Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg Vol. 2 ("Cuffed Collared Tagged" and "Gag a Maggott")

Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams, Oscar Tony Jr., and Tommy Dowd at Capricorn Studio in Macon, GA, February, 1970

This is the second in a series on tbe reissues from one of the most underappreciated artists in pop music, Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams. You can read the previous post on this blog about The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg Volume 1 here. This post focuses on Volume 2.

The first album featured in Volume 2 is Cuffed Collared Tagged. Swamp Dogg was very active in the peace movement during the Vietnam War and the first track on the record reflected that. In this extraordinary, soulful cover of the John Prine classic "Sam Stone," Swamp Dogg would have his biggest hit ever. Here he is performing the song at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on April 26, 2008, followed by the original album track.



Swamp Dogg - Sam Stone

Another moving song from the record was the autobiographical ballad "In My Resume." This performance is from the same 2008 show, followed by the original recording.



Swamp Dogg - In My Resume

If there was a favorite subject that came up in Swamp Dogg's early records, it would have to been marital infidelity. The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg Volume 2 features two of his best songs on the subject. His vocals convey the crazed madness in the funkiest murder ballad you'll ever hear, "Your Last Dirty Trick," and painful helplessness evident in "Please Let Me Kiss You Goodbye."

Swamp Dogg - Your Last Dirty Trick
Swamp Dogg - Please Let Me Kiss You Goodbye

"Please Let Me Kiss You Goodbye" was originally on the second album featured in this collection, Gag a Maggott. Curiously, the closing track of that album, "Plastered to the Wall," didn't make it onto this collection. It is a great song though, so I'll include it here.

Swamp Dogg - Plastered to the Wall

In looking back for information on this record, I was pleased to find out that Swamp Dogg just released a new album of covers Give 'em as Little as You Can...As Often As You Have To...or...A Tribute To Rock 'n' Roll. I've been enjoying it and it is well worth checking out.

Thanks for reading. Look for more on the Swamp Dogg reissues in the near future.

Buy or download The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg Volume 2 from amazon.com

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