Description
This reviewers’ favoured Blackfoot album EVER:
For a brief time back in the early eighties Florida four-piece Blackfoot were serious pretenders to Lynryd Skynyrd Southern Rock crown. Always with the emphasis more towards hard rock than their country-tinged predecessors, their creative efforts certainly touched a chord with British audiences, bolstered by some truly incendiary concerts Siogo is the sixth album by the American Southern rock band Blackfoot, released in 1983. All 10 songs are great.
Teenage Idol:
Blackfoot – Send me an Angel:
Band members:
Rickey Medlocke – lead vocals, guitars
Charlie Hargrett – guitars
Ken Hensley – keyboards, slide guitar on “”Drivin’ Fool””, backing vocals
Greg T. Walker – bass guitar, backing vocals
Jakson Spires – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Additional musician: Michael Osborne, Lala – backing vocals
Chart Positions: SWEDEN: 36, UK: 28, USA: 82
Blackfoot – Siogo (Full Album) 1983
Label: ATCO Records – 79-0080-1
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
A1 Send Me An Angel 4:36 Written-By – Williams*, Hensley*
A2 Crossfire Written 4:08 by – BarthWritten-By – Hargrett*, Spires*, Medlocke*
A3 Heart’s Grown Cold Written-By – Cleminson* 3:32
A4 We’re Goin’ Down Written-By – Spires*, Medlocke* 4:12
A5 Teenage Idol Written-By – Spires*, Medlocke* 4:48
B1 Goin’ In Circles Written-By – Spires*, Medlocke* 3:06
B2 Run For Cover Written-By – Hargrett*, Spires*, Hensley*, Medlocke* 4:21
B3 White Man’s Land Written-By – Spires*, Medlocke* 2:55
B4 Sail Away Written-By – Spires*, Medlocke* 4:30
B5 Drivin’ Fool Written-By – Spires*, Medlocke* 4:48
Copyright (c) – Atlantic Recording Corporation
Backing Vocals – Michael Osborne
Bass, Backing Vocals – Greg T. Walker
Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Ken Hensley
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Charlie Hargrett
Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Other [& “the Good Doctor”] – Rick Medlocke
Percussion, Backing Vocals – Jakson Spires
Producer – Al Nalli
Comes with printed inner sleeve: credits on one, lyrics on the other side.
famous Ian Gillan line up of DP. Hargrett told this story in a interview:
“Ken’s manager was worried about losing him. We had
a friend of ours call and say that he had a Hammond B-3 organ. Ken would just need to give him a call, and it would be his. That did it. When Ken called, we told him that we wanted him to come to Ann Arbor to discuss joining Blackfoot, and if things worked out at the meeting and he joined us, we’d give him the B-3 as promised”
Musically Atco had the band try to steer away from their hard rock (which made money) way. Into a more 80’s radio friendly territory. From what I read Medlocke said himself, Spires, and Hensley just sat down and discussed ‘what makes a hit song.’ Instead of letting the songs come naturally like the band had did since day one. Bobby Barth also helped with the process.I read that you helped out the band on a few albums while you got back to health after a accident. Is that true and could go in a little bit more detail?
BB: Well, it’s true, but the timing is incorrect. During the SIOGO and Vertical Smiles records, I was with them in the studio and for writing sessions. When you must put out records every so many months and tour at the same time, it’s good to bring some other writers and players onboard, just to throw ideas and parts at each other, the more stuff you have to choose from the better. Jak did the same with me during a couple Axe records.
Can you remember anything particular songs that you had a part in writing?
BB: A couple I remember that were mine were Ride With You and Crossfire.This album from day one was an attempt to sound like 80’s mainstream. It’s not as hard or ‘southern’ as the first albums. But it was a good mix of the new 80’s sound and classic rock. Siogo the name of the album has a funny story. The band told Atco it was an Indian word meaning closeness or togetherness. Actually, it reads S.I.O.G.O ‘Suck It Or Get Out‘. Which was a joke sign placed on the band’s tour bus. It was poking fun at the groupies. Atco discovered the true meaning after the album’s release. Their publicist was calling all the field reps to promote the album. Luck would have it one of them had travelled with the guys and knew the truth. Apparently this person started laughing once told what Atco thought SIOGO meant. They eventually told them the truth but Atco didn’t see the funny side.
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Former Uriah Heep keyboardist Ken Hensley has become the fifth Blackfoot member on their fourth studio album, Siogo. While I was a little worried that the overpowering organ sound he’d often wielded in his former band might drown out the gritty guitars of Ricky Medlocke and Charlie Hargrett–the heart of this southern-fried metal band–I must say that Hensley fits well in the group. Siogo holds its own when compared to their earlier riff-riddled LPs Marauder, Tomcattin’, and the explosive debut Strikes.
The album kicks off with a bang on “Send Me An Angel”, one of the three tunes Hensley cowrote for it. Red-hot chord blasts and searing lead licks highlight this gripping tale of loneliness and isolation that never lets up. “Crossfire” follows, along the same raunchy lines–it seems there’s no end to the kind of desperation-drenched solos lead guitarist Hargrett can wrench out of a Marshall-powered Hamer. And as if Medlocke and Hargrett weren’t handy enough themselves on six strings, Hensley steps in to deliver some metal madness of his own via slide guitar on the album’s final cut “Drivin’ Fool”.
If you like the idea of a band that rocks out in the gutsy style of Molly Hatchet but tempers their noise with a slightly more commercial touch, then Blackfoot may be well worth checking out.
By Steve Newton ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JUNE 24, 1983
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