Hillbilly band (The Marshall Tucker Band) (LP 894 - 897)

The Marshall Tucker Band  The Marshall Tucker Band (Vinyl, Capricorn Records, 1973) *****

The Marshall Tucker Band  A New Life (CD, Capricorn Records, 1974) *****  

The Marshall Tucker Band  Where We All Belong (Vinyl, Capricorn Records, 1974) ***  

The Marshall Tucker Band  Searchin' For A Rainbow (Vinyl, Capricorn Records, 1975) ***  

Genre: Southern rock 

Places I remember: Amoeba Records (San Francisco); Real Groovy Records (A New Life); Slow Boat Records (Where We All Belong)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Can't You See (from the debut album)

Gear costume: Blue Ridge Mountain Sky (A New Life), Bound And Determined (Searchin' For A Rainbow)

Active compensatory factors: The Marshall Tucker Band is a perfect blend of country and rock sensibilities, plus they have a sweet sound so I have turned into a rabid completist for this band.

It happened slowly. First came hearing Carolina Dreams (it's coming) while working at Marbecks Records and then a cassette copy of Long Hard Road (yes - it's coming too) was thrashed in the car. Two superb albums. Third purchase was A New Life - included in this threesome, and another unbelievably great set of songs.

That did it. Three great albums in a row was telling me something. I needed to get everything else!!

Debut album, The Marshall Tucker Band sets out their stall superbly. 

There's Toy Caldwell's songs (Can't You See, sung by Toy, is an anthem), Doug Gray's terrific lead vocals*, the easy brilliance of the rest of the band which includes Jerry Eubanks adding jazzy sax and flute, and that country rock cool swing from Tommy Caldwell, George McCorkle, and Paul Riddle. All up - a great combination of sounds.

* My two highlighted songs above both feature Toy on vocals but it's actually Doug's smooth approach that is used most frequently on songs, to great effect.

Second album, A New Life, carries on the feel from that debut while adding new jazzy flavours and has a great cover (the cowboy on his horse playing a violin is from the debut cover). No difficult second album syndrome happening here.

Third album, Where We All Belong, is a double album - half live and half studio songs. So, something of an addendum to A New Life.

I'm not sure which band/artist did the first half studio/half live album. I've owned a few in my time - The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter, ZZ Top's Fandango and Jackson Browne's Running On Empty, which intermingles studio and live to tell a specific story, all spring to mind. Those were single albums though; I'm not aware of any other double albums although Rory Gallagher's Irish Tour '74 has three live sides and a studio jam 4th side.

I'm also not sure what the marketing concept is behind the idea. Nor am I sure whether I like it or not as a concept. Rory had enough great material for a 4th side so that was obviously strategic.  

It works well for The Marshall Tucker Band although the studio songs aren't as strong as on A New Life. The live album has four songs - and these lengthy workouts effectively display another side of the band.

Searchin' For A Rainbow is studio album number 4, and a move into a more laid back country rock sound. It includes a big song for them - Fire On The Mountain and ends with a live version of Can't You See which was mistakenly credited on Where We All Belong. It's magnificent!

Where do they all belong? A lot more to come. To be fair to the chronology and trace their development I've decided to mix the vinyl and CDs together for The Marshall Tucker Band. Next group of their albums starts with Long Hard Ride.