This album has been surrounded by controversy for years, and the details are sketchy at best. Conflicting stories abound, to the extent that I don't even know if Scott Reeder is playing on this one or not. What I do know is that this album is among John Garcia's best work, and one of my all-time favorite rock records...even though it's never seen an official release. Super-producer Rick Rubin signed UNIDA to his American imprint, only to transfer the band's contract to Island/Def Jam before the album's release. Ironically, this was around the time that Garcia's ol' buddies in QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE were becoming mainstream mainstays, with many publications deeming them the saviors of rock n' roll. Had The Great Divide been released as scheduled, it would've gone head-to-head with QOTSA's Songs for the Deaf, and in the opinions of many fans, won. Songs for the Deaf was (and is still) a great record, but The Great Divide is truly classic. While UNIDA does recycle a couple of songs from their indie releases, that's not uncommon when jumping to the proverbial \"big leagues\", and in context of the LP as a whole, the songs fit perfectly. The production is top-notch. I put The Great Divide up there with the classic releases of KYUSS, though John Garcia has NEVER sounded better. When QOTSA were \"bringing rock back\", the K-word was on the lips of every rock fan, and they would've sought out John Garcia and UNIDA. I have no idea what goes on \"behind the scenes\", but I do wish Rick Rubin would've put HALF the effort into this project that he did Danzig and Johnny Cash. As it turns out, this is all we have of UNIDA (though the band did sell an abbreviated version of the album at shows called El Coyote). John Garcia went on to form HERMANO (which kicks ass) and The Great Divide was left to travel among our merry band of bootleggers. This wasn't the only time Rick Rubin dropped the ball, but we'll discuss the great FLIPPER another day.
