S/D Southern Rock

i need to hear ZZ Top as interpreted by angry drunks and biker-meth freaks....
which reminds me, motorhead's cover of "beer drinkers and hellraisers" is fucking ace.
are blackfoot any relation to jd blackfoot?

No, not even close. Although I can recommend JD Blackfoot's Yellowhand from a couple years back. The only southern rock record ever made in New Zealand, I bet. For only Corky Laing on drums and JD on acoustic guitar and vocals, the shit rocks. Actually, much more than the obscure full hard rock band stuff he did in the early Seventies.

Southern (Hemisphere) Rock

I've a boot CD of Blackfoot's debut "No Reservations" with two "bonus" tracks that sound like a totally different band - because they ARE! Another Blackfoot, this one from Frisco(?), late '60s.

But back to the Allmans.

There's a great live set on Wolfgang's Vault from the gig I saw @ Winterland just before Duane crashed it. I can still smell the reek of cheap Mex weed.

There's another one a few months later (that I also was @) just before Berry Oakley did the same, but I haven't listened to it. I kinda lost interest after Duane.

J.D. Blackfoot started off as a psych-rock band out of Ohio. Craig Fuller of Pure Prairie League was the guitarist.

The Allmans are so damn interesting to me. They're a southern rock foundation, but did any other southern rock band follow them into rock/improv/free jazz/classical//blues exploration? If so, I NEED names!!!

Obviously, Captain Beyond answers my question, but any others? I think most folks who peg the Allmans as southern rock (none of us, of course!) don't even realize just how "out" they traveled.

dixie dregs!

dregs were all about hardcore improv fusion blues jazz jams.

Also, how do you think the Allmans' legacy would've changed had Duane and Oakley survived?

what's a good dregs album to start with, that really shows off the jamming?

"Also, how do you think the Allmans' legacy would've changed had Duane and Oakley survived?"

more guitar! and less piano jamz.

earlier dregs = best, i think. i'm not actually a big fan. earlier stuff has more hot country fiddle prog jams and the later stuff has more "modern" steve morse fusion wank.

steve morse is one of them thar vircheeeeosos. know what i mean, vern?

I've got a real soft spot for the Allmans, particularly the first 3 (maybe 4) records & Fillmore, but I feel like they've sorta suffered the same fate as the Dead in that they've become a jumping-off point for so many lame, uninspired disciples. (obv not their fault). I've had occasion to see them a couple of times in the last 8 years or so and they still get pretty far out there.

steve morse is one of them thar vircheeeeosos. know what i mean, vern?

Totally.

The early Allmans are so unique. They have the chops, the soul, the grit, the love for exploration. They can sound like free jazzbo fire music, roadhouse blues, acid rock, southern soul, etc. etc. They can get so screaming heavy at times. Again, it so damn unique...at least, to these ears.

I mean, the Allmans, for me, also makes sense on a playlist with bands like Hawkwind, Can and other psych-era beasts.

Second show my 15-year old self ever attended was Blackfoot opening up for Foreigner ("Tour of the '80's"). I was stupid enough to go for Foreigner, but smart enough once I was there to realize how much better a band Blackfoot was.

The thing about Blackfoot is how fucking *heavy* they could be; different genre, sure, but they had a crunch worthy of Pantera, "Train Train" you know, but check out "Fox Chase" after Shorty Medlocke was done with the harmonica. To this day, I can hear traces of Blackfoot when Hank III gets all hellbilly.

And "Spendin' Cabbage" is a slow country blues that ranks with any of 'em--from Skynyrd, the Allmans, whoever.

I'll have to check all that out. Thanks.

There's a best of the Dixie Dregs album that would probably fit the bill. I had two albums. Both had one great number followed by rapidly diminishing returns. When I put them on I doubt if I ever listened to either all the way through. I remember one called "Punk Sandwich" which was probably on Night of the Living Dregs or something.

