"Outlaws/Lady In Waiting" by THE OUTLAWS – July 1975 US Debut Album and April 1976 US Second Album on Arista Records – featuring Billy Jones, Hughie Thomasson, Henry Paul, Frank O’Keefe and Monte Yoho with Guests John David Souther and Joe Lala (October 2008 Germany and January 2009 UK SPV/Yellow Label Reissue – 2LPs onto 2CDs – Roger Lomas Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Stick Around For Rock And Roll..."

As a Seventies teenager who loved Folk, Country, Blues and all things Rock and Roll (never mind Soul, Reggae and yes Prog Rock) – I was like most guys of my age - completely in the thrall of The Allman Brothers, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils and especially Lynyrd Skynyrd. So when Tampa's Outlaws hit the ground running with two absolute corker LPs in the Southern Country Rock vein (their 1975 debut and its 1976 follow-up) – I was loving those two wickedly good gatefold suckers with something of a passion. Full of tunes and impressive triple geetar-leads playing off each other like synchronised ping-pong players – there was a lot to like indeed. 

Rehearing them after all this time (late 2020), and yes, some of it is a bit 'too' Country (if you know what I mean), but like the Call Me The Breeze, Freebird and Sweet Home Alabama boys, much of this good time Bluesy Country Rock has stood the test of time - and rather well too. And how cool is it to get both albums in the same package and rockin' audio-wise. Let's breaker-breaker...

Released in Germany 31 October 2008 (January 2009 in the UK) – "Outlaws/Lady In Waiting" by THE OUTLAWS on SPV/Yellow Label SPV 305882 2CD (Barcode 693723058825) features their first and second studio albums from 1975 and 1976 Remastered onto 2CDs and plays out as follows: 

CD1 "Outlaws" (41:02 minutes):
1. There Goes Another Love Song [Side 1]
2. Song For You
3. Song In The Breeze
4. It Follows From Your Heart 
5. Cry No More [Side 2]
6. Waterhole
7. Stay With Me 
8. Keep Prayin'
9. Knoxville 
10. Green Grass And High Tides 
Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album Outlaws – released July 1975 in the USA on Arista Records AL 4042 and August 1975 in the UK on Arista Records ARTY 115. Produced by PAUL A. ROTHCHILD – it peaked at No. 13 on the US LP charts (didn't chart UK).

CD2 "Lady In Waiting" (37:26 minutes): 
1. Breaker-Breaker [Side 1]
2. South Carolina 
3. Ain't So Bad 
4. Freeborn Man 
5. Girl from Ohio 
6. Lover Boy [Side 2]
7. Just For You 
8. Prisoner 
9. Stick Around For Rock And Roll
Tracks 1 to 9 are their second studio album "Lady In Waiting" – released April 1976 in the USA on Arista Records AL 4070 and April 1976 in the UK on Arista Records ARTY 126. Produced by PAUL A. ROTHCHILD - it peaked at No. 36 on the US LP charts (didn't chart UK). 

THE OUTLAWS were (both albums):
BILLY JONES – Lead Guitar and Lead Vocals on Tracks 4, 5 and 8 on CD1
HUGHIE THOMASSON – Lead Guitar and Lead Vocals on Tracks 1, 2 and 10 on CD1
HENRY PAUL – Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar and Lead Vocals on Tracks 3, 6, 7 and 8 on CD1 
FRANK O’KEEFE – Bass 
MONTE YOHO – Drums 

Guests:
John David Souther – Harmony Vocals on "It Follows From Your Heart" on CD1
Joe Lala (of Stephen Stills' Manassas) – Percussion on CD2

The three-way foldout card digipak places a CD on either side with a photo of the band in the centre (the front cover artwork for each LP is beneath each see-through CD tray). The 12-page booklet has 8-pages of text with new liner notes by JERRY EWING and 4-pages of product adverts for SPV's 'Yellow' label (ranging from Pete Townshend to Pacific, Gas & Electric). ROGER LOMAS did the Remasters at Ro-Lo Studios from original tapes and both CDs sound amazing – full of vim and vigour - as the music deserves. 

Drying tears from his eyes, Hughie Thomasson takes Lead Vocals on "There Goes Another Love Song" – a jaunty opener about chap-misery for their debut that immediately nails down their Southern Rock credentials – albeit with a wry smirk of line-dancing fun in there somewhere. "Song For You" gives it some great lead guitars and the harmony vocals impress as they sound like the Eagles fronted by Randy Meisner. Billy Paul provided "Song In The Breeze" - a singing through the trees tune where again they give it some Eagles bop. We slow things down for the Skynyrd-pensive "It Follows From Your Heart" - a don't let your problems get you trapped song. 

Billy Jones brings it back to rapido Country Rock for "Cry No More" - a man who doesn't want to wait too long.  Straight onto guitar-picking hoedown time with "Waterhole" - a kind of yee-haw instrumental that is actually not nearly as cool as it obviously thought it once was. Side 2 hits its stride with the funk of "Keep Prayin'", the go-down fiddly-dee of "Knoxville Girl" and the LP's big one - a near ten-minute fab boogie marathon in "Green Grass & High Tides".

If the debut was a great opening gambit, the follow-up 9-tracker felt like a step up to me. The three guitarists once again took lead vocals (the liner notes don’t advise who did what). Arista decided to use the Side 1 opener "Breaker-Breaker" as a lead-in for their second album "Lady In Waiting" – that US 45 issued May 1976 on Arista AS 0188 with the equally likeable "South Carolina" on the B-side. They would also try to cash in on the "Freebird" mania sweeping the USA and the World by taking the nearest the Outlaws had to it – an edit of "Green Grass & High Tides" from the first album paired with "Prisoner" from the second platter on Arista AS 0213 in November 1976. 

I liked the genuinely sunny disposition in "Ain't So Bad" - a lots of long days where you need to open your eyes piece of Southern Rock - nice harmony vocals too. He's got a lady in Cincinnati and a woman in San Antoine, but I don’t think they should wait up for our flirty wanderlust musician in "Freeborn Man" - a song that starts out all Country Rock but then changes into an almost Wishbone Ash rock element that is melodic and thrilling. "Girl From Ohio" ends Side 1 in a very Eagles shuffling melody - back in the heart of whispering winds and birds in homeward flight. Side 2 gives it some rawk with "Lover Boy" while the singing-songs of "Just For You" could be mid-Seventies Allman Brothers. It ends on the fabulous sway of "Prisoners" – a kiss my smile shuffle that segues into the out and out boogie that is "Stick Around For Rock And Roll". 

Some say that The Outlaws' 1975 debut and its 1976 follow-up matched Lynyrd Skynyrd and their 1973 "Pronounced..." debut followed by the mighty "Second Helping" in 1974? I can't help thinking this is reaching and stretching the truth by (forgive the pun) a Country mile. Those LS albums are way better, but man when they made that Country Rock kick, The Outlaws were a formidable five-piece Harmony making machine. And this wickedly good wee twofer from SPV/Yellow is the best place to start that exploration...

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