The first thing you need to appreciate is that this is a spoof British heavy metal band, and therefore should not be taken seriously. If you've heard of Spinal Tap and enjoyed them, then you'll no doubt enjoy this.
Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson head up the band, and as you'll find out, Queen's Brian May lends a "silent" hand with the instruments. Those of you familiar with TV programmes such as The Young Ones and the Comic Strip Presents will be familiar with at least three of the band members.
So, what do you get in the "box"? Well firstly, there's a twelve page booklet, which features a short history of the band, and several pieces of artwork from previous albums along with the track listing. The history is quite detailed, and even I learnt something new from it.
The CD contains a mix of music and dialogue throughout it's 22 tracks. This is where you really have to decide if you like this sort of thing. Heavy metal is not everyone's cup of tea, and probably less so when it's played as badly as this… Take for instance the cover of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, it's is eye wateringly excruciating, and sounds more like someone is in pain rather than trying to sing. But then, there are the other tracks where I actually think the music is quite good, despite this being spoof band. I would probably say the sound is somewhere with Iron Maiden, but it's not quite there, if that gives you a taste for the type of heavy metal.
The dialogue is where the most humour is to be found and usually features the band's petty bickering to their hopeless attempts at writing music, to the strangely amusing discussion of what vegetables they're going to tape to there legs for an appearance on Top of the Pops (and if that doesn't conjure up some scary images, then the booklet cover spells it out for you). I found Bad News funnier than Spinal Tap, but again I think it comes down to personal preference.
Is there anything extra to be had from buying CD, if you already own previous albums? Well, no. If you've followed the band, from the eighties, then you'll no doubt have everything already. The album is effectively a re-release of Bad News' Bootleg album with some B-sides from the singles thrown in. Around the mid nineties, two compilation CDs were released and one even featured the same cover artwork as this album (albeit being rotated through 90 degrees). This release adds several more tracks to that album.
As for value, that really depends on how much you pay. I spotted it on sale in HMV for £5, which is definitely a bargain and a worthwhile buy. However, unless you really know what you're buying, and are absolutely sure you like this sort of thing, I'm not sure I could recommend paying full price for it (I paid £16 for the album preceding this one, and thought it was worth every penny). That said, if you didn't have a slight interest in this album, you wouldn't have read this far, would you? And to be fair, the merest mention of heavy metal puts most people off, so most wouldn't have reached the second paragraph of this review. Go on, find yourself a bargain.