Beatin' The Odds

I believe I once told you about that magical day in 1981 when I sat with my friend Mike in front of his stereo in his bedroom.  The day I discovered the sounds of AC/DC, Rush.....and Molly Hatchet.  Up to that point, they were merely an intriguing name I had heard (and later somewhat sarcastically referenced in the Beck song "Fume").  After having my mind blown by the other bands' Back in Black and Moving Pictures, you would think that MH's Beatin' the Odds from 1980 would underwhelm.  But when the stylus dropped and those first aggressive riffs of the title track filled the room, it proved love at first listen.  Southern fried rock that contrasted nicely with what I had just heard that afternoon, and all the country music I'd suffered before.  I may have also reported here that my parents were big fans of what some wise soul called shit-kickin' music.  I spent most of my childhood mornings having to listen to Alabama and The Oak Ridge Boys on the radio while I munched my Cheerios and Body Buddies.

By this time Molly Hatchet had a new lead singer.  Jimmy Farrar took over for Danny Joe Brown, who had lent his distinctive voice to radio faves like "Flirtin' with Disaster" and "Dreams".   I would catch up with those soon after.  While Farrar's bellicose vocals may not have been as congruent with the Southern style as that of his predecessor, his handling of the straight ahead rockers that dominate this album ("Double Talker", "Dead and Gone", "Poison Pen", etc.) still reeks of good ol' Dixie throwdown, if simultaneously reflecting the popular AOR sound of the time.   Steve Holland's guitar and Dave Hulbek and Duane Roland's guitars and slide guitars are perfectly front and center on "Few and Far Between", reminding one of a bit of Skynyrd.  Bruce Crump's drumming is serviceable but crisp, frequently notable for the pop of his snare.

Bar jukebox music.  The kind that's ideal to accompany some pool playing and pitchers of Coors or Schaeffers.  Or two grade schoolers air guitaring in a room adorned with Kiss posters (Mike was a huge fan of them).  But don't dismiss the tender yet still guitar heavy "The Rambler", a favorite of some of my sixth grade female classmates.  If you told them you liked it, your stock immediately rose.  Almost reminds one of an Allman Brothers track.  The requisite ballad that didn't make the same impression as REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Lovin' You" but was still heartfelt and well performed.  Just thinking about it takes me back to Palmetto Elementary, enjoying a relatively carefree life before junior high would change everything.

Sci-fi/fantasy artist Frank Frazetta again lent his work to a Molly Hatchet album cover, this one a copy of his famous "Conan the Conqueror".  Goes perfectly with the lyrics of the title song.  I can't tell you how many hours I spent trying to duplicate it with colored pencils.  I probably drew it on my school notebooks, too.

I bought all three of the aforementioned albums for myself within a week of those first listens.  They remained high in the rotation for months.  As the '80s pushed on, my interest in Molly Hatchet waned (as it also did for AC/DC but definitely not Rush) and I would discover mountains of new music.  But I owned Beatin' the Odds at least until college, and never turned the dial when any of its tracks were played.  Heard these days, it's even tighter and more satisfying than I remember.