Picking up a recording you've never heard of, let alone one by a group you've never heard of, can be an iffy proposition. On occasion you will strike it rich and find an unexpected treasure, but just as often you'll end up striking out so badly you wonder what could have caused the momentary madness that inspired you to select that particular recording.

Sometimes it's the enticement of the inclusion of performers who you know and respect, if not by first hand experience, then at least by reputation. When a few of them are combined into one project, sometimes the temptation is too hard to resist. When the words “underground,” “experimental,” and “innovative” are added to the mix, well I defy anyone not to take that leap in the dark and reach for the completely unknown.

The inclusion of these same performers, and promises of being something different, can also cause the disappointment to be that much greater when things don't pan out the way you had hoped. The higher the expectation, the greater the let down (a saying so old, it’s cliché, but clichés are at their most annoying when they are accurate).

All the above can be applied to my reaction to the disc One Down by the New York City band, Material. Maybe because it was originally recorded in 1983, its announced experimental hybrid of funk, jazz, punk and hip hop sounded more tired then innovative to my ears. Even the inclusion of the power of Nona Hendrix on vocals and the eccentricity of Fred Frith on guitar can't lift this album out of anything beyond ordinary, commercial-sounding music that wouldn't sound out of place on top-40 radio today.

But, I hear you ask, aren't you judging this by ears attuned to sounds that are twenty years further along, and they could have been innovative for their time. That's fair enough, except for the fact that 1983 was a time when I was still paying a lot of attention to contemporary music. The same components that they supposedly experimented with were an envelope being pushed a lot further and with more interesting results by a lot of people.