Dog Days (Remastered) Atlanta Rhythm Section

• 1Crazy03:12
• 2Boogie Smoogie08:11
• 3Cuban Crisis03:52
• 4It Just Ain't Your Moon04:49
• 5Dog Days03:37
• 6Bless My Soul (Instrumental)03:54
• 7Silent Treatment05:24
• 8All Night Rain03:12
• Total Runtime36:11

Info for Dog Days (Remastered)

Dog Days was ARS first masterpiece and an album that still stands with their best. It showcases a band that has found its groove and is taking its music to a new level. Featuring another fine collection of songs about themselves and the South, the band displays a growing array of musical styles and approaches that are very different from where the rest of Southern Rock was headed. Overall, it's a faster paced album that what had come before, featuring six uptempo songs and two beautiful ballads-all originals.

It opens on some high notes with the rocking Crazy leading into the buildup blues and breakout jam of Boogie Smoogie. A couple of lighter tunes lead into a ballad that is ballad that is a beautiful evocation of the South Dog Days. For the second album in a row they show off their chops with an instrumental Bless My Soul. The album closed with another classic ballad of Souther images All Night Rain. While other bands were striving to claim the mantle of kings of Southern rock, ARS had started making music no other Southern band has ever been able to duplicate.

"What has become known as Southern rock is now one of my favorite genres of current rock & roll, but one of the most distinctive oddities I've discovered about it is that it seems to take most bands several albums before they arrive at a level of competence that I can stand to listen to. Two or three pedestrian LPs and then boom!, the rhythm section's tight and funky, the lead guitar player has stopped imitating Dickey Betts, and they're writing and singing memorable tunes.

But there is no denying that they do boogie well, as "Boogie Smoogie," the tune those lyrics come from, amply demonstrates. Paul Goddard's flatulent bass and some slashing guitar work from Barry Bailey and J.R. Cobb (as well as some excellent lyrics) make for an exciting eight minutes.

Not all of the album fares as well, since the band does have a tendency to meander, but the humorous "Cuban Crisis" and the ballad "All Night Rain" provide a good change of pace. All in all, enjoyable if not earthshaking, and that's good enough for me." (Ed Ward, Rolling Stone)

Atlanta Rhythm Section

Digitally remastered

Atlanta Rhythm Section
Often described as a more radio-friendly version of Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Allman Brothers, the Atlanta Rhythm Section was one of many Southern rock bands to hit the upper reaches of the charts during the late '70s. Hailing from the small town of Doraville, Georgia, the beginning of the Atlanta Rhythm Section can be traced back to 1970. It was then that a local recording studio was opened, Studio One, and the remnants of two groups (the Candymen and the Classics Four), became the studio's house band. One of the facility's head figures, Buddy Buie, soon began assembling the session band -- singer Rodney Justo, guitarist Barry Bailey, bassist Paul Goddard, keyboardist Dean Daughtry, and drummer Robert Nix. After playing on several artists' recordings, it was decided to take the band a step further and make the group of players a real band, leading to the formation of the Atlanta Rhythm Section.

Atlanta Rhythm SectionBuie soon became an invisible fifth member of the fledgling band; he served as their manager and producer, in addition to providing a major hand in the songwriting department. Finding time between sessions to record their own original material (which was initially, entirely instrumental), an early demo wound up landing the band a record deal. The group's first few albums failed to generate much chart action (1972's Atlanta Rhythm Section, 1973's Back Up Against the Wall, 1974's Third Annual Pipe Dream, 1975's Dog Days, and 1976's Red Tape), but it was during this time that Justo was replaced with newcomer Ronnie Hammond, which would eventually pay dividends for the group. Although they had gained quite a bit of radio airplay down south, their record company began to put pressure on the quintet to deliver a single that would break them nationally. The demand worked -- the Atlanta Rhythm Section scored a Top Ten single, "So Into You," on their next release, 1976's A Rock and Roll Alternative, which was the group's first album to reach gold certification.

Champagne Jam But this wouldn't be the group's commercial peak, as they scored the highest charting album of their career in 1978, the Top Ten Champagne Jam, which spawned two hit singles -- "I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight" and "Imaginary Lover." To keep up their high profile, the Atlanta Rhythm Section soon became one of the hardest touring bands of the entire Southern rock genre (including a performance at the White House for then-president Jimmy Carter). But the group's commercial success would be fleeting -- it appeared as soon as mainstream rock fans embraced the Atlanta Rhythm Section, they just as quickly forgot about them. Each subsequent album -- 1979's Underdog and live set Are You Ready, 1980s The Boys from Doraville, and 1981's Quinella -- sold less than the previous one, resulting in the band's split shortly thereafter.

In the wake of their split, the Atlanta Rhythm Section has reunited sporadically for tours (although only a few original members would be present), and issued their first all-new studio album in more than a decade in 1999, Eufaula. Additionally, some of country-rock's biggest names have gone on to record Atlanta Rhythm Section covers -- Travis Tritt, Wynonna Judd, and Charlie Daniels, among others. (Greg Prato, AMG)

This album contains no booklet.