Customer Reviews

Outlaws

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

To listen to The Outlaws is an amazing experience. Blazing melodic guitars. Terrific harmonies. Technical virtuosity. And just plain out great rock n roll.

This band never really got the credit they deserved. Even there less known stuff is great. I really believe the Outlaws have the top guitar unit in rock n roll. There picking acumen, feel, speed and melody are all as good as it gets!

Great vocals, too!

This album is there first offering and its a strong one. You got your well-known radio play "There Goes another love song" and "Green Grass". Also strong are the other entries, there isn't a bad song on the CD.

"Knoxville Girl" has a strong bluegrass influence. "Stay With Me" is a flat out upbeat rocker. "Song In The Breeze" is harmony heaven and "It Follows From Your Heart" is a great number, a slow ballad which veers from normal Outlaw fare.

Also check out the solo in "Cry No More". great guitar work by Hughie thomasson and Billy Jones.

The Outlaws first album ranks with the best of all time! The lush, but not overplayed, guitar harmonies. The Point / Counterpoint of Billy Jones (Les Paul) & Hughie Thomasson's (Stratocaster)Guitars. Their guitars, and Vocals, along with those of Henry Paul, bring a touch of bluegrass to Rock, and sweet background vocals, like birds, add up to the most amazing "Band Sound". While all Outlaws albums are keepers, "The Outlaws", is a MUST, for any serious music collector, or listener. Green Grass and High Tides is not the only high spot! You will be asked "Hey, What disc is that?" a lot! Pete Alberts

The debut l.p. by Tampa, Florida's Outlaws was by far their best effort. Dual lead guitarists Huey Thomasson and Billy Jones were the energy in this band. Just listen to "Green Grass High Tides" and you'll understand. The 1975 radio smash "There Goes Another Love Song" was typical of the Southern rock sound at that time. Also, guitarist/vocalist Henry Paul added that "real" country vocal style of singing to this great band. The band did go on to release some great l.p.'s, but in my opinion nothing compares to this debut release. Thomasson is now a member of the "new" Lynyrd Skynyrd and although The Outlaws are no longer around listening to this newly remastered cd will bring back memories of the good ol' seventies!

One of the greatest records of all time and without a doubt the greatest guitar record of all time.If you've only been playing for the past 15-20 years and have never listened to this band, this is a must have.This is what playing guitar is all about people.Hugh Thomasson and Billy Jones are the greatest 1-2 guitar punch ever.No special effects here, just pure nasty Stratocaster (Thomasson) and crystal clear Les Paul (Jones). This band was always overshadowed by Lynard Skynard and that's a shame because they are so much better. The ironic thing is that Thomasson now plays with Skynard. There is not a dud on this record. If never even thought about playing guitar before, after listening to this record I can almost promise you that you'll want to start. The only decision you'll have to make is Strat or Les Paul. Simply wonderful.

Though I do disagree with some on the Outlaw legacy after the first three albums, there is no doubt that this album was one of the very best ever recorded. The band is crisp and tight and the sounds surround you like a warm quilt on a cold night. The three front men are their very best here. The musicianship, vocals, and songwritting are something to behold. On a scale of 1 thru 10, this album is through the roof. I would rank the Outlaw albums in the order they came out up until the 4th(live) lp came out. After this they were a hit and miss band. All things equal, in my view, this is THE album (cd) to own. It doesnt get any better!

It's all subjective of course but I've always thought that the Outlaws were the penultimate southern rock act. For me the beautiful, melodic guitar work,and vocal harmonies are what souther rock is about. That's not to say that I don't like Pure Prairie League, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, Allman Brothers (with Duane), The Band, Little Feat or the many other great southern rock acts - I will always enjoy the music made by these and other southern rock acts. But if I were stranded on a desert island, the Outlaws debut album is one that would show up the short list of what I wanted. Somewhere near the Outlaws in that list I'd probably also have the Drive-By Truckers album "Southern Rock Opera" just to remind me of my heritage and perhaps the Massive Attack album "Mezzanine" to add some balance to that remembrance but then, that's another matter. 8-)

I had been a fan of the Outlaws since this album was released in 1975 but it wasn't until I saw them in concert at the St. Petersburg Bayfront Center on New Years eve in 1977-8 (I still have the ticket stub) that I became rabid. They never received the same airplay that Lynyrd Skynrd and Marshall Tucker enjoyed except perhaps here in the Tampa Bay area. This was truly a shame as this is quite simply the some of the best music of the genre. The vocal harmonies comparison to the Eagles is inevitable but this too, is not a logical comparison. The music is just too different to compare.

From the opening licks on There Goes Another Love Song until the last chords of GG&HT Forever, the beat is non-stop and the guitar playing is quite simply, and there's no other way to put it, AWESOME. Hughie Thomasson, Billy Jones (RIP), and Henry Paul have a way of making you pull out your air guitar and jamming along side them, or wishing you actually knew how to play. The softer sounds of It Follows From Your Heart and Song in the Breeze compliment the harder edge signature songs and no one is immune from toe tapping to Waterhole and Knoxville Girl. I have listened to this album as much or more than any other in my significant collection and I never tire of it. If you've never heard the music, listen to the Amazon clips but they certainly don't do the music justice.

If you only buy one Outlaws album, this should be it.

I recall Rolling Stone not being very kind when they reviewed this album. While they weren't scathing, it wasn't exactly a love fest either. Rock journalists are a pretentious lot to begin with, so I've never paid much attention to any of them. Yes, there are some reputable rock journalists out there, but you can count them on one hand. The fact of the matter is that this album is one ass kicking piece of rock n' roll. Yes, there are guitar solos galore, and yes, its overindulgent. Who cares? These guys loved loud guitars and better yet, they knew how to play them. "Song in the Breeze" is still a study in melodic minimalism, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better electric hoedown than "Waterhole." "Song for You" was always a great concert staple. I once saw these guys inflict major damage on Bad Company in Omaha NE. It goes without saying that this album also introduced the world to "Green Grass and High Tides" which, kicks the living waste matter right out of Skynyrd's "Freebird." I lost interest when "Playin to Win" was released, because the direction changed from stomp to arena. The first three Outlaws albums are the best. "The Outlaws" is the first, and its a living testament to an underrated band, who while getting some due, didn't get nearly enough. Yes, those guitars are blazing, but in the end it's the great songwriting that gave this album a nice little niche in the history of rock n' roll. May William Harry Jones and Frank O'Keefe R.I.P.

this, without a shadow of a doubt, is not only the outlaws best album by a long way ,but probably the best "southern rock" album ever,eclipsing my other favourites skynyrd---just.they had the right mix of country and rock n roll on this- their first release,thanks to henry pauls songwriting and the brilliant guitars of hughie and the sadly missed billy jones its still so powerful 31 years later --im listening to it as i write this review-- shame i never got to see them over here in the uk. lets hope the outlaws 2006 band at least spawns a dvd

I've wanted this on CD for some time...never got around to getting it and then...what do ya know? It's "not around" in the local stores...so luckily I found it through Amazon. The sound is highly complimentary and the album hosts several songs being played on the current set of the Outlaws 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour (2005-2006). If you can catch them..you won't be disappointed.