren Zevon, Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards, and many others over the years. We'd suggest beginning by downloading the sensitive ballad The Offering, then trying a more rocking cut like Gone U R. (By the way, the CD cover lists the songs in the wrong order, emphasizing that these are isolated tracks, not an album per se.) Though the CD boasts multimedia content, all you get by popping the disc into your computer is a picture of Wachtel. There are also no annotations beyond song titles and timings. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

1		Wadraga
2		Crossfire
3		One More Time or Two
4		Offering
5		Gone U R
6		Told You