Customer Reviews

Where We All Belong

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The Marshall Tucker Band's third album called "Where We All Belong" was originally a double album which consisted of a "Studio Album" and a "Live Album". Released in 1974, "Where We All Belong" left no question as to as to why these Spartanberg, South Carolina boys were fast becoming one of southern rocks best groups to emerge from the land of Dixie. By combining elements of country and blues and mixing in some good old rock, they had a sound unlike other groups at the time. "Where We All Belong" enlists such artists as Charlie Daniel playing his fiddle on "This Ol' Cowboy" and Elvin Bishop adding his touch of slide guitar to "Where A Country Boy Belongs", but it's lead guitarist Toy Caldwell who clearly shows why he's one of southern rocks most gifted guitarists on songs such as "This Ol Cowboy", "How Can I Slow Down", and "Now She's Gone" (not to mentioned the "live" songs). The "live" versions of "Ramblin'", "24 Hours At A Time", "Everyday (I Have The Blues)", and "Take The Highway" all of which were recorded on July 11, 1974 in Milwaukee's Uhlein Hall Performing Arts Center absolutely smoke. The entire group is as tight as ever! This remastered version of "Where We All Belong" also contains a bonus "live" track called "See You Later, I'm Gone". The remastering on this disc is excellent with crisp highs, increased midrange and bass. If you enjoy listening to The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Charlie Daniels Band and The Outlaws (to name a few) then you owe it to yourself to add this to your collection.

The MTB was a classic "too rock for country, too country for rock" band. They had their own identity forged around the distinctive vocals of Doug Gray and the solid songwriting and unrestrained guitar work of the late, legendary Toy Caldwell. He could jam like a man with the proverbial hellhound on his trail, but he could also write tight and tuneful little three or four minute songs. The studio and live tracks here are the best representation of both ends of the spectrum. The extended live version of "24 Hours At A Time," with guest Charlie Daniels, stomps toward a climax as Doug Gray repeats the line "feel the same way," Daniels saws away at his fiddle and Caldwell pulls off speed run after speed run on his Les Paul. An nice live version of their massive FM radio hit "Take The Highway" is here too, and it's the song that first introduced many fans to the band. The original vinyl double album erroneously lists a credit for a live version of "Can't You See" that didn't end up here (it was on this album's follow-up, "Searchin' For A Rainbow," re-released on CD as well and highly recommended). The recent "Stompin' Room Only" live compilation uses the same Milwaukee versions of "24 hrs" and "Ramblin'" found on "Where We All Belong"...but even that small moment of recycling doesn't prevent that one from being a "must-have" as well.

What can I say? I just like the Marshall Tucker Band. Studio. live, country, rock, heavy, soft, these guys were talents that rivaled the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

This band's instruments and vocals just blend so nicely. Just listen to This Ol' Cowboy with the interplay between the flute and guitar. Toy Caldwell's soft vocals fit like a hand in a glove. Low Down Ways is a nice blend of country and rock. Good sharp guitar solo with nice drumming by Paul Riddle. And how about the slide guitars by Elvin Bishop on Where A Country Boy Belongs? Can't forget the pretty piano on Try One More Time. Perfect for romancing that lady.

Anyway, the live portion of this CD is good but you really have to be in the right mood. 24 Hours At A Time is catchy tune but at nearly fourteen minutes in length, the jamming can be a bit too long. Its OK when you are in the mood for extending instrumentation and tolerable when you are not. Everyday I Have The Blues has a few interesting shifts in tempo but merely is performed as an excuse for Toy Caldwell to show off his fine soloing. Don't get me wrong, Toy was a fabulous guitar player and on this track he sounds fine. However eleven and a half minutes of noodling is not exactly my cup of tea.

Some flaws but certainly a fine release. I would get Searching For A Rainbow, the debut, and Carolina Dreams first.

The Marshall Tucker Band's third album "Where We All Belong" is another strong effort from one of southern rock's better artists. Though a notch or so below Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers, MTB put out some excellent music, especially during their 1970s heyday. A little less rocking and more country oriented than Skynyrd or the Allmans, MTB was actually better at writing ballads. This album lacks only a first rate single, though the best tracks are "In My Own Way," "Where a Country Boy Belongs" and "Now She's Gone." The second half is live, and features extended versions of earlier MTB standouts like "24 Hours at a Time," (with Charlie Daniels on fiddle) and "Take the Highway."

