Black Oak Arkansas

I once heard that David Lee Roth was heavily influenced in his showmanship from Jim Dandy. Anyone else have confirmation that he was a BOA fan?

 

Did the Beatles have anything to do with bugs?

 

Black Oak's a little bitty town just to the east of Jonesboro. Maybe 40 miles more or less due north (& a bit west) of West Memphis, about 30 miles south of Kennett MO (where Sheryl Crow's from). Supposedly the band were the county's resident hippies in the '60s, and lived in a sort of early commune way back up in the woods and hills (that's more or less where the mountains end).

No, they really were hillbillies. Trust me.

You know, I think I might've 'bought' me a piece of Black Oak in that thing back then. Wonder if it's 'worth' the price of a CD now?

 

I was blown away when I saw BOA on TV (I think it was 'In Concert') and Tommy Aldrich performed the most insane drum solo I had ever seen. Right at the peak of frenzy, he threw his sticks into the crowd and started to beat the drums with his bare fists like some kind of berzerker. (Years later I found out that John Bonham did a similar thing live - but since Led Zeppelin didn't allow themselves to be seen US TV in the early '70's I didn't know about that).

 

If you go to a BOA show today, there are still a number of "bikers and outlaw types" that will show up.

As to the appeal to the ladies....my wife was a fan of BOA in the 70s. It was Jim Dandy's long blonde hair, the white spandex, and the suggestive mannerisms. I think she was a bit disappointed seeing him several times years later. She said he just didn't have the same "sex appeal".

 

Ruby Starr also released an album on Curtom as Ruby Jones that was reissued with the title "Stone Junkie". I bought it because of the Curtis Mayfield connection. Big mistake.

 

In the mid-sixties the band members were teenagers getting in trouble. By the late sixties they had formed their fledgling group "The Knowbody Else" and went to New Orleans to play and record. (Only one album - and an excellent one by the way). They were discovered by Ahmet Ertegun and shipped out to California as the '70's dawned, where they recorded their debut album with some production guidance from members of Iron Butterfly. When they became big in the next couple years they bought a spread of land in the Ozark mountains and did live in a sort of commune atmosphere, although it was more like they had cabins & small homes on a common parcel, as they also had family and spouses living there too. The place is still there today but run as a fishing & camping resort.

I took these pictures of little Black Oak late 1979/early 1980 as my best friend and I were passing through on our way to be stationed at Fort Bragg/Pope Air Force Base. Thats him under the city sign, flashing the hand sign thats on the back of the Raunch 'n Roll LP (which is Jim Dandys hand with thimbles on the fingertips for playing the washboard.) We were the only kids in town that day and got to talk to some older local folk at the general store. When we told them we were big Black Oak fans they rolled their eyes and this older lady said with a sigh...'those boys' (meaning the original band members I inferred). They were just good old fashioned folk and very nice to us.

 

I have the CD-4 Quad LP of Raunch n Roll. Are there major differences in this mix compared to the regular stereo?

 

Great pictures hahaha!

 

Well, I just ordered it. And, actually it's only 29.95

 

Hmmm. I wonder why?

 

For those who only want a CD version of the LP of Raunch and Roll Live, Wounded Bird did that CD.

 

A few LB's to many.

 

I'm just researching which CDs to get first (after my southern rock thread piqued my interest) it seems like the Atco stuff is the best. They sure do have a lot of albums in the seventies: 14 LPs not including best of comps...I guess the ones up through 1973 would be the best place to start, any opinions? Is Live Mutha any good? Listening to some samples on Amazon, Jim Dandy sure does have a wierd voice, almost like Beefheart, but I like wierd. I get a whole creepy hippie vibe from this band, something that could bode well for the music...

 

IMO, it makes their good music great.

 

They were a great band. I have a quadrophonic pressing of Raunch and Roll

 

I like Ain't Life Grand. It's clean and layered good production. they used a 4 string electric mandolin through a pignose doubling the three guitar players and it's just chock full of riffs and counter parts. I like the one with dancing on the street also.

 

There is a youtube video of them doing "Jim Dandy"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bPsaGPzCHkQ

 

I prefer Raunch N Roll to Live Mutha, personally. That and the first album should get you through for a while.

 

Even has the late Ruby Starr singing the "Go Jim Dandy" part.

Now, this is the Jim Dandy my wife remembers.

 

See my quick review at the beginning of the thread.

As far as those '14' 70's albums, there were really only six studio Atco albums between 1971 and 1975, and one good live one.
This does not include Live Mutha (released by Atco in 1976 after BOA went to MCA in 1975-76). Mutha pales against Raunch & Roll IMO as its a decent but pedestrian live album.

Their first MCA album (X-Rated, 1975), like their last Atco album recorded just months earlier (Ain't Life Grand) was produced by Richard Podolor and are their most professional sounding albums without sounding polished - full of tight, ballsy playing and very good songs. Personally I think X-Rated is a great hard rock album - a very mid-seventies sound with that 'wall of heavy guitars' and big chunky hooks.

The two Wounded Bird CDs that are now OOP.. and hard to find ($$) are their second and third LP's from 1972: Keep The Faith (&) If An Angel Came To See You... While these are atypical of the BOA 'country hard rock' sound - they've held up well as they're grungy and hard, with a mystical/stoner/hippy, almost punk-ish energy to 'em. Side two of Angel is still one of my favorite rock LP sides. These are BOA's two albums that a couple of local 20-something musicians I know said they 'dug.' Theres nothing in rock quite like them.

 

All I can say is Black Oak Arkansas and Ruby ruled.

 

Hell ya!!!!

 

I saw them at least three times in the 70s. I never went to see them specifically. They were constantly touring and were often in the middle of the line up on those mini-festival, multi band shows. They did put on a great show. I never had any interest in buying the albums, but I always heard the albums played at partys.

 

spinnin' their "High On The Hog" LP now. IMO they wuz popular