Thursday 17 December 2015

Black Oak Arkansas (1971) Memories at the Window

This minor key masterpiece  comes from the oft overlooked southern rock band Black Oak Arkansas.  Looked down upon by critics due to Jim Dandy Mangrums' animated style of vocals,  though the three guitar band could really rock in a very immediate and raucous style on gems such as Hot and Nasty off their debut. Also from their talented debut album this song begins with some downbeat cross picking that sounds very modern and grungy for 1970. It reminds me of The Matrix soundtrack 'Clubbed to Death' and REM's Extreme Ways.

 Then we get some underlying eastern sounding slide guitar sliding back and forth as we lead into the touching ballad main section of the song. Lyrically beautiful it is about looking through a window hoping to see the memories of the past even though things have now changed.  A surprisingly mature lyric with a startling metaphor for a gritty southern rock band showing how misunderstood they really were and still are to this day.


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