Alabama – “Mountain Music”
So, let’s address the elephant in the room here, the sleeve. This has got to be just one of the most poorly designed sleeves, and I don’t mean the Confederate flag alone. Look at the pictures above, one is upright, the other is side ways. Did I accidentally forget to rotate the picture? No. Actually, it’s actually sideways, so if you want to read things on it, you turn it to the left so the sleeve opening is towards the ground. We’ll get to who designed it down the line.
Let’s begin. Side One opens with the title track, “Mountain Music” we get some harmonica followed by an older gentleman talking about how he’s going to climb “that mountain over there” and we get some guitar, and vocals. For those that don’t know who Alabama is, they’re a country group that had a lot of great crossover success with this album, they had a 21 Number One single streak in the 80’s as well. This song, definitely a solid album opener. The guitar playing and the little jam session at the end of this song are what really stand out to me. “Close Enough to Perfect” comes next, which also ended up being a number one song single and it’s a slower country track, the story behind this song goes that songwriter, Carl Chambers, came up with the song title while installing strips of wood on the Bellamy Brothers tour bus, when his wife Nancy would come up and find something wrong with it, this happened several times until he was exhausted and frustrated, exclaiming “it’s close enough to perfect for me!” and stopped what he was doing to go write down that title, and later wrote the song about how his wife was being treated back home. “Words at Twenty Paces” follows next, and it’s a more faster paced song, and bit more upbeat. The chorus is pretty good as well. “Changes Comin’ On” follows next, it’s a quieter song, but also one of the longest songs on the album, ringing in at 6:47. The song does mention Martin Luther King, Jr. which is a bit unexpected for an album with a confederate flag. The song does also pick up the pace and volume some. All in all, not an awful song. The A-Side closes out with a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River” and you know what, covering a CCR song is usually a make or break in most circumstances, because they’re so uniquely John Fogerty, and unfortunately, this one doesn’t hit anywhere near as good as the original. (Most covers don’t.) By the way, if you didn’t know, Alabama comes from Alabama.
“Take Me Down” opens the B-Side, and it starts off slow and downtempo, we do get to the chorus, which is a really well performed section of the song. This song was originally recorded by Exile, but failed to be a hit for them, and you know, you can definitely hear the Exile vibes in the musicianship. This became Alabama’s 7th number one hit. “You Turn Me On” (whoa.) comes next, and it comes off as a bit ballad-y, the spoken word part doesn’t quite hit like it should, at least for me. “Never Be One” comes next, and we continue with another slower song, but this song is definitely about the singers daughter growing up, so I am sure there is some sentimental emotion to it. It ends with the vocalist saying goodnight to his daughter and her saying it back. “Lovin’ You is Killin’ Me” comes next, and it’s a faster paced song, and it’s not too bad. “Gonna Have a Party” ends the album, and it’s a bit repetitive, not overly exciting. All in all, the album was mostly enjoyable, good music, but not overly interesting.
Catalog Number:
AHL1-4229
Credits:
Produced by Harold Shedd & Alabama
Guitars – Jack Eubanks, George (Leo) Jackson, Fred Newell, Mark Casstevens, David Hanner, Jeff Cook, Randy Owen & Dale Sellers
Bass – Walter David Smith, Larry Paxton & Teddy Gentry
Banjo – Bruce Watkins
Drums – Hayward Bishop, David Humphreys, Mark Herndon & Jerry Kroon
Keyboards – William Rainsford & Rodger Morris
Strings Arranged by Kristin Wilkinson
Recorded and Mixed at Music Mill, Nashville, Tennessee
Engineers – Gene Rice, Harold Shedd & Paul Goldberg
Mastering – Randy Kling / Randy’s Roost, Nashville, Tennessee
Photography – Norman Seeff
Photography (Flag) – David LeBon
Art Direction – David Hogan Design
Released:
1982
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