Credits:

Suzi Quatro

It seems strange to see the output of Mickie Most’s RAK label finally being taken seriously by record labels as well as collectors, 30-plus years after the imprint established itself as the epitome of disposable pop tunes. Yet EMI’s ongoing As, Bs & Rarities series offers nothing less than the same thorough treatment that any other, more hallowed, label could expect. The format is essentially the same throughout: a gathering up of every RAK single (A-sides and B-sides) released by a given band, with the remainder of the CD filled with choice outtakes and oddities — a treatment that Suzi Quatro has long demanded. Listeners could hardly be surprised, after all, as hits collection after hits collection has descended from the skies, to be faced with one more go-round for “Can the Can,” “48 Crash,” “Daytona Demon,” et al. — but it is easy to overlook the fact that scarcely any of the same singles’ B-sides have ever been