Atlanta Rhythm Section
Third Annual Pipe Dream

With a naive cover worthy of the progressive groups from Canterbury, therefore misleading, in 1974 the Atlanta Rhythm Section, a sextet from Georgia, USA, presents their third time on the record market, dedicated to a vibrant country blues rock, albeit conducted with exquisite class and increasing elegance as the years go by.

We are not yet at the optimum, but genuinely memorable songs are beginning to flourish. I refer, for example, to the rolling, celebratory, irresistible opening "“Doraville”", an anthem to the city near Atlanta that houses their lives and the recording studio of their producer, where they are therefore continuously placed when not out on the road playing.

I similarly allude to the lyrical and relaxed "“Close the Door”", with the two guitarists Barry Bailey and J.R. Cobb (on slide) who ennoble it by conversing with continuous sharp, measured, melodic, very enjoyable back-and-forths. For some unknown reason, however, this track ends with a... belch!

I am also talking about the closing "“Who You Gonna Run To”", a textbook boogie blues if it weren't for some elegant jazz chords appearing here and there and if it did not serve as the perfect vehicle for the knotty, virtuoso solos of the formidable Bailey, who knows how to take each note with the wit and strength and variety of the greats, as well as with a sound that stands out for its depth and richness of nuances.

Finally, I refer to the first career masterpiece "“Angel”", a boogie-tempo ballad with a seductive melody in which the guitar ace delivers the first truly unforgettable solo. The episode lasts over five minutes but in concerts, when Barry was there, it went up to nine or ten. His solo starts halfway through the song, seems to end after a minute in a general lull but instead picks up magnificently, first with a great bass line and then with the rhythm section which shortly after shifts to three-quarters, supporting even better the great soloist and his Les Paul, intent on painting wonderful melodic arches.

Almost country rock episodes and ballads, one even with an orchestra, alternate with the more canonical rock blues typical of the southern states, sometimes more rugged, other times more relaxed. The production still lacks a bit of incisiveness, a deficiency that will be definitively fixed, and in a great way, three or four years (and records) later.

But this "limitation" is equally enjoyable for those who, although now accustomed to the absurd and bombastic productions of the digital era, find it enlightening to linger on these old songs from half a century ago, which did without extreme compressions, deadly transients in the attacks, cannon shots of drums, and bass earthquakes.

First career work for ARS to earn 4 stars.