"Southern Gothic": def *not* R.E.M., but I'd say some of Janis Joplin's (carefully timed) psychodramas, and (country artists with morbid rock appeal)some of Freakwater's, Willie Nelson's "Half A Man," "I Just Can't Let You Say Goodbye," and some other early para-psychowestern/film noir glosses; ditto "Folsome Prison" etc-era J.Cash and Townes Van Z.;a lotta Dylan (Minnesotan, but meta-Southern like Fogerty, and come to think of it, Gregg Allman said he was put off by the Southern Rock hype because he thought all rock was basically Southern)Roky, Daniel Johnston, Jandek, Gov't Mule Not Gothic, but a handful,and a classic (however erratic): Doug Sahm. Still damn good (judging by a bunch of Instant Live sets and a recent set on Beale Street Caravan): Allmans.

Also, with some Southern Gothic themes (not always done right): Drive-By Truckers. Brighter Than Creation's Dark, despite dumbo title, is pretty darn good for the most part, though too long(but that means you can flush the duds and still have a good-sized keeper). Jason Isbell's Sirens Of The Ditch I called "b-movie beatitudes" in Voice and that still seems right (kid knows his Welty and his Zevon).

Big Star's Sister Lovers will be the last Southern Gothic I mention on this ol thread (which is probably dead, therefore Southern Gothic)

"southern rock band follow them into rock/improv/free jazz/classical//blues exploration?"

At least going by their first record, Sea Level went into an odd mix of jazz fusion and southern rock (definitely playing down the guitar), but of course it came out of the ashes of the Allman Brothers. It is a decent record and sounds very late 70s as it has that hi-fi 'sheen' in the production.

Coming from what I have been listening to a bunch in the past few years, I have come to the conclusion that both Gov't Mule and the later period Allman Brothers that included Warren Haynes is quite underrated.

Haynes seems to be mostly known for his guitar playing, but I think he is a pretty good songwriter and singer. I think he goes with more adventure with Gov't Mule and he isn't afraid to test the jazz waters in a rock band. The last live record and studio album of the Allman Brothers, which also featured Derek Trucks are both quite fine. I think most just know that it will be a solid live version of the Allman Brothers and play the classics well, if not inspired, but some of their later records are of high-quality.

yeah, sea level is a good mention. and then you've also got the more beefheartian:

http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/images/HGB-MtE.jpg

heh, that one. i played "halifax" on the radio once, a dude called up and he was both happy to hear it and cracking up that someone would play the whole thing on the radio.

I really dig that record. Hell, I even saw Hampton in the jam band years!

Wasn't there some story about the HGB being the biggest dud Columbia ever released?

Funnily enough I have a radio promo copy with the big piece of paper glued to the front.

Don'tcha just love having big major label promos of cult records that (nearly) sank without a trace? That should be a thread. I had a Modern Lovers one too, if that counts.

"Don'tcha just love having big major label promos of cult records that (nearly) sank without a trace?"

um, that would be half my record collection.

oops, that was me scott.

Wasn't there some story about the HGB being the biggest dud Columbia ever released?

2nd lowest. Apparently the only thing that sold less was a Yoga instructional recording.

Here's an overview of Hampton's next 40 years, much as I had room for (after the Coe stuff, and the reason they're in the same piece is that they were in town on the same night, although there are some other convergences I look at elsewhere--anyway)

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/nowhere_is_now_here/Content?oid=38443

Suggesting HGB is a generic and overdone cruel trick to play on someone stumbling into this thread looking for southern rock suggestions.

Atlanta Rhythm Section and the Marshall Tucker Band were ubiquitous in the genre in the Seventies and early Eighties. The Atlanta Rhythm Section started out hard and made two albums with the usual chopsy guitar fire. And no one bought them (see .38 Special for a similar early story line). Then they scored two hit singles, "So Into You" and a redo of "Spooky" (which was them as the Classic IV) which couldn't be escaped on radio. They haven't aged as well the Marshall Tucker Band. Shout re-released most of the latter's stuff. MTB also had a string of songs which were mainstrays on FM radio: "Can't You See," "Fire On the Mountain" and "Heard It In a Love Song." They stuck out slightly from the usual nondescript southern rock players in the use of a flute. I confess abandoning all interest in either of these bands. They were both significant parts of the miasma of professional hack classic rock, useful as third billing in stadium rock shows, headliners in mid-size to smallish theatres.

so hot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMclpOK7a2w

Yeah, that's awesome.

