Ranking Marshall Tucker Band Albums

I'm on a MTB binge. I heard the Stompin' Room and loved it. Live On Long Island was also good. Are these the best two live albums available or is there something better? What are their best studio albums? What are the best sounding versions? Any help would be appreciated!

 

I have these on vinyl but I'm looking for CDs.

 

bullmoose.com looks to have their entire catalog, or close to it. Some of it at decent pre-owned prices.

 

These are my two favorites of the four albums that I have by them


The Marshall Tucker Band ‎– The Marshall Tucker Band
Label:
AJK Music ‎– A 618-2
Format:
CD, Album, Remastered
Country:
USA & Canada
Released:
1989



The Marshall Tucker Band ‎– Where We All Belong
Label:
AJK Music ‎– A 677-2
Format:
CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered
Country:
USA & Canada
Released:
1992

 

My top tier MTB are the self-titled debut, Where We All Belong and Carolina Dreams. Where We All Belong was originally released as a two record set, one studio and one live and the live album is absolutely killer!

You really can't go wrong with anything the band did in the 70's.

 

Going by memeory & subject to change day to day anyway.
Whatever has ended up in last spot is still better than most other bands best efforts.
The not so good albums happened after Toy Caldwell had left.

Carolina Dreams
Searchin' for a Rainbow
A New Life
Where We All Belong
The Marshall Tucker Band
Running Like the Wind
Together Forever
Long Hard Ride
Just Us
Greetings From South Carolina
Tenth
Dedicated
Tuckerized

 

Just had a look and I have fifteen of their albums & it's fair to say I find something to enjoy on all of them. I reckon that Kingley Fats is correct, when when you lose a talent like Toy Caldwell, it's not easy to recover. He wasn't fully engaged on Just Us and Greetings From South Carolina and whilst they are still decent, they suffer a little accordingly though I can vouch that 1990's Southern Spirit, which only has Doug Gray and Jerry Eubanks from the classic line-up, is a strong effort.

The only later record I have is The Next Adventure, from 2007, which features Doug, erstwhile Outlaws, Chris Hicks and BB Borden, David Muse from Firefall and Clay Cook from the Zac Brown band amongst others. A lot of the songs have been brought in from outside sources but there are three credits for George McCorkle and one for Toy. Once you get used to Doug's voice being more of a rasp than a thing of beauty, it's actually a very good album. I believe that the ex Outlaws boys are still part of the band.

Regardless, this is how I'd score the albums I own:

5/5

Debut
A New Life
Searchin' For A Rainbow
Long Hard Road
Carolina Dreams
Running Like The Wind
Dedicated

4/5

Where We All Belong
Together Forever
Tenth
Southern Spirit
The Next Adventure

3/5

Tuckerized
Greeting From South Carolina
Just Us

 

I'll have to do some re-listening. Especially to Dedicated, The Next Adventure & Southern Spirit as you rate them further to the top than me.
I think you've been over generous to Long Hard Ride.
I also think that Greetings From South Carolina & Just Us are a lot better than 3/5.
I will need to relisten to Tuckerized as 3/5 is less generous than I would give it.

 

Tough question. They are one of my favorite bands. In addition to the two live releases mentioned in the first post I would recommend Carolina Dreams Tour 1977. The Englishtown, N.J. show from 9-3-77 (opening for the Grateful Dead) was also released. I haven't heard that official release because I have had an unofficial copy of it for years.
Like others have said, you really can't go wrong with any of their first 7 albums with the original line up. For me it comes down to the specific songs I like the most so I usually rank them like this, although a couple of these are interchangeable sometimes:
Long Hard Ride (I just love every song on it)
A New Life
Carolina Dreams
Where We All Belong
Searchin' For A Rainbow
Together Forever
The Marshall Tucker Band

Don't get me wrong, their self titled debut is a strong record but it doesn't resonate with me much compared to their later work. It is the one album I play the least.

I have 3 albums post Tommy's death and I would rank them (in reverse order of release date as it turns out):
Dedicated
Tenth
Running Like The Wind

There are some hidden gems on all three of these.

 

I just realized it's been just over 40 years ago that Tommy died as a result of injuries he sustained in an auto accident. He passed away on 4-28-1980.

 

A situation that unsettled the band & had a flow on affect with Toy Caldwell. Tommy was far more than just the bass player.

When we come to these endless "underrated" threads Toy Caldwell springs to mind. A brilliant guitarist unheard or unknown to most. You could also add Doug Gray on that list as well.

