Customer Reviews

Marauder

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The last in a trio of awesome, inspiring, southern rock albums. Blackfoot proved to be one of the finest southern rock outfits ever, and to me, are a very close second behind Skynyrd. Richie Medlocke and his immortals rock out one last time, even tho the rattlesnake might have lost some of it's bite on this one, there's still plenty here to make ones ears sting. Maurader is probably a bit more commericalized than the two previous records, largely noticealbe is the radio smash Fly Away. It's a great song in all, but maybe a bit to melodic. With that aside, there is still raging fire in songs like Rattlesnake Rock N' Roller, Good Morning, and Too Hard To Handle. Blackfoot offers up some of it's best songwriting to date on the moving Diary Of A Working Man and Searchin', both excellent songs. This is a terrific album, and the last worthy classic one the original Blackfoot line-up would ever make.

All great bands seem to have a trio of albums or releases that establish their reputation. Aerosmith for example had "Get Your Wings", "Toys in the Attic" and "Rocks". For Blackfoot every fan cherishes "Strikes","Tomcattin'" and "Marauder." Marauder is the best album of the Blackfoot trio. Starting out with the head banging "Good Morning", complete with a ghoulish Rickey Medlocke laugh, and finishing with a song every one can relate to "Searchin'" this album is a solid effort by this unheralded band. The only song that is a slight let down is "Rattlesnake Rock n Roller" which tries to cash is on the sucess of "Train Train." "Diary of a Working Man" is my favorite Blackfoot song. The lyrics tell the story of a man who has lost the only thing that mattered in his life, his wife. Now the working man decides that there no option except to take his life. This is a tragic song but it grabs the listeners attention as the listener envisions this man's life flashing before his eyes as he reaches his final decision. As a group that prided itself as being a hard working band this songs shows that Rickey Medlocke and Jackson Spires realized there is more to life than work. It is hard to believe this album is twenty years old, but the songs still remain poignant. One has to chuckle when a hand clap is recorded in the background of the song "Too Hard to Handle" after the lyric "he caught a case of unlucky love."

Overall this album is the best release from one of the most under appreciated rock bands in America. Long live the Blackfoot legacy.

I know most avid Blackfoot fans consider the Band's earlier album "Strikes" as their best, and while that album is a classic, I think this album is even better. From the opening quitar whine of the rockin' "Good Morning" to the Shorty Medlocke intoduction of "Rattlesnake R 'n' R" this album is wall to wall great southern rock. The stand out cuts are 1)Good Morning - a hard driving ode to the business man of today (or yesterday if you weren't born until the 80's) 2)Payin' For It - a Great Hard Rock w/ Harmony ode about "ladies of the evening" [Note: this is my all time favorite Blackfoot song ] and 3) Diary of a Working Man - a haunting look at a broken man driven to suicide [Note: my son's favorite Blackfoot song]. This was the first Blackfoot album I ever bought so i'm sure that had something to do with my special affections for this one. This was probably the pinnacle of Blackfoot's career. They were very big in the UK and Europe at this time and released a live album (not released in the US) recorded during the Maurader tour. After that. around 1982, the group decided to add keyboards to the group, changing the sound from a rough, gritty southern rock sound to a more polished sound. The man they chose for that job was the keyboard "wizard" Ken Hensley of the legendary Rock Band "URIAH HEEP". While the new sound was excellent (I, for one, loved the 2 Hensley albums "SIOGO" and "VERTICAL SMILES") I think long time fans didn't take kindly to the changes, and the band slowly began to lose it's steam. So, for a great rock trip down the southern memory lane, pick up Marauder and give it a spin - I know you won't be disappointed!!

Buy this cd. "Strikes" gets all the attention but "Marauder" is Blackfoot's finest and most consistent work. There is not one wasted note on this entire cd. It's one of the rarest and hardest things to find in music - a complete album without a filler song, without one moment that makes you wince, without a single flaw. I could sit here and talk about the songs one by one but really, it'd be a waste of time because they're all excellent.

I was still toying with giving 'Marauder' the crown over the other two until I heard the last track and that really just tipped the scales. It could have provided any accomplished moviemaker with a killer soundtrack to round out a theatrical release. From start to finish with absolutely no exceptions (something which 'Strikes' and 'Tomcattin'' do emulate to a certain degree but can't replicate), 'Marauder' delivers not one bum chord change. This was Blackfoot at their extreme best. I've already given 5 stars to 'Strikes' because I was absolutely blown away by it. If I could give 5 and one half to 'Marauder' I would... and if you buy it you'll understand why this HAS to be the case. These guys embody post-Skynyrd Southern Rock to the extreme and although they're definitely far more hard rock than country, their ballad bits are poignant and will stick with you for years afterward. If you're just after one title of theirs, try for the greatest hits....but if two is sanctionable then make sure this one is the other CD in the package you'll receive. Trust this Southern Rock maniac when he tells you that you'll thank him for it in the short and long run.

When people talk about Blackfoot they always start by talking about Strikes. They should start by talking about this one. This album is jam packed rock through and through. Every note is just flat out awesome. This album has a very nice range from hard rock to softer rock but it all is great. IF you have never heard Blackfoot after listening to this you will be a fan. Awesome Awesome Awesome.

"Marauder" is one of Blackfoot's best albums alongside with "Siogo" and "Strikes". This is raw southern hard rock and when you hear "Good morning" and "Diary of a working man", you'll probably realize that southern rock hardly gets any better. All I can say is - buy this album!

I remember listening to this album over and over on my stereo, cranked into headphones thinking... these guys know how to rock! The songs just grab you... they have a big-guitar southern rock flavor with at times, a native-american or southwestern border feel. The songs vary in nature from wild and free to sad and soulful. The live show they put on at the time of this album was definitely the most rockin' wall of guitar/bass/drums I've ever heard in my life... and I believe it still is to this day.

"Diary of a working man" is one of the most gut wrenching songs I have ever listened to.

This cd showed this band could mellow out from time to time within the same class as Led Zepplin or Thin Lizzy and not have their mellow songs sound like a bunch of hollow "chick tunes" certain other hard rock bands used to record in hopes of getting played on the radio.

To sum it up, a little bit softer than Tomcattin', but more heart and soul added to the mix of great hard and southern rock, great vocals,impeckable song writing and musicianship and great boogie.

A true classic that most people missed the first time around, resulting in the record company/management trying to get the band to adopt a more youthful image, when most of the younger bands would have died for such maturity in musicianship and songmanship that Blackfoot had.

The conclusion to a career making trilogy, `Marauder' marked the end of Blackfoot's brief flirtation with Southern rock superstardom. Nothing the band has done since in their surviving lineups has come close to the hard rock brilliance of their 79-81 period when they could have easily shared the stage with any of the arena rock juggernauts from the era. As often happens to bands that don't quite make it into the big leagues; membership instability and corporate interference would severely damage Blackfoot's prospects for rock supremacy. Still on the albums `Strikes', `Tomcattin'' and `Marauder', the Floridian quartet led by once and future Lynyrd Skynyrd member Rickey Medlocke produced three stupendous albums that seemed to be the perfect marriage of Skynyrd style southern rock with late seventies heavy metal to create a monstrous hybrid. "Diary of a Workingman" is one such example, on its face a ballad but with a powerful midsection that incorporates this stylistic alchemy. "Paying for It", "Dry County" and "Rattlesnake Rock n' Roller" are the standout rockers while "Fly Away" became a minor hit single with its highly melodic approach to what in many ways was a fairly aggressive rocker as well. `Marauder' is probably my least favorite of the `animal' trilogy' but it is an essential purchase.