Customer Reviews

Siogo

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After non stop touring with everybody and their grandmother for the last 8 years(including The Who, Journey, and The Scorpions), this band had reached a rather disappointing place in 1983. Anybody who saw them live knew that they were one hell of a hard rock outfit. But, with the advent of new wave and techno bands in the early 80's, the no frills sound of Blackfoot was so 1978 and outta here. SIOGO(yeh, we all know what it stands for) was one hell of an arena rock platter with tight hard rock melodic songs fashioned by honest bad ass southern rockers. Interesting though how this album doesn't sound southern at all(save the rave up Drivin Fool). There's a definite british influence on songs like Send Me An Angel, Crossfire, Run For Cover, etc. Me thinks Mr. Medlocke had listened to some Thin Lizzy and UFO. Excellent cover of Nazareth's Heart's Grown Cold with their own stamp on it. The beginning of Sail Away sounds like a long lost Eddie Van Halen riff. Drivin' Fool is redneck headbangin bliss. Every song is anchored by the talented Jakson Spires- one of the best rock drummers ever. Pick it up.

Charlie Hargrett (Blackfoot Guitarist from (1969-1984) is, in my humble opinion, a true innovator in Southern Rock sound evolution. He has a web site: www.siogo.com that details many of the behind the scenes of the making of the SIOGO album/CD. You might be interested in finding out what the Title stands for. All and all Charlie is a great guy and so is Rickey Medlocke, who my daddy painted houses with in Jacksonville when we were growing up. Now I live over here near Charlie and think about it being a real small world. I played guitar with him once and realized I was outclassed immedately. He plays some local clubs and peals the paint right off the walls, and sends the leseer players packing for the woodsheds, me included. Blackfoot brought an edge to Southern Rock that gave it a voice that made the world take notice to the new guys on the block. Hell they shattered the block and stood on top of the broken pieces and belted out, loud and proud. You can't go wrong with a Blackfoot song. Take it from someone who has met em and growed up around them. They are the real deal.

Rick Medlocke was actually playing drums in Lynyrd Skynyrd way back in the early 1970's (and now he has rejoined the band on guitar - the circle is closed). Anyway, Medlocke (vocals, guitar) formed his own band, called it Blackfoot and went for a heavier southern rock approach than he's old companions in Lynyrd Skynyrd. The first release came in 1975 and was titled "No reservations". After another four albums, Blackfoot changed their musical direction a bit and went for a more radio friendly sound on 1983's "Siogo".

In my opinion, "Siogo" is Blackfoot's strongest album ever, with a blend of the typical southern approach and melodic rock full of hooks! It seems like Medlocke and his boys really put a lot of effort in the song writing, shown immediately in the opening up tempo rocker "Send me an angel" with its strong hit potential. This release is packed with strong and attractive tunes like the catchy "Teenage idol", the hard "White man's land", and the speedy "Drivin' fool". Blackfoot are even doing a Nazareth cover ("Hearts grown cold"), and it's appealing that they dared to put a very personal touch by changing the song from a ballad into a rocker - nice work!

I would claim that there's no weak spot anywhere on this very solid album. On the follow up "Vertical smiles", Blackfoot stayed in the land of melodic radio friendly rock but they were unable to recreate the magic shown on "Siogo".

SIOGO is slicker than the previous five Blackfoot albums, but it is still a metal masterpiece. After Atco chose not to release HIGHWAY SONG in the U.S. (it came out here last year), the group decided they needed to do something more commercial, so they ditched their Southern sound for pure heavy metal, and the results are great. These guys kept their bluesy hard rock guitars, and they added the keyboards of Ken Hensley, which brought a new dimension to the group's music. They also wrote songs that are often full of recriminations (a carry-over from their earlier records), and they added some party tunes, and the result was their last great album for over a decade. They would hit bottom on the follow-up, VERTICAL SMILES (don't even discuss that one with me), but this one can still cook up a storm on any CD player.

I just spent 30 minutes writing a review for this great album, only to get kicked off by my server before finishing! Lost thje whole thing and have to start over. Guess I'm too long winded. That's only because I'm very passionate about this group and especially this album. Blackfoot is the essence of no frills rock'n'roll. Great drumming by one of the best bass beat drummers around, Jakson "Thunderfoot" Spires, great guitar players and an excellent bass player. The heart and soul however, is Rick Medlocke. This album has great production and has probably the best sound quality of any Blackfoot release. Every instrument drives the song relentlessly on throughout the whole set and Rick's vocals have never sounded more sincere, pleading, p.o.'d, longing, or more rockin'. This is my favorite Blackfoot release, with "Tomcattin" in a close second, with no weak points in my opinion. Standout tracks include "Send Me An Angel", which almost immediately hits stride with Rick in fine singing form,"Crossfire", which is my all-time favorite Blackfoot rocker...a perfect rock song driven by a great drum beat,"Teenage Idol", another great rock song about a young man's dreams to be a rocker..maybe the subject has been done, but the tune is first rate with great playing and singing, "White Man's Land", a rowdy tune with a great guitar riff that only suffers from being one lead too short...a lead gutar ending would have made this another top Blackfoot tune...still it's great, and "Sail Away", a great tune about the freedom of the open spaces we came to expect on all Blackfoot releases.

