Customer Reviews

Third Annual Pipe Dream / Rock & Roll Alternative

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Good job by GottDiscs on the rerelease of these classic albums. Please give the same red-carpet treatment to the rest of the bands catalogue. As far as the tracks, if your reading this review, you're well aware of the southern rock meets steely dan fusion of Atlanta Rhythm Section. Enjoy because lead vocalist Ronnie Hammond called it quits a couple of years back and their new touring vocalist just can't recapture the magic.

I have been waiting since the compact disk was created back in the early 80's. The quailty is great and so is the packaging. I have Dog Days/Red Tape on order and expect the same quality. Now all we need is Underdog and The Boys from Doraville to be combined by Gott to complete the collection.

My parents had Rock and Roll Alternative in their record collection for years, and today I finally listened to it.

"Sky High" has a great fast-paced chorus with wonderful guitar work. Judging from a few of the hit songs that occasionally receive radio play even to this day, I didn't know the band focused on writing some exciting guitar solos. The jam at the end of this track is great. This style of songwriting pleasantly caught me by surprise. The next two tracks also have really good guitar playing. It's surprising to me that it's not so much the "rhythm section" that's catching my attention- it's more their brief but melodic guitar solos.

"Georgia Rhythm" is a great country-sounding song with a nice chorus. Everybody knows "So In To You" with its groovy rhythm and spooky vocal melody. The song feels a bit out of place compared to the rest of the album, I admit. "Outside Woman Blues" is mainly interesting for the electric blues riff that pops out between the vocal melody and the excellent guitar playing at the end of the song.

"Everybody Gotta Go" is the only other song on the record that has a really good rhythm (remember, since the band is called Atlanta "Rhythm" Section, I'm searching for neat rhythms!) "Neon Nights" is a beautiful Poco-sounding number. Turning the song into a soft jam after the halfway point was an interesting move. Really good song off a really good album. The guitar playing is fantastic the whole way through. What a shame the band isn't remembered as much today compared to Poco or the Allman Brothers Band. Buy this album today.

The sound on this is beyond good. It really proves great sounding CD's are possible. This will go out of print forever. The Only place to get Everybody Gotta Go Sometime. Worth the price alone. You also get fantastic sounding Jesus Hearted People and Doraville. Good God People THIS IS THE MOTHER LOAD!
What I like is how Neon Nites finally comes into it's own as a
classic , though I still hate the ending. Outside Woman Blues kicks harder and clearer than any ARS (including Homesick).

ARS first came to my attention with the LP Rock & Roll Alternative, This is still one of, if not their best effort. But they have some other great songs on their, other CD's. One of those bands that slid under most of us in their early days.
Great Musician's and Well worht the Listen!!

Oh man, this brings back memories. what a joy to have these two great albums on CD again, especially my favorite; "Third Annual Pipe Dream." ARS was a criminally underrated band, dismissed as mainstream pop or southern rock by some. But this band produced some very, very memorable music over the years, as evidenced on this release. They are known for the handful of hits they had in the 70s ("Doraville" ... "So into You" etc.) but their albums were all solid affairs with no filler. Outside of the singles, they had plenty of great songs that most listeners never heard unless they bought the ablums. Ronnie Hammond's vocals shined and the rest of the "rhythm section" was a tight outfit.

This album is the quintensental Southern Rock Album! It has everything from the bluegrass sound in Doraville to the hard hitting southern blues of Blues in Maude's flat. Angel really provides the focus for the vocal talent of Ronnie Hammond. Who you gonna run to combines his vocals with a sweet southern blues riff.

Rock and Roll Alternative has several pop top 40 tunes that you will remember like Sky High, Georgia Rhythm, So Into You, and Neon Nights.

The real diamond is Third Annual Pipe Dream This album was a part of my collection for years until it was lost in a move. I never thought I would ever find it again! A DEFINATE MUST HAVE!

This is a GREAT disc. I had the R and R Alternative on vinyl years ago and must worn it out at least 5 times. Great stuff.
Thanks for the memories and music!!!!