The best of its kind
The Hip-O Gold series is an excellent one (see for example its Allman Brothers Gold, which is the best two-disc ABB compilation), and Southern Rock Gold is one of its better examples.
Southern Rock, which sprang up in the 1970s as real roots music in opposition to what we now call corporate rock, is as good for listening on long drives as anything in popular music history. Southern Rock just demands that you hit the road, if not for a road trip, at least around The Strip or down to the Farmer's Co-op. It is as ideal as Outlaw Country to blare from your pick-up while doing farm or construction work, or while tailgating for college football.
I will lead this off by voicing my only complaint: each disc should have one or two more songs. More below on how Hip-O can atone for that sin of omission.
Scott Schinder's notes provide just enough information to help listeners who may know little or nothing about even the most important Southern Rock acts get to know the times and these musicians and singers.
For me, the only revelation on this set is Cowboy's 'Please Be With Me.' I don't recall ever having heard Cowboy, and now I want to hear more. I am pleased that Stllwater's 'Mindbender' is included. After the Frampton craze died down, such a song had to be forgotten as a cheap gimmick, but it works well when we ignore Frampton and place it in the Southern Rock category. Cameron Crowe certainly knows Stillwater, and if you know about Frampton and his rather tortuous teasing to become a solo act, you know a key source for the screenplay of Almost Famous. It then is a given that Stillwater would be the name for the band in the movie.
Most of the obvious greatest Southern Rock anthems and standards are here. But the omissions lead me to plead with Hip-O to release Southern Rock Gold Volume 2.
For example, ZZ Top is not represented here. 'LaGrange' is among the 7 or 8 most beloved Southern Rock songs to those of us who lived the music when it was new. 'Tush' is another that had a long life on Southern Rock radio.
The Amazing Rhythm Aces were often confused with the Atlanta Rhythm Section by those who paid scant attention to anything but hit singles and DJ chatter. I'll take ARA any day. 'Third Rate Romance' belongs on Volume 2, and 'The End is Not in Sight (The Cowboy Song)' might too.
JJ Cale is an Oklahoman, and I can attest firsthand that those who loved the identified Southern Rock acts loved JJ Cale and saw him as part of the same musical movement. I am far from alone among Southern Rock fans in preferring Cale's version of his 'Cocaine' to Clapton's hit version.
Especially after Skynyrd hit big, Black Oak Arkansas seemed clumsy, but 'Jim Dandy' remained a song that blared from cruising car windows and was played by all bar bands.
George Thorogood is from Delaware, which is below the Mason-Dixon line, and his killer version of Hank Williams 'Move It On Over' shows how honky-tonk fully electrifed and played at bluegrass speed is rockabilly.
Billy Swan's 'I Can Help' was at least an FM radio hit across the South and seen as part of the Southern Rock sound.
Texan BW Stevenson's beautiful 'My Maria' should be showcased so people can't assume it originated with Brooks and Dunn.
Also Texans, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble and The Fabulous Thunderbirds should be represented by 'Crossfire' (or 'Texas Flood') and 'Tuff Enuf' respectively.
Texans Los Lonely Boys' 'Heaven' is wonderful.
Dickey Betts non-Allmans work should be represented: something off the LP Highway Call would do nicely.
Van Zant's 'Help Somebody' belongs, and not just to show how Southern Rock today is marketed as Country.
The Black Crowes 'She Talks to Angels' and 'Remedy' would showcase that premier 1990s Southern Rock band.
Many of the acts on the original Southern Rock Gold should be represented on Volume 2 as well:
Allman Brothers Band - 'Melissa' and 'Jessica' (preferably the live version from the Epic years).
Lynyrd Skynyrd - 'The Last Rebel' and 'Saturday Night Special'
Ozark Mountain Daredevils - 'Jackie Blue'
Marshall Tucker Band - 'This Ole Cowboy' and 'Fire on the Mountain'
Charlie Daniels Band - 'Reflections' and 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'
Outlaws - 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' and 'Knoxville Girl'
Gregg Allman - 'I'm No Angel'
Molly Hatchet - 'Whiskey Man'
Kentucky Headhunters - 'Oh Loneosme Me'
Steve Earle - 'Copperhead Road'
Blackfoot - 'Train Train'
Wet Willie - 'Dixie Rock'
38 Special - 'Caught up In You'
Elvin Bishop - 'Struttin My Stuff'
and perhaps Atlanta Rhythm Section - 'Doraville'
I would bet another song by Cowboy belongs, and I know that a couple more JJ Cale songs would be great. The Bobby Fuller Four's 'I Fought the Law' was played by most of the bar/frat bands I saw in the '70s, and Fuller is another West Texas product.
ADDITION: This morning, I had the radio on and heard The Bellamy Brothers 'Let Your Love Flow.' Though the Bellamy Brothers were marketed as Country by at least 1980, 'Let Your Love Flow' was, I think, a #1 hit on the Rock charts in 1977 (the re-recorded version is not as crisp). The Bellamy Brothers were then seen as an up and coming Southern Rock duo.
I also failed to list a Delaney & Bonnie (whose bassist, keyboardist, and drummer served those roles for Derek and the Dominoes, with Duane Allman and Eric Clapton on guitars) song for this Volume 2. 'Groupie,' which the Carpenters made a huge smash hit as 'Superstar,' would work well, as would the Delaney & Bonnie version of the Carter Family's 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken.' While Country acts have tended to perform the song the way the Carter Family did - restrained and somber, as would fit a Presbyterian, Primitive Baptist, or Church of Christ musical heritage - the Delaney and Bonnie version is pure Pentecostal/Camp Revival unrestrained energy. That performance is as good as anything to show how and why Jimmy Swaggert, Mickey Gilley, and Jerry Lee Lewis are three peas from one pod.
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