One added feature that made this era of Blackfoot extra special was that Ken Hensley, of Uriah Heep fame, was a band member, who's keyboards added additional texture to the sound. It worked well with the traditional Blackfoot rock recipe. I saw them in Harrisburg PA at the time of this release and was really floored by their sound. A true rock band, true to rock'n'roll. Agreat rock album. Get it Soon!

Blackfoot makes a nice transition with the addition of Ken Hensley on guitar and keys ,this album really rocks hardest on Drivin Fool and White Mans Land. Get this reissue while you can, printing was limited to 2500 copies.

Ray Collins

SIOGO was my favorite Blackfoot album, but it took a while for it to be released on compact disc (or at least it took a while for me to find it on compact disc).

I'd never heard Blackfoot's music before seeing the group open up for The Who in 1980, at the Montreal Forum. I was impressed, even though most of my fellow Montrealers were not. (There was a lot of booing because people wanted The Who.) After the concert, I started buying their albums. SIOGO came out a couple of years later and, to me, it was their most solid effort. "Crossfire", "Goin' in Circles" and "Sail Away" are my favorite tracks on SIOGO, but they're all good.

To me, SIOGO was the high point of Blackfoot's career.

Trying to make money with Siogo and the next album Vertical lines. These two albums are watered down. What happened? Like another fine southern band Point Blank they got talked into sounding like Journey to make $$$

Stop at Tomcattin IMO

This is a great CD,and adding Ken Henseley was actually a gift to Blackfoot fans,in retrospect. At the time of release, most of us Blackfoot fans kinda stood back and said..."What the &^%$!!??", but after many road trips through the Texas desert down to Mexico ,playing this and Tomcattin', we learned to love this one.
Ferocious guitar playing by Medlocke and Hargrett,too.
Still, this signaled the end of their peak. Marauder,the previous album,was when they were at the top of their commercial game.
I keep Tomcattin',Siogo and the Rattlesnake Rocker compilation with me in the four-wheeler at all times.

I just spent 30 minutes writing a review for this great album, only to get kicked off by my server before finishing! Lost the whole thing and had to start over. Guess I'm too long winded. That's only because I'm very passionate about this group and especially this album. Blackfoot is the essence of no frills rock'n'roll. Great drumming, by one of the best bass beat drummers around, Jakson "Thunderfoot" Spires, great guitar players and an excellent bass player. The heart and soul however, is Rick Medlocke. This album has great production and has probably the best sound quality of any Blackfoot release. Every instrument drives the song relentlessly forward throughout the whole set and Rick's vocals have never sounded more sincere, pleading, p.o.'d, longing, or more rockin'. This is my favorite Blackfoot release, with "Tomcattin" in a close second, with no weak points in my opinion. Standout tracks include "Send Me An Angel", which almost immediately hits stride with Rick in fine singing form,"Crossfire", which is my all-time favorite Blackfoot rocker...a perfect rock song driven by a great drum beat...one of my all-time favorite rock songs let alone Blackfoot songs,"Teenage Idol", another great rock song about a young man's dreams to be a rocker..maybe the subject has been done, but the tune is first rate with great playing and singing, "White Man's Land", a rowdy tune with a great guitar riff that suffers only from being one guitar lead too short...a screaming lead guitar at the end would have made this another top Blackfoot tune...still it is a great song, and "Sail Away", a great tune about the road and longing for freedom we came to expect on all Blackfoot releases.Though I was nevetr a rock star, (as you may not have known..ha!), these type of Blackfoot songs always made you feel like you could relate to how they were feeling about the life of a rock star and the longing for freedom for everyone.

One added feature that made this era of Blackfoot extra special was that Ken Hensley, of Uriah Heep fame, was a band member, and his keyboards added additional texture to the sound.Though he may have seemed an unlikely fit in the band, his keyboards worked well with the traditional Blackfoot rock recipe. I saw them in Harrisburg PA at the time of this release and was really floored by their sound. They were in top form at this time and I wish they would have stuck together, at least a while longer. Blackfoot is a true rock band, true to rock'n'roll."Siogo" is a great rock album with the sound and songs to please. Get it Soon!