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And you thought 'Raw Power was obnoxious... Jim Dandy from the back
cover of the original '73 LP - and now limited edition expanded CD - of
'Raunch 'n' Roll Live'Raunch ‘n’ Roll Redux:
Rhino Handmade to the RescueLive albums, at least the better offerings from the era when they actually mattered i.e. the seventies, are both dumb ‘n’ indispensable. That said, surely they don’t get any more d.N.i than Black Oak Arkansas’ ’73 concert souvenir ‘Raunch ‘n’ Roll Live.’
Mark my word, though; this record’s time has FINALLY arrived! It’s like what Greg Shaw declared ‘bout ‘em back when this album was unleashed the first time on a too-sophisticated-for-their-own-good public: “They’re more of the past and the future than the present.”
The ‘past’ portion of the puzzle is Black Oak’s largely forgotten early ‘70s stoner mysticism which Shaw contemplated for several thousand words in Creem, almost nominating them as successors to psychedelic icons the 13th Floor Elevators before wisely reconsidering.
Then again, there is a fleeting similarity between the primal screech of the Elevators’ Roky Erickson and the equally over the top sinus-blockage yowl of Black Oak’s Jim Dandy (9 out of 10 punks’ll argue that Roky had the more commercial voice of the two). And for a record released in ’73, ‘Raunch ‘n’ Roll’ is notable for some seriously antiquated psychedelic guitar noodling; only we’re talkin’ less Elevators, more the plastic acid rock of 1968.
You can hear it on “Mutants of the Monster.” On “Full Moon Ride”, the three guitar players manage to sound like they are ALL playing backwards! On “Hot and Nasty”, you expect ‘em to respond to the deep groove drum intro with some MC5-style kerrang. Instead, they deliver a surprise lo-watt barrage of folk-rock licks a la ’66 Buffalo Springfield. I’m not making this up. According to the credits, guitarist Rick Reynolds sticks to a 12 string for the duration of this concert album.
So, what’s so great about this record anyway? Like other prehistoric in-concert epics (say, Deep Purple’s ‘Made in Japan’ and Grand Funk’s ‘Live Album’), there’s plenty of waste to wade through to get to the primo stuff. But like Robot A. Hull said in his Creem review of this platter, “Don’t listen to critical whize asses who say that this group is the NEXT ROLLING STONES because they ain’t. Nope, you dumbshits, BLACK OAK ARKANSAS IS THE NEXT MC5!!!”
Tongue-in-cheek testimonial aside, Robot got worked up without even the benefit of hearing two absolutely KILLER versions of “Fever in My Mind” included in the latest CD expansion job; either of ‘em which missed the cut of the original seven-song Atco vinyl release. See, Rhino Handmade has dredged up the two concerts that the album was squeezed from and repackaged them in their entirety; as ‘The Complete Raunch ‘n’ Roll Live’!!!
This is overkill to the extreme, especially considering that a lot of the material blows. But “Fever in My Mind” - particularly the 2nd version recorded at the Paramount Theater in Seattle (rather than Disc One from the Paramount in Portland; talk about repetition) - is an unearthed masterpiece of full-on psychedelic hard rock dementia.
On this keeper “Fever”, the guitars are mixed for optimum mayhem with a skull-drilling two note lead guitar throughout. Jim Dandy is largely buried under this din ‘n’ overall auditorium ambience but claws his way out in time to warble inappropriately over the first guitar solo.
Museum Exhibit One: An eight-track cartridge version.
Say what you will about Jim Dandy Mangrum. If you won’t, I will. This guy was obnoxious beyond belief, scrapin’ unnecessary noise on grandma’s washboard. And of course, there’s his Dixie super-stud shtick. He’s perpetually crammed into spandex so tight he looks like a male underwear model on acid. But his maniacal raps on this performance add fuel to Greg Shaw’s old claim of BOA future relevance. His torturous pipes, described in Rhino’s liner notes as a “toad howl” (that’s a self-assessment from the man himself!), combined with his semi-crazed delivery ranks right up there with the worst/best of early ‘70s vocal excess.
The rest of Black Oak Orchestra just do not get enough due. Let’s start with the guitar army of Harvey Jett, Stanley Knight and Rick Reynolds. For a three git lineup in a live setting – produced by Allmans ‘At the Fillmore East’ producer Tom Dowd, no less – they have the sheer taste to get on with it by all soloing at the exact same time. Thus there’s rarely a song that exceeds three minutes (five, if you count Mangrum’s between-song obnoxious sermonizing).
Bass player “Dirty” Daugherty has the classic southern rock look down pat. In other words, unlike Dandy but like all the other mangy mutts in Black Oak, there is nothing notable about him other than to say this is one motherblippin’ tip top player. He’s got the zooming bass lines on “Fever in My Mind” and to even greater effect on the unbelievably ass stompin’ “Hot Rod” (hint: despite Dandy’s auto intro, it’s not about his car).
And then there’s the drumming on “Hot Rod”; from future heavy metal big hair Tommy Aldridge. Despite a symphony of grunts from the frontman plus some damn near brill guitar work, it’s the limber drumming that sends this track into orbit.
(Supposedly, Aldridge has not been on speaking terms with his old BOA bandmates since the ‘70s. On his website, he mentions them only as “that band”! I guess you’d be pissed for a few decades, too, if you had this guy’s level of talent only to be stuck playing support to a washboard.
“Hot Rod” – again, the definitive take is found on Disc Two of the Rhino Handmade set – is one I had inexplicably forgotten about after a mere three decades. What can I say? I’m slipping. But it’s likely to go in my permanent top ten of seventies raunch. But believe me, I’m not beginning to describe its greatness. To that point, here’s Robot Hull one more time: “In fact, it’s the most exciting song ever recorded live anywhere at any time on any label by any group.” He he he.
And of course there’s “Hot and Nasty.” Until Mangrum finally barfed-up a lung with their novelty hit “Jim Dandy to the Rescue”, this was Black Oak’s funky (in more than one sense) calling card. Since this deluxe reissue is sanctioned by the tasteful crew at Rhino, get ready for a wave of pseudo-hip reviewers demanding a BOA reevaluation. They will inevitably cite “Hot and Nasty” as the key track to check-out. They’d be about right.
Well, don’t include me among these phonies. I’ve been on the “Hot and Nasty” bandwagon for AWHILE now, even plugging it a few columns back.
I bought this slab of near-insanity back in the late ‘70s when copies were rotting away at the local Woolworth’s as a $1.99 cut-out (in quadraphonic sound, to boot). 30 years later, that forgotten 4-channel mix – and an inserted land deed to one square inch of the band’s spread back in Jonestown, Arkansas - is about the only detail missing from Rhino Handmade’s limited-to-5000-copies edition, ‘The Complete Raunch ‘n’ Roll Live’.
Dumb, greasy (remastered grease, that is), and with enough first-class ’70s hi-energy boogie to recommend it ten times over, this horribly good record is early frontrunner for REISSUE OF THE YEAR! - Jeff Jarema
