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Rating: The ninth album in the career of 38 Special is once again enjoyable and pleasant, with several well-executed tracks and others that feel more like filler. It’s 1991, just as the grunge cataclysm strikes—a shift that will make all music acts more or less similar to ours lose their major label distribution contracts, with the only exceptions being the true superstars: Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Guns&Roses, and a few others.
Resembling the previous album but more inspired, this record alternates between hard rock with Southern undertones and other hard, yet more generic and melodic numbers—well-crafted songs responsible for this band’s last sparks on the charts… just before Kurt Cobain and his peers manage to convince the industry that the coolest rock of the nineties is the one (swinging between punk, psychedelia, and metal—what an innovation) performed by desperate guys in flannel shirts, all crowded together in a single West Coast metropolis.
The driving and accessible “The Sound of Your Voice” establishes the parameters for the entire record right from the start; Max Carl’s brilliant voice is right where it should be, as is Jeff Carlisi’s flawless solo—unfortunately, his last appearance with the band. What follows, “Signs of Love,” is the first of their power ballads, a musical form destined to serve as a swan song for a certain kind of eighties rock. But the strong pop rock on offer so far is energetically set aside with the first track sung by Donnie Van Zant, titled “Last Thing I Ever Do”: pure, hard Southern rock… it almost feels like a different album! Drawled vocals, vanished synths, and dueling guitar parts everywhere.
“You Definitely Got Me” shows off Max Carl’s more blues-rock side—he’s not just about clever pop music. This track isn’t, in fact it’s a bit predictable and stiff, but it’s saved by some beautiful guitar resonance in certain passages. Van Zant tries to match his bandmate by picking up the acoustic guitar to kick off the lyrical “Rebel to Rebel,” the closest thing they’ve ever created to their cousins, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The semi-AOR (album-oriented rock) sound that opened the album might seem forgotten, but instead here comes the title track, reminding us of 38 Special’s ongoing evolution. It’s a brisk and very melodic tune, with a touch of Journey; the crisp drum sound is delightful… the ugly electronic samples from the two previous albums have vanished, and the sound engineer has gone back to working with mics and compressors around the drums and cymbals: thank goodness!
“You’ll Be the Dam, I’ll Be the Water” stands out thanks to the most unusual song title of the bunch: it’s the only song I know with “dam” in the title, and the word is repeated constantly in the choruses. Other than that, it’s an enjoyable mid-tempo track, but far removed from what 38 Special had started out doing fifteen years earlier. Once again, it is followed by a very Skynyrd-esque number to bring up the alcohol content—according to this album’s bipolar progression: “Jimmy Gillum,” who knows who this guy might be, but he’s celebrated with a vigorous and thick-fisted rock blues, Southern to the max. The atmosphere stays tough and masculine with the next track, “Tear It Up,” even though the usually melodic Carl is back at the mic. Here, though, the keyboardist is screaming and shouting, while the guitars both shine and rage, with help from some (fake) horn section cues.
“Don’t Wanna Get It Dirty” is introduced by the clavinet, but the guitars are quick to join in for another Southern rock piece courtesy of Van Zant—orthodox and decisive but rather… anonymous. Not much personality comes through in the following “Burning Bridges” either, which only offers an admirable rhythm guitar accompaniment.
The band lets loose one last time on the tight “Can’t Shake It,” sung in unison from start to finish, with a biting slide guitar that adds a twist to their habitual guitar layering—this time at its best. The thirteenth and final track is essentially just piano (Roland) and Max Carl’s vocals, who shows he’s listened to and thoroughly absorbed Journey’s “Escape” and “Frontiers”: syrupy tenor vocals galore, perfect for desperate housewives and romantic nerds.
That’s how 38 Special operated back in those years, trying to please everyone with something for everyone—at a somewhat schizophrenic pace: sometimes round, sometimes square, trying to satisfy all and ending up pleasing none. But this is the work of people who really know what they’re doing, and they still earn themselves four stars—unfortunately, for the last time.
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