Overall, a fine but often overlooked southern rock album.

The Marshall Tucker bands third release was eagerly anticipated for two reasons. (One), their first two releases "The Marshall Tucker Band" and "A New Life" had made them nearly co-equal with the best of the Southern Rock bands and (Two), fans who had not already seen them perform live (as I had a chance to do just as this album was being released) would get a chance to hear them live. And what a fearless live band they were! Half of this album is live with two songs off the first album ("Ramblin' and "Take the Highway") and one off of the second album ("24 Hours at a Time") getting extended jam here as well as another live gem ("Everyday I Have the Blues") that has Toy Caldwell playing some intro licks that make you feel as if there must be smoke coming off of his Gibson Les Paul.
The other half of this album was cut in the studio and showcases a great piece of western swing/jazz melancholy called "This Ole Cowboy", plus some superb vocals by Doug Gray, especially on "How Can I Slow Down" (the band opened with this tune when I saw them live) which has him really stretching his vocal range; and a sentimental favorite, "In My Own Way", which he sings as convincingly as any song they ever performed. And although Charlie Daniels was not an official member of the group, his fiddle playing contributes essentially to this record and can be heard on the studio as well as the live portions of this record.
All in all, this album finds the Tucker Boys at the top of their form, and to many of us MTB fans, they would not come off of this until several albums later.

This is Marshall Tucker's best album. It had gone out of print for a long time. It is great to see back!

Musically, Marshall Tucker was the secong best of all the Southern Rock bands (behind the Allman Brothers). They didn't write powerful lyrics like Lynard Skynard, but they certainly could outplay them. Most of Marshall Tucker's material was either love songs or about being a cowboy.

This was originally a double LP. But like all of Marshall Tucker's albums, the sides were short enough that you could easily fit two LP's on one CD.

This album is Marshall Tucker at it's countriest and at it's rockingist (how's that for two made up words). The first half is studio material, that has more of a country twang than most other Marshall Tucker albums. It also features two of the best songs, This Old Cowboy and In My Own Way. These two songs were on the first side of the LP. The second side of the LP rarely got played, but it still has some strong songs, like Scared Me to Death.

The last half of the CD is live material. Marshall Tucker was a fantastic live band. But, unfortunately, there are not too many live recordings available. Other than this album, there is one other live track, Can't You See on Searching For A Rainbow. The real stand out is 24 Hours At A Time, which is the best thing on any Marshall Tucker album. It is a fantastic 14 minute jam, that even features a little bit of Charlie Daniels on violin.

I have an earlier version of the CD. It is a little flatter than the original LP. It is a slight difference and very difficult to tell unless you play them side by side. I don't know if this newer version has an improved dynamic range.

In the beginning, I had written off Marshall Tucker as a band going nowhere. The first time I saw them as a lead act, they only played 20 minutes and then came back for a 20 minute encore. However, the next times I saw them, they really opened up their show. They had a really great version of Never Trust A Stranger. They were opening act for Fleetwood Mac at a sold out University of Arizona football stadium. The starting time for the concert was changed to earlier time, because both groups wanted to play longer.

Marshall Tucker stuck together for a long time, until bassist Tommy Caldwell died. The group continued for a while longer and then disbanded. Singer Doug Gray and reedman, Jerry Eubanks reformed Marshall Tucker into a gospel band. Be careful of any CD's released after 1983.

Toy Caldwell continued to perform on his own and released a few CD's. I really like his CD "Can't You See". It is a little bit rough, but it is one last chance to hear him play live. Toy Caldwell died in 1993.

WHERE WE ALL BELONG is yet another great Marshall Tucker Band album. The studio portion features some great new songs, especially "How Can I Slow Down" and "Now She's Gone", while the live half includes MTB's answers to "Free Bird" or "Green Grass And High Tides", "24 Hours At A Time" and "Take The Highway." If you love the Allman Brothers Band, the Outlaws, or Lynyrd Skynyrd, you'll love this album.

