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- Date Released: January 1, 1973
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Classic Rock
- Label: Shout! Factory
Good ol' South Carolina boys make their charming debut.
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We Say...
Fresh out of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and, in a couple cases, not long out of Vietnam, the blue-collar boys in the Marshall Tucker Band audaciously open their Top 30 1973 debut album with two beautifully swinging six-minute rambles — the first, “Take the Highway,” pomped high with Jethro Tull style flutes; the second, FM radio staple “Can’t You See,” a lonely lament about riding the train to the end of the line and committing suicide off a mountaintop. For Southern rock, the music doesn’t feel redneck at all: more like old cowhands from the Rio Grande.
The album has its pleasantly mellow holding patterns — two or three ballads dead-set on Grateful Dead. But more often, this sextet focus on setting America’s great wide yonder to 20th century dance rhythms. In “Hillbilly Band,” old-timey fiddles and jugs ride a Diddley beat for a foot-stomping swamp funk; trumpets and saxes in “Ramblin’” conjure a late ‘20s riverboat jazz band.
There’s folk and (on this reissue, in a 12-minute-plus live bonus cut) blues as well. But where Marshall Tucker truly perfect their sound might be “My Jesus Told Me So”: calm and spacious, like you’re up before dawn driving the last leg of your journey, with the road to yourself. When three gospel singers enter, you can feel the sun coming up. -
They Say...
Taking a page from their Capricorn Records labelmates and Southern rock contemporaries the Allman Brothers, the Marshall Tucker Band issued a self-titled debut blending the long and winding psychedelic and jam band scene with an equally languid and otherwise laid-back country-rock flavor. Into the mix they also added a comparatively sophisticated jazz element -- which is particularly prominent throughout their earliest efforts. The incipient septet featured the respective talents of Doug Gray (vocals), Toy Caldwell (guitar/vocals), his brother Tommy Caldwell (bass/vocals), George McCorkle (guitar), Paul Riddle (drums), and Jerry Eubanks (flute/sax/vocals). Their free-spirited brand of Southern rock was a direct contrast to the badass rebel image projected by the Outlaws or Lynyrd Skynyrd. This difference is reflected throughout the 1973 long-player The Marshall Tucker Band. The disc commences with one of the MTB's most revered works, the loose and limber traveling proto-jam "Take the Highway." The improvised instrumental section features some inspired interaction between Toy Caldwell and Eubanks. This also creates a unique synergy of musical styles that is most profoundly exhibited on the subsequent cut, "Can't You See." Caldwell's easygoing acoustic fretwork babbles like a brook against Eubanks lonesome airy flute lines. The remainder of the disc expounds on those themes, including the uptempo freewheelin' "Hillbilly Band." Unlike what the title suggests, the track is actually more akin to the Grateful Dead's "Eyes of the World" than anything from the traditional country or bluegrass genres. "Ramblin'" is an R&B rave-up that leans toward a Memphis style with some classy brass augmentations. The effort concludes on the opposite side of the spectrum with the tranquil gospel rocker "My Jesus Told Me So," offering up Caldwell's fluid guitar work with a sound comparable to that of Dickey Betts. "AB's Song" is an acoustic folk number that would not sound out of place being delivered by John Prine or Steve Goodman. This eponymous effort established the MTB's sound and initiated a five-year (1973-1978) and seven-title run with the definitive Southern rock label, Capricorn Records.
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| 01. |  |
Take The Highway |
6:15 |
|
| 02. | |
Can't You See |
6:05 |
|
| 03. | |
Losing You |
5:06 |
|
| 04. | |
Hillbilly Band |
2:35 |
|
| 05. | |
See You Later, I'm Gone |
3:08 |
|
| 06. | |
Ramblin' |
5:07 |
|
| 07. | |
My Jesus Told Me So |
5:32 |
|
| 08. | |
AB's Song |
1:15 |
|
| 09. | |
Everyday I Have The Blues (bonus live track) |
12:33 |
|
09 Total Tracks, 47:36 Total Length
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