.38 Special - Rockin' Into The Night (1979)

[66 mustang]

after years of being on the road and 2 albums that failed to capture broad appeal the band had some decisions to make. what did they do? they decided to listen to what was going on at the time in music and what did they find? They found the CARS. Take a listen to The Cars and you can hear the major influence it had when .38 Special was in a do or die situation. If their next album didn't hit they were pretty much a dead band. They tweeked their sound based on The Cars pap senseabilities and added to the .38 sound

 

 

the single Rockin' Into The Night was just the ticket, the sound they needed to reach out to a larger audience that had decided that Southern Rock died in the 1977 Skynyrd plane crash. With Don Barnes sharing lead vocals now the band not only has a smooth Arean Rock syled song in its' arseanl it still the the power of Southern Rock with the Van Zant songs.

 

 

The band was about to define Southern AOR Rock. not pure southern rock, not pure AOR but a great mix. If you are only a fan of the "hits" you have missed some nice hitting southrn rock songs.

 

 

The songs that Don sings are the "hits" that garner broad appeal and sometimes blend the best of both sides of the band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBJWHQPkoKQ

 

this also has the one song by the band's early years that I dont' listen to. Robin Hood. for some reason I just don't care for insturmentals from any band, even my favorite band.

Money Honey was probably the weakest song on the album and one that I skip more times than not but for the next few albums there was no need for the skip (or FF) button.

 

Anyway, this album set the tone for .38 for the next decade but Van Zant kept getting fewer and fewer tracks on the albums that were coming out. I do miss the equal balance the band had in the mid 80's with don and donnie's vocals. the Van Zant songs helped keep the band rooted and the Barnes songs brought them attention

This is the start of a GREAT ride though the 80's.

[Jez]

Great album that set the tone for the brace of albums that wer to come. Strangely, 'Robin Hood' is one of my fave tracks on the album along wtih the title track, but heh..what do I know