 

I love Marshall Tucker..
My ranking...
Searching For A Rainbow
Where We All Belong
Carolina Dreams
Long Hard Ride
They are the essentials..
After that.....Rank as you please...

 

'Searching For A Rainbow' blows all contemporary 'country' out of the water.

 

I've been a long time fan and have most everything by them through Dedicated. After that I thought the material was weak. I would agree with most of carlwm ratings above except I would move "Where We All Belong" and "Together Forever" up to 5/5 and "Running Like The Wind" and "Dedicated" to 4/5. The masterings that I have and like are the German Line Label for" Self Titled "through" Together Forever". These are not easy to find however, so you probably want to go with the original AJK cds here in the US over the remastered ones that came out later.

 

"A New Life"...easily their best studio album to my ears. Have the original vinyl of it and it still sounds pretty good for a Capricorn release.

 

Funny I've been a fan since I was 13 years old (a long time ago) but I haven't listened to all their studio albums. The first one is great. The live stuff on Where We All Belong is amazing and Together Forever is a personal favorite. There was a cool two disc comp called The Best Of The Capricorn Years but some of the songs were the single versions.

 

You may well be right about Greetings, Just Us and Tuckerized. They were three albums I bought with a glut of other things so I probably haven't given them enough time to unveil their charms. Probably still at that first impression stage, even though I've had them for a while.

Dedicated and Long Hard Ride a real favourites though. Not a weak song between then, to my ears. As far as Southern Spirit and The Next Adventure go, I wasn't expecting much from them, given the creative heart of original line-up had gone but I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed them. The spirit was still there even though the personnel had changed. I like the songwriting too. Doug's voice was a bit of a shocker on the latter but he could still hold a tune in a Guy Clark meets Tom Waits sort of way and, in any event, he's helped out by Borden or Hicks taking lead on three of the tracks.

If you do give them another listen, I'd be curious to know if they were better than you remember.

I'm on the lookout for the rest of their catalogue but the don't seem to be easily available

 

Thanks everyone for all the help!


The Stompin' Room disc is the one the revived my interest in MTB. It jumped out of the speakers with great playin' and nice sound. The Live On Long Island was a little less lively and did not sound as good. I then played the live album from Where We All Belong and liked what I heard. 24 Hours At A Time seems to be taken from that album. I think 3 of the 4 tracks from that album are used on the Stompin' Room cd. Is the Stompin' Room cd the best live Marshall Tucker Band cd that exists or is there something as good out there? Is there a DVD of a live show that has some really good sound and video?

Do the K-Tel CDs sound decent enough?

 

Try their recent RSD New Year's New Orleans Live-very sweet. Also, in the last year or so, their debut was reissued, all analogue, on a RSD without being a RSD release-great sound.

 

Stompin' Room is definitely up at the top as far as their live albums go. It's a compilation though, not a complete concert. The "Blue Ridge Mountain Sky" is the best live version I have heard.
The Carolina Dreams Tour '77 release comes with a dvd of the concert.
Live From The Garden State dvd from 1981 is really good although it was filmed after Tommy died. Still highly recommended though.

 

MTB and Little Feat -- the great under-recognized 70's southern rock bands. Both are essential in my books.

 

I own the entire catalog. This is one band I would start in chronological order. For everything up through Together Forever stick with AJK, here is what they look like if you want CD:

All the AJK's look like this...as a note, all of the MTB I have are the first issues purchased as they came out.



For the next 4, Ramblin' Records:

 

Searchin' for a Rainbow
Carolina Dreams
Running Like the Wind
The Marshall Tucker Band
Greetings from South Carolina
Where We All Belong
A New Life
Tuckerized
Just Us
Together Forever
Long Hard Ride
Dedicated
Stompin' Room Only

 

I bought Just Us & Greeting From South Carolina when they were released @ 1983 which was during an era where there was a lot of music around that did not connect with me so both of these albums were a breath of fresh air for me. I also remember that both Dedicated & Tuckerised had both been a little disappointed (in relative terms only as MTB are one of my favourite all time bands) & these to me sounded like a return to form.

I'll try & fit in a listen to Southern Spirit and The Next Adventure & give you my feedback.

I managed to pick up the post Toy Caldwell albums second hand back in the early days of the net when Secondspin.com was just getting going (It didn't take them long to dominate the market & now they're gone)