You wouldn't expect someone from Southern California to love The Marshall Tucker Band so much. No, scratch that. You wouldn't expect a Korean-American from Southern California to love this band so much. But hey, anything is possible in the United States. This Southern Rock band has created such fantastic gems ever since their debut album. This album in particular, Where We All Belong, continues the tradition of long-lasting admirable music. Every song on this album (both studio and live) is performed with genuine American passion. "Low Down Ways" and "Try One More Time" turn out to be my personal favorites, while every track that's live will no doubt please even the most diehard fans ("24 Hours at a Time" especially). Congrats to the Marshall Tucker Band for creating this fine album.

Grade: 9.7 out of 10

Also from The Marshall Tucker Band
Self-titled debut (9.5 out of 10) Marshall Tucker Band
A New Life (9.3 out of 10) New Life

The Marshall Tucker Band continues to be one of the more underrated bands of the 70's these days. How much longer can radio stations overplay "Heard It In a Love Song" and "Can't You See?" while ignoring some of the more spectacular moments of the bands discography? Granted, I love both of these songs quite a bit, but let's be totally honest- the Marshall Tucker Band is a heck of a lot better than being remembered for those two particular songs.

With that said, Where We All Belong is a bit of a mixed bag for me. About half of it contains the same level of musicianship and astonishing instrumental skills that A New Life does, but then... there's some ordinary country/blues songs thrown in for good measure (or rather, disappointing measure). Not that I hate these songs exactly- they're perfectly fine. It's just that... they're perfectly fine. :)

Let's mention the great stuff first because it's not only great, it's downright absolutely mind-boggingly incredible!

"This Ol' Cowboy" has a catchy guitar riff in the beginning and I strongly believe it was influenced by the Allman Brothers Band (perhaps "Blue Sky" or "Ramblin' Man") and a pretty decent vocal melody as well. Then... THEN guess what happens? Yup, the Marshall Tucker Band proves once again that they're far from ordinary by the way they surprise the heck out of me with a brilliant instrumental jam. Perhaps the guitar portion of the jam that appears near the end is the most amazing part- I've never heard a supposed country/rock band play like THAT before, have you? The guitar really digs hard into your imaginary "This is awesome" meter.

"In My Own Way" is like a fairly complex country song with elements of balladry. Once again, the instrumental section makes it stand apart from other country/rock bands, such as Pure Prairie League for example. You're treated to a nice flute melody, a really good piano solo, and a passable guitar solo. It's variety here, folks. Variety makes a band!

The second side of the album is loaded with a bunch of country songs, some of them slow-paced and relatively tear-jerking, others fairly standard with predictable upbeat vocal melodies (some of which are VERY catchy to be fair, such as the one from "Now She's Gone"). However, with a few minor exceptions, side two is pretty typical country/rock to me.

Now the live portion of this album blows me completely away. In fact that's an understatement. These live songs are *unbelievable on many levels of awesomeness*, haha.

"Ramblin" completely destroys the studio version with even more melodic guitar licks, and now they're played unimaginably fast (faster than anything I've ever heard the Allman Brothers do, in fact) and maybe the best song in the bands catalog is this live performance of "24 Hours at a Time" because I think it's absolutely brilliant the way it starts off with a catchy vocal melody and then morphs into an extremely fast guitar jam, and then a melodic violin jam... and then a saxophone jam all the while *never* losing its sense of melody or becoming overbearing. It's a perfect 14-minute song. Other live tracks featured here (such as "Take the Highway") are really good too, but not comparable to their studio versions.

Overall, this is a must have album despite some ordinary moments on side two.

I had the original LP album many, many years ago. I just got the box set of theres but this has some of the best Live material they ever put out on a lbum. And its "LIVE' that MTB felt best at. This album shows their true energy which is performing Live. Comparing the muli talents of Toy Caldwell in studio to Live is night & day. While his guitar picking was his fame he also was a very solid steel guitar player in his own right. While all the tracks are great to listen to no doubt about it, it's "24 Hours At A Time" is the highlite coming in at a whopping 13 minutes of a Live set. I've heard many sets of this song and this one caught Live on this album is one if not their best highlighted by Charlie Daniels on fiddle.

The box set is a must for any MTB fan but you need some Live material from them to really feel their raw energy of Southern Rock and this does a decent job with a few Live tracks with ones in the studio.