Befitting a guy who always seems dangerously caffeinated, Andrew W.K. has hardly been idle in the last five years. He's recorded an album of solo piano compositions and a tribute LP in honor of classic Japanese anime series Mobile Suit Gundam. He's produced acts ranging from Jamaican dub legend Lee Perry to noise-rockers Sightings.

But for most pop fans, AWK dropped off the face of the earth sometime mid-decade, following the lukewarm reception that greeted his lukewarm sophomore album, 2003's The Wolf. His third album, 2006's Close Calls with Brick Walls, was released internationally, but only in a small vinyl run via Load Records at home. It seemed AWK's brief time spent revitalizing the corpse-like American rock mainstream was over far too soon.

It was doubly a shame because CCWBW might be his best album. Now, packaged with outtakes and rarities (on this edition, tracks 19 through 39), it's given a second chance to find a wider audience. Instead of the high-octane metal minimalism of I Get Wet and The Wolf, CCWBW is a goofy and grandiose exercise in musical maximalism. The songs are so dense with overlapping hooks and sound effects that they border on the psychedelic, suggesting AWK's… read more »