Atlanta Rhythm Section - Dog Days (1975/2018) [Hi-Res]

Dog Days was ARS first masterpiece and an album that still stands with their best. It showcases a band that has found its groove and is taking its music to a new level. Featuring another fine collection of songs about themselves and the South, the band displays a growing array of musical styles and approaches that are very different from where the rest of Southern Rock was headed. Overall, it's a faster paced album that what had come before, featuring six uptempo songs and two beautiful ballads-all originals.

It opens on some high notes with the rocking Crazy leading into the buildup blues and breakout jam of Boogie Smoogie. A couple of lighter tunes lead into a ballad that is ballad that is a beautiful evocation of the South Dog Days. For the second album in a row they show off their chops with an instrumental Bless My Soul. The album closed with another classic ballad of Souther images All Night Rain. While other bands were striving to claim the mantle of kings of Southern rock, ARS had started making music no other Southern band has ever been able to duplicate.

"What has become known as Southern rock is now one of my favorite genres of current rock & roll, but one of the most distinctive oddities I've discovered about it is that it seems to take most bands several albums before they arrive at a level of competence that I can stand to listen to. Two or three pedestrian LPs and then boom!, the rhythm section's tight and funky, the lead guitar player has stopped imitating Dickey Betts, and they're writing and singing memorable tunes.

But there is no denying that they do boogie well, as "Boogie Smoogie," the tune those lyrics come from, amply demonstrates. Paul Goddard's flatulent bass and some slashing guitar work from Barry Bailey and J.R. Cobb (as well as some excellent lyrics) make for an exciting eight minutes.

Not all of the album fares as well, since the band does have a tendency to meander, but the humorous "Cuban Crisis" and the ballad "All Night Rain" provide a good change of pace. All in all, enjoyable if not earthshaking, and that's good enough for me." (Ed Ward, Rolling Stone)