Originally available free with the purchase of a brick of TDK cassettes, this Ryko sampler pops up with great frequency in cutout and used bins. Meant, like their other two samplers at the time, Steal This Disc 1 and Steal This Disc 2, to publicize this CD-only company (a big deal back in 1988), the eclectic selection doesn't make a sonic splash anymore, years after much better advancements in digital audio. The sound is very tinny, with no depth. Of the 18 tracks here, what can you say about a CD that abuts Zappa's MIDI joke "G Spot Tornado" with Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia's acoustic "Da Birg Song," or Poto Doudongo's mainstream African-pop number "Bolingo" with the Residents' primitive jazz on "Serenade for Missy"? Years later, the numbers that stand out are the ones that harken back to tradition and not the ones hooked up to computers: The Charlie Rouse Band's "Cinnamon Flower," Nanci Griffith's "Once In a Very Blue Moon," and the Red Clay Ramblers' "Home Is Where the Heart Is." Not a consistently good listen, but more of an aural catalog from which to decide on future purchases. -- Ted Mills (allmusic.com)