I still dont understand how xhucck doesnt hear southern rock influence in Down, Clutch and Corrosion. Especially COC.

Wonder if Rickey Medlocke is still back w Skynyrd? If, so he'd be the last original, next to Rossington. The Duane Allman Anthologies, Vols. 1 & 2, are still great. Vol. 1 has everything from "Layla" to all kinds of rarities, incl from unfinished solo album--just rhythm guitar there, but droll songs & vocals: Chuck Berry's "No Money Down," and what might be an original, "Happily Married Man"("I ain't seen my wife in two or three years")
http://cdn.head-fi.org/5/5f/5f026522_DuaneAllmanAnthology.jpeg

i think swing is essential for him as far as southern rock goes and he doesn't hear it in those bands.

x-post

Warren Haynes of course is in the Allmans, and has recorded with COC too, but he swings more in the former (and the Dead, and Phil Lesh and Friends, and Mule when Allen Woody was still alive)

nothing against COC though! I've got the new one, haven't played it yet.

Dos is a good place to start with Mule, re blues, metalish doom etc

i think swing is essential for him as far as southern rock goes and he doesn't hear it in those bands.

^i thought this was dumb until i remembered this is a guy who thinks Kix is the heaviest band of all time. All good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baW5GmIbXjY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkZrEwRYwZc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhzTQk7eOiE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVqBpx5nlQE&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyoG2iMjOYE&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yceCq6kexiw&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSUT5AzV-jw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0FPxuQv2ns

I think I fell in love with her as a teen watching BOA on In Concert or one of those shows. Go Jim Dandy!

I think one interesting thing about The Outlaws is that they were a southern guitar army kind of band that really wanted to be The Eagles. I got the first three studio albums and it is interesting how much they kind of went for that other kind of high harmony kind of country rock sound of that era even getting Bill Szymczyk to work on their third record (and the last with Henry Paul until later on down the road).

I saw them live a couple times. They were best as an opener, compelled to keep it short. Anything else and Green Grass & High Tides turned into a 25 minute endurance test. Too much pandering to a biker festival audience spoiled the soup. Had a minor hit late with a cover of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" but it didn't really help. They just had a rep as a road band with three guitarists who'd get together at the front of the stage to mow you down with finger calisthenics but no particularly memorable tunes except the Green Grass endless jam.

xpost Ruby had an album backed by Grey Ghost, right? Never heard it, never saw a sign of them again, mebbe assembled studio/road pros? Think I saw some good reviews of it. Yeah, the big Outlaws radio hit I remember was def in wake of Eagles: "There goes another love song/They're singin' about me again." But the Eagles went more towards mainstream rock, only used three Glynn Johns smooth loungepoke harmony etc tracks on On The Border, I think. I guess a fair number of people still craved the earlier approach. The guitarathon was harder on wannabees, though I saw Grinderswitch on the same bill with Cowboy, of all bands. Cowboy had me thinking of a more consistently in-focus Traffic, and got some applause, even a few cheers--but lots of yells for Grinderswitch, who were good for a grunty while, and I'm all for the meat'n'taters, but jeez.

In their original power trio incarnation, Hydra could go from sounding exactly like Cream at their heaviest to the Jimi Hendrix Experience at their--well, their mean, which was pretty exacting. They had a rep as an urban Southern Rock band, supposedly jamming with BOC and the Stooges, which came to mind on their self-titled debut, esp. re the scurrying in the walls of "If You Care Enough To Survive," alongside the bulldozer bounce. But although the vocals were great on their power ballads, "Feel The Pain" and Dreams of Sweet Miriam," they got distracting on the second, Land Of Money, with the dated sub-Johnny Winter hoarse bellowing. Third album went back to the trio I think, but my copy sounded warped, so I went on to other things, ballin' on a budget etc. Here's the first
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VctICBWwlk8/TJfSmg3fO4I/AAAAAAAAAQY/orJVV0eBHdI/s1600/Cover.jpg