Long hard ride (The Marshall Tucker Band) (LP 940 - 944)

The Marshall Tucker Band  Long Hard Ride (Vinyl and CD, Capricorn Records, 1976) *****  

The Marshall Tucker Band  Carolina Dreams (Vinyl, Capricorn Records, 1977) *****  

The Marshall Tucker Band  Together Forever (Vinyl, Capricorn Records, 1978) ***  

The Marshall Tucker Band  Running Like The Wind (Vinyl, Warner Brothers Records, 1979) ***  

The Marshall Tucker Band  Tenth (Vinyl, Warner Brothers Records, 1980) ****   

Genre: Southern Rock

Places I remember: Marbecks Records, Amoeba Records (SF), Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Heard It in A Love Song (Carolina Dreams)

Gear costume: Desert Skies (Carolina Dreams)

Active compensatory factors: Just check out the release dates - they did an album every year without fail! Not only that, the consistency remains high! Incredible.

For me, these albums are the peak achievement years. Long Hard Ride (with that terrific cover) and Carolina Dreams are perfect Marshall Tucker Band records - production is great, the songs are all terrific, the musicianship is at a high standard and the togetherness vibe intact.

If I had to pick one album to represent the band, Carolina Dreams would be it. Hence why both of my featured selections come from it. All of the bands' country/rock strengths are on display. It's just a beautiful collection of sounds.

Together Forever isn't just a nifty album title - you really get the sense that this is a band of brothers who are in it for each other for the long hard ride. Only Tommy Caldwell's untimely accidental death after Tenth in 1980 would make things otherwise.

Together Forever has a tougher sounding, more rock than country rock sound for the most part (last track is an acoustic one) and while there is a uniformity of sound, this last album on Capricorn Records doesn't really rise to the peaks of the previous two.

Running Like The Wind was the band's first album for Warner Brothers and has that distinctive Marshall Tucker band sound again, without great songs though, apart from Unto These Hills which includes some wonderful playing by Doug Eubanks.  

Tenth, their second on Warner Brothers, is a storming album. There is a vitality to the album and a new energy as It Takes Time kicks off the album sounding a little like The Doobie Brothers. The production is FM radio slicker but still recognizably Marshall Tucker Band, as their comfortable easy brilliance continues throughout the album. 

Where do they all belong? A final entry is to come from The Marshall Tucker Band on the next go around with their albums from 1981 onwards (the post Tommy Caldwell era).