Strength in Numbers

.38 Special | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M Super Budget
• ASIN: B000002GH3
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,969 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 38 Specials Best, December 21, 2002

By 

"bojangle12" (APO, AE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strength in Numbers (Audio CD)

This was also my first 38 Special CD (actually it was an album), and everytime I play it, it ends too soon. Not a bad cut on this CD. There may have been stronger individual songs on their earlier stuff, but there was a big drop off in effort after that one or two songs, where the rest of the CD was not up to the same quality. Don Barnes had a hand in writing seven of the ten cuts here, and he is usually involved in their better songs. Rarely does he write one alone, but even on Flashback (a greatest hits CD), he was involved in eight of the fourteen cuts there. Not trying to put down the others in the band, but I personally enjoy his stuff the most. The song "Like No Other Night" is my personal favorite, but from beginning to end if you are looking for 38 Special's best that is not on a Greatest Hits package, this is the one you want to start with. The only drawback to buying this one first is that you will never be as pleased with any of the others from beginning to end. I have all but their live CD, and have never regreted having any of them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Rock and Roll Album from 38 Special!!, April 9, 2004

By 

Louie Bourland (Garden Grove CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strength in Numbers (Audio CD)

"Strength in Numbers" is the 1986 album release from Southern Arena rockers 38 Special. At the time, the band was at the peak of a winning streak crafting albums of upbeat melodic pop-rock with a slight Country tinge. This album is no exception. It's a fantastic album from beginning to finish and displays the band's tight musicality and hook-filled songwriting at its best.
Guitarist Don Barnes is mostly up front on lead vocals here while main lead singer Donnie Van Zant takes a step back from the microphone until the very end of the album bringing it to a dynamic finish on its final two tracks.
Tracks such as the hits "Somebody Like You" and "Like No Other Night" were all over the airwaves when this album was released. Other standouts such as "Last Time", "Just A Little Love", "Hearts On Fire" and "Against The Night" are impossible to dislike and contain enough hooks to have you humming in no time. The slower tracks ("Once In A Lifetime" and "Has There Ever Been A Good Goodbye") are equally enjoyable and shows the band tackling ballads as effortless as their trademark rock numbers.
With all this said, "Strength In Numbers" is a great album and a wonderful trip down memory lane. The album also marked the end of an era for 38 Special. Two years later, the band regrouped with a new line-up without guitarist/singer Don Barnes. Barnes did return to the band a decade later bringing back its signature sound.
If you can find a copy of "Strength In Numbers" (as I was fortunate enough to find), pick it up. It's worth it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don Barnes rules (literally)., August 26, 1999

By 

Daisy Ghostly (Odense, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strength in Numbers (Audio CD)

This, the last album to feature Don Barnes on lead-vocals before he left, is filled with great songs. The sound is poppier than ever before... and then again it's not. It's really only on the first hearing; then you realize there's plenty of hard hitting guitar-work. The band (or producer Keith Olsen) seem to have decided that Barnes' voice is better suited for these songs, than co-lead-singer Donnie Van Zant; and thus Barnes is now given the bulk of songs. And he is indeed one of the best in the trade. (-I've always loved the way he sometimes starts a line way deep.) My favorite album of theirs has always been "Tour De force", but this one comes very close. Too bad he left the band when he did; things were never to be the same again.