Great Rock Albums of 1980: Blackfoot- Tomcattin’
One discovery I made quite quickly as I immersed myself deeper in Southern Rock in 1980 was that out of all the Southern Rock bands I listened to, Blackfoot was the heaviest. In fact, many people actually considered them to be heavy metal as the mid eighties approached. The “Strikes” album was a definite heavy album and the follow up “Tomcattin'” was just as heavy.
The album opens with “Warped” and that song convinced me from the get go that this was going to be another hard rocking album from Blackfoot. The next few tracks back this claim up as well. “On The Run,” “Dream On” and “Street Fighter” are all great rock gems. Then there are the next two tracks “Gimme Gimme Gimme” and “Every Man Should Know (Queenie)” that I heard on a live album in 1983. I’ll be visiting that one when I get to that pivotal year. Now the live versions of those songs are complete mind blowers so I should have been disappointed that they weren’t quite as heavy on the studio album. However, I wasn’t because they are both good classic rockers as are the next two tracks: “In The Night” and “Reckless Abandoner.” The one slow song on the album “Spending Cabbage” is no let down either. In all of the tracks, there are some heavy and hard riffs and some decent guitar solos from Medlocke and Hargrett and while none of the songs graced the top 40, (like I would care anyway) the album was well received by their loyal fan base in the Southeast and wowed a few Yankees like me.
Track Listing:
1. Warped
2. On The Run
3. Dream On
4. Street Fighter
5. Gimme Gimme Gimme
6. Every Man Should Know (Queenie)
7. In The Night
8. Reckless Abandoner
9. Spending Cabbage
10. Fox Chase
Rick Medlocke- guitars, vocals
Charlie Hargrett- guitars
Greg T. Walker- bass, keyboards, vocals
Jackson Spires- drums, percussion, vocals
“Tomcattin'” is still considered one of the best Blackfoot albums by many of their loyal fans. For me, it is right up there with “Strikes” and that live one I mentioned. For me, the album stamps Blackfoot’s authority on heavy rock and proves that Southern Rock wasn’t something that was enjoyed by a bunch of rednecks.
Next post: Molly Hatchet- Beatin’ The Odds
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This entry was posted on May 29, 2013 at 9:22 pm and is filed under 1980s, Heavy Metal, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags Americans, Blackfoot, Classic Rock, hard rock, Heavy Metal, Heavy Rock, Southern Rock, Strikes, The 1980s, Tomcattin'. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
9 Responses to “Great Rock Albums of 1980: Blackfoot- Tomcattin’”
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May 29, 2013 at 10:57 pm
I love this one and Marauder – really underrated band, I think.
Great choice!
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May 30, 2013 at 2:55 pm
Thanks and Blackfoot were definitely underrated.
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May 30, 2013 at 2:09 am
An old & wise wilderness hermit once told me: ‘Y’all can never git enough of them Blackfoot’… and I 100% agree.
Fabulous post! (as usual) 🙂 \m/\m/
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May 30, 2013 at 2:54 pm
That hermit is old and wise and I never get enough of Blackfoot. Thanks Stone
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May 30, 2013 at 7:04 am
I love this album. That run of albums from Strikes to Tomcattin’ to Marauder was pretty hard to beat.
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May 30, 2013 at 2:54 pm
You’re spot on and I can’t wait to get to Marauder myself
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May 31, 2013 at 12:52 am
Great band and album. I saw them in 1981 on their North American Marauder tour (with a young Def Leppard opening!) and they kicked ass. “Queenie” live was, well, something every (hu)man should know, for sure.
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May 31, 2013 at 10:52 am
Lucky you, I never got to see this great band live. I do have a live album and the way they played Queenie sounds just like you describe.
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December 22, 2013 at 11:29 pm
You’re absolutely right. This album is an absolute rager. Warped is like Judas Priest covering Lynyrd Skynyrd.
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