Hard, Heavy and Worth a Mention 1978
Molly Hatchet Molly Hatchet 1978 (Epic)
Southern Rock
She's a six gun strapped down my side.
As with glam rock before it, I’ve purposefully avoided southern rock as well, as delving into these two sub-genres would surely make the confines of this journal too large to work within its current paramaters. But a mention should surely be given to some of the southern rock bands at the heavier end of the spectrum. The Allman Brothers Band had of course served up southern rock’s main helping some ten years earlier and the reknowned Lynyrd Skynyrd had provided the genre with its heavier backbone. In fact Lynyrd Skynyrd would prove to be an even greater influential backbone to the future heavy southern rock bands, than any of the traditional hard rock and heavy metal bands out there. Prior to this and over the years bands like ZZ Top had kept southern heavy traditions alive, but towards the end of the decade a number of southern based bands such as Molly Hatchet and Blackfoot put out heavy albums that were well worth the listen. Molly Hatchet who got their name from a prostitute that had allegedly killed and mutilated her victims, were a band that came from that southern musical hotbead of Jacksonville Florida and had heavily played the local bar circuits. Then with the help of the legendary Ronnie Van Zant (Lynyrd Skynyrd) they had arranged several songs for their debut album of which Ronnie Van Zant had planned to produce. Then of course these plans were curtailed, when a tragic plane crash involving Ronnie Van Zant and others from Lynyrd Skynyrd were sadly killed, leaving hard rock producer Tom Werman to take up the production slack for the Molly Hatchet debut. Whilst the album is far from being a classic, the songs are superbly sung by frontman Danny Joe Brown and of any interest to fans of southern rock (which to be honest I’m not one, but I do like this album) The pick of the songs here include the album opener “Bounty Hunter” which is carried along by Danny Joe Brown’s infectious voice “Cheatin Woman” and the Allman's cover “Dreams I’ll Never See” and as expected the whole album is heavily carried along by its three guitarists, who dominate every track. Molly Hatchet along with the likes of Kansas, had some of the most epic and themed albums covers from the decade as well and their debut album cover is designed by American artist Frank Frazetta and was suprerbly named ‘The Death Dealer’ with its fantasy art style and like the Grateful Dead before them, they would continue with this theme for most of their output.
Danny Joe Brown- Vocals
Dave Hlubeck- Guitar
Steve Holland- Guitar
Duane Roland- Guitar
Daner Thomas- Bass
Bruce Crump- Drums
Production- Tom Werman