Atlanta Rhythm Section
Eufaula

Eufaula is, simply put, a small town in Alabama on the border with Georgia, the birthplace of this southern rock band.

The ARS struggle to confidently break into the new millennium: this 1999 album is, in fact, the last collection of new material by the band. In the 2000s, only a few anthologies, live bootleg-like concerts, and that 1983 album shelved by CBS-Sony for not sounding new wave or “80s” were released.

The lineup is the same as the previous crossover “Partly Plugged”: three veteran members and three newer additions. Once again, something is recycled from the historic repertoire, but without the excuse of an unplugged… evidently, there wasn’t enough material to cover the normal length of an album.

“Who You Gonna Run To” from the very old “Third Annual Pipe Dream” is brought back, especially “I’m Not the Only One” and “What Happened to Us,” two pillars of the superb, irresistible “Truth in a Structured Form” (1989): unfortunately, these newer versions, softer and less rock than the originals, sound more like a step back… especially the latter, inexplicably with the bridge, the link between verses and chorus, omitted, which was perfect as it was. A pity.

There are eight other songs, all new to the album. The fact that former members occasionally appear in the credits suggests that these might be outtakes from old albums; everything sounds fresh and newly recorded, with end-of-century technologies, so no compilations-style rehashes.

Among the new tracks, “Dreamy Alabama” and “When” stand out, both gems, velvety and full of class, testifying that the melancholic frontman Ronnie Hammond had taken over composition after guitarist J.R. Cobb, who was his alter ego, left. The latter is the album's masterpiece, with those lyrical electric piano breaks maximizing the evocative refined vocal melody and Barry Bailey’s solo riffs.

With this end-of-last-century contribution, the Atlanta Rhythm Section ends its activity in full efficiency. Only a small series of compilations, live performances, and in 2010 the recovery of that album already ready in 1983 but discarded by the CBS multinational follow. It is titled “Sleeping with One Eye Open” and obtaining it is tough…

Currently, the little that remains of ARS proudly tours venues, theaters, and summer stages across the USA, especially the southern states. Keeping the flame alive is the sole surviving member of the original sextet, singer Rodney Justo, present only on the 1972 debut album and thus rejoining the cause half a century later: fitting(!)... if nothing better has been achieved throughout the rest of life, it’s comforting to retreat to the good things that happened in youth.

The group’s unstable frontman, Ronnie Hammond, was the first to pass away: already in 2001, after long-standing bouts with depression. Founding drummer Robert Nix, a long-time lyricist for the band who also played with Lynyrd Skynyrd, passed in 2012 at just sixty-seven. Two years later, the corpulent bassist Paul Goddard, a giant of his instrument and also listed in Rolling Stone, left for other worlds, as much as those magazine’s rankings are worth. Clean and frugal guitarist J.R. Cobb, co-author of a mountain of songs for both ARS and others, succumbed to heart failure in 2019 while his colleague, the magnificent Barry Bailey, the unforgettable apex of this sextet, threw in the towel in 2022 after a long battle with dreaded multiple sclerosis. The most long-lived turned out to be keyboardist and composer Dean Daughtry, who passed in 2023.

Thus none of the six ARS heroes (I place Hammond before founder Justo for undoubtedly longer tenure, talent, and merits) managed to become… old. Meanwhile, Townshend, Richards, Clapton, Page, Ringo, Walsh, Tyler, Iommi, Young, Taylor, Slick… stubborn devotees of the bottle, snorting, or even needle, did. It also takes some luck in life.

I have supreme respect and admiration for the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Dozens of their tracks are marked with an asterisk in my personal life soundtrack, and dozens of Barry Bailey's solos are prominently featured in my long list of favorites. Heartfelt thanks, ARS.