Published on Oct 13, 2000
By the admission in the liner notes, Atlanta Rhythm Section was
never comfortable being a live band. Unlike many other bands in the
Southern Rock genre who lived for the road, Ronnie Hammond and crew
seemed happiest when they were refining their sound in the studio.
Then again, Atlanta Rhythm Section wasn’t your typical Southern
Rock group; the band – which included former members of Roy
Orbison’s band and Classics IV – crafted songs that were almost
AOR-smooth.
Live At The Savoy, New York, October 27, 1981 captures the
band as their star was tumbling from the sky. They had just charted
what was to be their final top 40 hit, “Alien,” about two weeks
prior.The group had just completed a label switch (as well as a
lawsuit between their former and then-current label), though the
band would call it a day (at least for the time being) in less than
two years. Worse yet, the whole genre was nowhere near as popular
as it had been during the ’70s. And the ghost of Lynyrd Skynyrd
still hovered over the scene, four years after the fatal plane
crash. (Hammond invokes the spirit of Ronnie Van Zant before they
kick into “Large Time”.)
Put this together, and you get… well, not quite a smashing
success, but the 10-song set is hardly a failure. The problem with
Live At The Savoy is that the energy goes through more hills
and valleys than your typical rollercoaster. You know things aren’t
quite right when the band can’t build up a good level of excitement
on the opening track “Champagne Jam”. That being said, the group
does get both the crowd and the listener into the show with the
very next track, “I’m Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight”.
The best moments on
Live At The Savoy come on the songs they’re probably best
known for – namely, “Imaginary Lover,” “So Into You” and “Spooky,”
the third being a cover of the Classics IV hit.
(Keyboardist/vocalist Dean Daughtry, guitarist/vocalist J.R. Cobb
and producer/manager Buddy Buie had all been members of that band,
so Atlanta Rhythm Section has more of an inherent right to cover
the song than some bands have doing cover versions.) One minor
complaint, though – I would have preferred to have heard “Imaginary
Lover” not segue into “So Into You”. It’s so rare that any of these
tracks are heard today; why didn’t they let these songs stand on
their own?
The remainder of
Live At The Savoy, regrettably, is hit-and-miss – and often,
it’s only through repeat listens that the songs show any magic.
Tracks like “Homesick” and “Alien” don’t really click until about
the fifth or sixth listen, and even then, it’s not the kind of
“oh-wow” moment people experienced with songs like “So Into You”.
The remaining tracks – “Higher,” “Large Time” and “Long Tall Sally”
– just failed to click with me. Too bad, especially seeing that
Hammond tried to work up the crowd for “Large Time”.
Atlanta Rhythm Section still occasionally works the oldies
circuit, but their glory days are long behind them.
Live At The Savoy has a few moments which will remind people
why these guys were stars in the late ’70s, but it probably won’t
create a renaissance of interest in the group.