Much in the same vein as Capitol's earlier release, Shut Down, Hot Rod Rally combined the forces of Steve Douglas, Gary Usher, Roger Christian, and the wrecking crew. The most noticeable difference is the absence of the Beach Boys, whose vocal presence is picked up by the Super Stocks. Marketed as a collection of three artists ("Shut Down" Douglas, the Super Stocks, and "Hot Rod" Rog), the album is notable for being a first for many later-recycled tunes. Here, in their first appearance, these numbers sound distinctly rawer than their cleaner counterparts, though do boast a certain charm about them.

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The album opens up with Steve Douglas' (or 'Shutdown Douglas') 'Twin Cut Outs', a fuzzed-up rocker in the usual Douglas panache. Sandwiched between drag race effects, 'Hot Rod City' (in its first appearance) sounds surprisingly fresh considering the number of times it was re-recorded and is peculiarly one of the highlights of the record. Hot Rod Rog's 'Little Street Machine' is a passable effort, though it does suffer from a shaky backing vocal, most noticeably the high voice. 'Flash Falcon' features an impressive 20-bar guitar solo over a drum break in the middle. The Super Stocks return with two numbers, '426 Super Stock' and 'Little Stick Nomad.' Both these would be recycled numerous times over the next year, occurring on albums by Dick Dale and Competitors. Another Douglas number, 'Night Rod,' opens up side two and is another fine offering. If ''54 Corvette' sounds familiar, it's because the chorus is almost identical to that of '426 Super Stock.' Also of note, there is a discrepancy between the backing track and the vocals after the second verse, in which the voices 'miss' the second chorus, going straight into a third verse, resulting in an awkward transition to a shortened third chorus. Following a five-song absence, 'Hot Rod Rog' finally returns with 'Repossession Blues', a fairly pedestrian number that is notedly short on lyric material. 'Nifty Fifty' pays homage to the spoken-word ballads of the 1950s, though, by this time, the Super Stocks material is running a little thin. In tandem, 'Wheel Man' offers nothing of interest, excluding some exquisite guitar work. 'Woody Walk' is a fine closer to the album, complete with horn honks and beeps.

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Laughably marked "file under Top Hits" on the cover, none of the tunes on Hot Rod Rally had much of a chart life thereafter its release, though many resurfaced under the plethora of Usher-related artists in the following months. That said, the album is a note-worthy effort and was a sample of what was yet to come.