Black Oak Arkansas

in 74 or 75

I saw Black oak opening for foghat and I knew the producer who did the next two Black oak albums--Aint life grand and X-Rated. It was the first time Black Oak was produced with a tight sound--they had had some personell changes--Richie Podolor is himeself a great guitarist very musical-and they had gotten Tommy on drums. They made two great pop-rock commercial albums and people didin't like it. I think in the end Black oak doesn't really translate to record very well they were a better act live in their prime. They just didin;t translate to the recording studio very well no matter what you did.

 

Those two albums, from 1975, are tighter and more polished, yet they rock and contain some of their best country rock as well. The only personnel change though was their original lead guitarist, Harvey Jett, left the band due to burn out and the lifestyle (drugs, women, etc.) So Jimmy Henderson came in. I think he was only 18 or so at the time and a fine guitarist.

I don't agree people didn't like them for that though. Their problem was - they are an acquired taste. If your don't like Mangrums vocals, you're not going to like the band, whether live or studio. X-Rated was pretty popular as I recall and one of their albums that was never a cut-out. But its true their live shows were what they were better known for.

At the time I liked them not only for their music, but because they were (for the day) pretty much a form of 'alternative' before that term was known as such. When my friends were playing Rush, Queen, or other big arena rockers of the day, Black Oak stood out. It was kind of like punk, before that came about. The party would divide into love 'em or hate 'em...which was the desired outcome at 16. Their fan base as I saw also tended towards a rougher crowd; bikers, long hair rednecks, girls with tattoo's, back when that was not run of the mill hipster stuff like now.

 

I met a lot of bands in those days at the studio.by rock standards they were nicer people than most. X-rated and aint life grand were quite good. Richie Podolor was at his peak as a producer, they really took some time on those albums. There were a lot of expectations that they were really gonna break through like the Doors or something. It just didin't happen. Maybe MCA was the wrong place for them. I think in retrospect ELijah and stuff that wasn't really produced suited them better. ALthough those two albums I mentioned have some very polished cool stuff. Songs like Rebel and Keepin on should have found a market they just didin't. Pretty decent bunch of guys though. Although I would say they alarmed the residential neighborhood near by just a wee bit!

 

wait a minute

That's what happened Raunchy---sorry gettin old.. As I recall they left Atco--Aint Life Grand Was Atco--and wasn't X-rated MCA---oh yeah Raunchy the old label switcheroonee stuff! ahha---neither label knew what to do with them I suppose oh yeah if MCA was involved! its right up the street from the old studio too MCA that is. Honestly they were a nice bunch of guys but they didint really remind of Jim Morrison or the Beatles or anyone terribly serious minded. One could say they were rather lighthearted.

 

Apologies for resurrecting a thread from over a year ago, but that beats starting a whole new one on the same topic. I happened to pick up a used Raunch 'N Roll Live CD on the Wounded Bird label yesterday and I gotta tell you that I'm not at all disappointed and it brings back the thrill I felt when I picked up the album in 1973. If someone wants to say it's the best live album ever, I won't argue with them because it's definitely a strong contender.

 

I liked them briefly in the mid 70's. Ted Nugent days. They opened with Labelle for the Who at the Gator Bowl in Florida, the best concert I ever saw in my life. I don't even remember thier set, although I was front center on the ground. One of those bands that just don't age well, imho.

Thank god for punk and new wave. We REALLY needed it right about then!

 

Oh man, Ruby Starr. My band was used as the warm up act for Grey Star whenever they came up to east-central Wisconsin from Milwaukee back in the early '80s. Ruby and the band liked us because we were good enough to get the crowd going, but we were not good enough to steal their thunder. I bought a '62 Gibson Firebird from one of their guitarists, which remains one of my favorite guitars of all time. Ruby was a very nice person, always friendly, a fantastic singer, and so good lookin'. Saw her do a cartwheel onstage once and her 'girls' popped out of her top. Thanks for the mammaries...err...memories.

