Despite this new album from the legendary Florida rockers Blackfoot, this one leaves me stone cold. Sorry to introduce the 2016 version of Blackfoot this way, but quite simply, this is NOT Blackfoot.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Blackfoot
ALBUM: Southern Native
LABEL: Loud And Proud
SERIAL: LNPD-31
YEAR: 2016
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Rick Krasowski – lead vocals, gutars * Tim Rossi – guitars, backing vocals * Rick Medlocke – guitar, backing vocals, production * Peter Keys – keyboards * Larry Fratanzelo – percussion * Brian Carpenter – bass * Matt Anastasi – drums, percussion * Stacy Michelle – backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Need My Ride * 02 Southern Native * 03 Everyman * 04 Call Of A Hero * 05 Take Me Home * 06 Whiskey Train * 07 Satisfied Man * 08 Ohio * 09 Love This Town * 10 Diablo Loves Guitar
RATING: 50/100
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Blackfoot Background
Despite this new album from the legendary Florida rockers, this one leaves me stone cold. Sorry to introduce the 2016 version of Blackfoot this way, but quite simply, this is NOT Blackfoot.
Rickey Medlocke shouldn’t even have bothered to disturb the legacy of what once was. Medlocke is playing in Lynyrd Skynyrd now, and he really should have left this alone.
A bunch of new no-names who probably weren’t even born when Blackfoot were first starting out makes no sense at all. Trying to sell this concept to old school southern rock fans would be like selling ice blocks to Eskimos!
Apparently Medlocke spent two years mulling over this project. Why he bothered remains a mystery, and it’s certainly a waste of time in my book.
The Songs
For a start, the sound and the tempo are all wrong. It’s modern contemporary rock with no inkling that this relates to a legend of the southern rock genre.
‘Need My Ride’ isn’t the opening song to endear long-time BF fans to the new album. The title-track ‘Southern Native’ could easily have gone west too, though the solo is inherently ‘southern’.
The third track ‘Everyman’ pulls up at the truckstop of ballads, a slinky sort of tune but certainly not derived from the Blackfoot template.
‘Call Of A Hero’ features some big boofy guitar work, ‘Take Me Home’ is another slow-mo track and by now, this album is wearing thin.
Perhaps the closest to traditional Blackfoot is the rather good ‘Whiskey Train’. This is more like it. So too ‘Satisfied Man’ which grinds things out effectively.
‘Ohio’ is an old Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tune from back in the day, and while I haven’t heard the original, I can’t really offer an opinion on it.
‘Love This Town’ sees the band crank things up to HM levels. Meanwhile the closer ‘Diablo Loves Guitar’ is an instrumental, a cross between flamenco and mariarchi. In the context of the album, I didn’t get it.
In Summary
Reading elsewhere on the Net, it seems a few other reviewers didn’t get it either. Perhaps Medlocke should’ve thrown the keys to the kingdom off a bridge somewhere.
Quite why he felt the need to ‘gift’ the legacy of Blackfoot to four unknowns could be tantamount to heresy and treason.
If like me, you still consider 1994’s ‘After The Reign’ to be Blackfoot’s last true album, then you are not alone.
Blackfoot on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
