by John DuffyBeing a band that by all standards was finished by the early '70s, Blue Cheer plays here, on a disc culled from shows in 1999, like the group still matters. The trio -- original rhythm section Dickie Peterson and Paul Whaley joined by Andrew "Duck" McDonald -- bash out their loud proto-metal workhorses like "Summertime Blues" and "The Hunter" alongside lesser material and forgettably newer ones. Occasionally, McDonald's pounding riffs approximate the beautifully distorted mess of Blue Cheer sides of old, but his modern gear cannot replicate the sounds the band originally coaxed out of (at the time) severely limited equipment. Epitomized by Peterson's embarrassing on-stage blathering ("Are you ready...I can't f*cking hear you!"), the whole thing too often sounds like a pale imitation: stereotypical ripoffs from the worst kind of metal that, sadly, often followed the band's initial impact a generation ago. Still, you can't fault a band for playing as loud as Motörhead (having predated Lemmy by eight years) long after its name has largely, and regrettably, been forgotten from hard rock history. For band fanatics and metal scholars only. The band's 1968-1972 albums, now available in remastered form, are really all you need.