 

I saw them when their s/t lp came out. They backed up Grand Funk during the E Plurbus tour. Amazing, and loud, concert.

 

What was the name of your band? I might have seen you.

 

We were called Pegasus, from the Oshkosh area. We did a lot of shows with Grey Star up in the Fox cities. I don't remember the names of some of those places...The Ridge Point in Wrightstown, Tosh's (I think) in Oshkosh, we did one at some bowling alley in Waukesha, one at Junie's in Dubuque, IA, one at some place in Grafton or Mequon or someplace north of Milwaukee. Geez, I guess my memory's not what it used to be.

 

I have a question: My dad was at the Charlotte Jam in 1974, apparently a few songs from this ended up on the Black Oak dvd, is this footage on youtube or anywhere? I haven't been able to find the DVD....

 

Same here. I remember being "in an enhanced mood" back in the 70's and enjoying Lord Have Mercy and When Electricity Came To Arkansas. Bought the sam CD you mentioned...............and couldn't figure out why I bought it after trying to make it through the first several songs. The only song I still enjoyed was Uncle Lijah.

 

I used to love "Race with the Devil". I thought it kicked butt!

Dave

 

I saw you then. Recall the band name once I made the connection with Junies. Used to go to Junies in Dubuque all the time. Was going to college there and that was the place to go for music. Have not been back there since 1977 so I don't know what ever happened to the place.

 

Waukesha? That would be Sunset Bowl, where Cheap Trick played a few times.

 

Wasn't there some sort of Milwaukee connection with Ruby Star and the Grey Ghost and Jim Dandy of BOA?

They used to play Humpin Hannahs and the Electric Ballroom all the time.

 

Dupe post.

 

My kids have discovered BOA.
Listened to Raunch and Roll and were hooked.
One of the best live bands there was ,Foghat and J Geils a close 2nd.
Ahh,those were the days.

 

I'm very appreciative to find this thread even if it is way stale. BOA was definitely one of my favorite bands in the 70's. I remember playing their 8-tracks in my '72 Ford Pinto. Great times.

A couple days ago I saw a youtube of Ruby Starr singing "Maybe I'm Amazed" and it choked me up. She really was a powerful lady onstage.

I'm wondering if anyone can remember a TV show maybe "In Concert" where BOA did the song "High And Dry"? It has always been one of my favorite BOA songs and try as I might I haven't been able to find out what that TV show was. Searches for Midnight Special and Don Kirshner didn't come up with that track. I distinctly remember Jim Mangrum seated as he sang the song and possibly with Ruby looking on. I haven't found any video of that track performed.

 

What are the best sounding CD versions for BOA?

 

The expanded version of Raunch and Roll on Rhino Handmade sounds great, remastered by Inglot and Hersch. Still available last time I looked.
Bill Inglot also worked on the recent Definitive Rock Collection and the older Rhinos High On The Hog and Hot & Nasty Best Of.

 

I have that "Definitive Rock Collection" set and it's great. It sent me exploring their catalog and it's been an enjoyable journey. Jim Dandy gots lots of soul in him.

here's an interesting tidbit on how the song "Jim Dandy" came about:

http://www.classicbands.com/BlackOakArkansasInterview.html

 

i saw them with ruby starr and grey ghost and they were touring for their semi hit "jim dandy to the rescue". i always thought live they were pretty killer. they did have a great drummer though in tommy aldridge

 

My favorite studio album by them. I like all of the tracks and you identified the highlights plus I would add their great cover of "Singing the Blues."

 

I was channel surfing and caught that TBN show about "backward masking" and guess what they played.... When Electricity Came To Arkansas. When you play it forward he says "natas! natas!", but when you play it backwards Jim Dandy will say "satan satan" [TBN audience: ooooooooh ] while showing a closeup of the back cover of Rauch & Roll. They must have been scraping the bottom for BOA since not to many people remember them since they slipped out of the loop. The climax of the show was the playing of Stairway to Heaven in reverse. I always thought that DLR was JDM's alter ego.