Street Party

Performer: Black Oak Arkansas
Producer: Tom Dowd
Distributor: Bayside Record Dist.

Notes: Personnel: James Mangrum, Ruby Starr (vocals); Ricky Reynolds, Stan Knight (guitar); Tommy Aldridge (drums). Arranger: Black Oak Arkansas. Street Party, Black Oak Arkansas' follow-up to their most successful opus, High on the Hog, had a respectable chart performance, but in no way does the 1974 Atco release live up to the standard of the group's previous recordings. James "Jim Dandy" Mangrum's rockin' redneck shtick simply overpowers the music on Street Party, setting the tone for a string of inferior offerings. Eventually, the band's movement away from their Southern rock roots and into diverse and sometimes comical side-roads would cost them their relevancy and most of their audience. Too much emphasis is placed on style and musical devices, while the amount of straight-ahead Southern rock is unduly restricted. The bluegrass- and gospel-tinged "Brink of Creation" is the only non-rocker that really works on this record. Mangrum's lazy croaking squelches many other numbers like the spiritual "Sure Been Workin' Hard" and "I'm a Man." Despite this LP's respectable sales, it should only be approached with extreme caution. ~ Vincent Jeffries

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