Interestingly, the album cover to Dust's debut self-titled album, featuring an unembellished photograph of the catacombs, was very much proto-metal, although from a modern perspective we would associate this with one of the extremer forms of metal. This is not particularly representative of the music contained within – heavy blues/hard rock with no darker metal themes. Dust didn't quite gone down the path of releasing a total soft rock album as a follow up to a hard rock debut classic (I'm looking at you Nazareth), but it's not far off.
The songwriting team of producer Kenny Kerner and singer/guitarist Richie Wise would go on to produce the third Stories album, making this Dust debut and its follow-up an important piece of the Stories puzzle. Wise's lead vocals on Dust were decent enough to complement his very competent guitar playing; Wise would eventually get hired as A&R man at Scotti Brothers Records. This record is not only the document of a record executive/producer as recording artist, but of musicians who would go on to do more substantial work in the industry. "Stone Woman," with its shimmering slide guitar work from Aaronson, would've fit perfectly on a Leslie West record. What Dust was all about is kind of difficult to get a handle on. A hard rock band for sure, and certainly spirited; the listener has to wonder if the group is successful when progressive, or if things might be better served by staying on the straight and narrow. "Chasin' Ladies" sports a real cool riff and pretty eerie vocal by Wise, while the one song contributed by Aaronson, "Loose Goose," becomes an endless jam.
