“Cuffed, Collared And Tagged” by Swamp Dogg! - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1972Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s

TJR says

Dogg’s third features seven originals and three covers. His interpretation of John Prine’s “Sam Stone” is stunning. It’s a song about a drug-addled war veteran with a Purple Heart (a U.S. military decoration) and his death by overdose. When Dogg sings “There’s a hole in daddy’s arm, where all the money goes” it’s like a fatal dagger blow to the human heart. The song can be interpreted as a reference to heroin addiction among Vietnam War veterans, a phenomenon of the time, but equally strikes a chord as a reflection of worsening social conditions in the inner cities of America in the early 1970s. Even more striking is the cover of Joe South’s “Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home” – southern soul with strings, touches galore and an ace vocal from the front man, especially in the second half of the song which has a crazy outro that seems to last forever and ever amen, existing in a constant state of bliss. Covering The Beatles “Lady Madonna” is less affecting – it’s very much the session jam. Elsewhere, one or two of the “jokier” elements of the artist’s personality start to wear thin – I could really do without the faux-orgasmic heavy breathin’ on “If It Hadn’t Been For Sly”. All in all, this registers as the third decent album in three years from the talented non-conformist…

The Jukebox Rebel
14–Jan–2010

Tracklist
A1 [03:57] 9.2.png Swamp Dogg - Sam Stone (John Prine) Soul Ballad
A2 [03:00] 6.1.png Swamp Dogg - Complication #5 (Jerry Williams Jr., Troy Davis) Soul
A3 [03:50] 5.0.png Swamp Dogg - Lady Madonna (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) Blues Rock / Soul Rock
A4 [02:36] 6.2.png Swamp Dogg - You Say You Trust Your Mother (Jerry Williams Jr., Troy Davis) Soul Ballad
A5 [04:00] 5.2.png Swamp Dogg - If It Hadn’t Been For Sly (Jerry Williams Jr.) Disco / Funk
B1 [02:45] 4.8.png Swamp Dogg - Your Last Dirty Trick (Jerry Williams Jr., Don Hollinger) Disco / Funk
B2 [02:35] 7.2.png Swamp Dogg - Knowing I’m Pleasing You And Me (Jerry Williams Jr.) Soul
B3 [02:33] 5.5.png Swamp Dogg - In My Resume (Jerry Williams Jr., Troy Davis) Soul Ballad
B4 [01:53] 5.8.png Swamp Dogg - Captain Of Your Ship (Jerry Williams Jr., Don Hollinger) Blues Rock / Soul Rock
B5 [07:55] 9.6.png Swamp Dogg - Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home (Joe South) Soul Ballad

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