Wilbur Niles - Thrust Too LP

After Thrust, Niles pursued a quiet solo career — both under his own name and with a backing band, also called Thrust. The guitarist’s later works, like Liftoff, Lunar and Re-Entry, are undoubtedly more technically accomplished, with stronger musicians. Today, Niles is understandably far more apt to talk about those, and they fill out the lion’s share of his life’s work.

Still, whether due to the jitters, the unorthodox setting, or the mid-fidelity sound which would later become not only fashionable, but desirable, Thrust — and its sequel, Thrust Too — possess an irreplaceable charm.

What Thrust Too loses in atmosphere, it makes up for in deep grooves, like on “Hang Ten,” “Parrott City,” and “Machelle.” McNeal — the namesake of the latter — appears on the final track, “Survival of the Funkiest,” featuring rap-inflected vocals from the trio Coffee, Cream and Sugar.

While Thrust Too is sometimes lost in the conversation surrounding its predecessor, it’s just as worthy from a musical and collector’s — hence We Are Busy Bodies releasing both records together, to trace Niles’ early evolution. But in a sense, Niles was just clearing his throat — he’d go on to make more mature, sophisticated works, from Re-Entry to Lunar.