The band Alabama has probably been the most influental musical act in my life and responsible for converting me to country music for good.
Their slight rock and pop influences created a whole new vibe for
country music and as we know, they were the first (at least successful)
self contained country band; meaning they played all their instruments
themselves, even during recordings most of the time. At live shows, they were not merely singing like successful
groups such as the Oak Ridge Boys or the Statler Brothers had done
before them, but as a band they were also playing their own instruments.
Produced by long-time
Alabama-producer Harold Shedd, the album 'The Closer You Get' was
released in 1983 as their fourth major-label studio album for RCA. It
was the follow-up project to the excellent album 'Mountain Music', which
not only reached No. 14 on the pop charts, but also gave them their
first Grammy Award for Best Country Group. With over 5 million copies sold to date, 'Mountain Music' still stands as one of their most successful albums.
So "The Closer You Get" was looking to go one step further!
The front cover picture features one of the more bland covers of the bands albums. While the first 2 projects featured pure art work on the front cover (something very common for rock artists) and 'Mountain Music' had a small and hip-looking photo of the band, 'The Closer You Get' features a full frontal shot of the foursome standing next to each other. Something that was (and still is) very common in country music. The bigger the star, the more generic and carbon-copied the album covers look (check out the album covers for any George Strait album). As if country fans would otherwise not be able to recognize the album of their favorite artist!
At least the back of the album does a little more in terms of creativity, although not really much.
The first song released as a single from the album was 'Dixieland Delight' which is the longest song on the album, with an unusal 5:25 minutes. It is a midtempo song, featuring the trademark harmony vocals of the band, with them singing about spending a saturday night with that favorite southern girl, the 'Dixieland Delight', out in the car, " ... rolling down a Tennessee byway, one arm on the wheel, holding my lover with other ...".
What made the song outstanding to me is the way the chorus goes low-key instead of full-blown. In addition the song shines with another instrumental break at minute three, similar to what was done on 'Mountain Music'. This time the drums are replaced by a slow-down in rhythm, before the fiddle solo's in, until another drum-vocal bridge brings us to the end of the song. To this day, the song has remained fresh and unique, which is also recognized by Dee Jay Silver who produced a toned-down hip-hop version of the song on this EP 'Country Club' in 2013.
The album actually gets started off with the title cut 'The Closer You Get', which is one of the most pop-oriented songs of Alabama's career. It was written by members of former pop band Exile (who subsequently made the successful move to country music and became some sort of a competitor to Alabama), featuring Alabama's trademark harmony vocals and some very 80's sounding electronic drums. The song even received pop radio airplay and reached No. 38 on the pop singles charts.
It was the second single off the album and again reached No. 1 on the country charts.
One of my personal highlights on the album is 'Lady Down On Love'. It is a very slow and tender ballad about a breaking long-term relationship, focusing on the woman's struggle to recover. The song refrains from any noticeable percussion and flows on strings and a heart melting vocal performance by lead singer Randy Owen and the band. The song was written by Randy Owen and became the third number 1 from the album. This clearly is a sound that cannot be heard on today's radio.
But the album holds more gems than just the 3 singles released to radio. Actually it is one of the strongest Alabama albums in terms of story songs. One such highlight is 'She Put The Sad In All His Songs' about a guy who has fallen for a woman, who does not care about him. It is a moody ballad that echoes with the sadness of the guys story in the vocal performance of Randy Owen. His voice stands equal to the soft and yet distinct intrumentation and I love the little supporting sound effects in the back ground, like the rattle of a rattlesnake, when the lyrics tell us "she was a rattlesnake, that bit him".
Another great story song starts off with the sounds of seagulls and gently crashing waves as a backdrop to guitar and keyboards. It tells the story of a weekend romance, when the guy from Alabama meets the girl from California on some beach in Georgia or South Carolina. The song 'Very Special Love' was written by Alabama and is something like a power ballad when the chorus swells like the ocean waves that frame the story location.
Another sentimental story, 'Alabama Sky', features Teddy Gentry on lead vocals and talks about the memory of grandpa, a theme very personal to Alabamas bass player Teddy Gentry. Heavy strings make the song straddle the line to kitsch, but vocals and percussion pull it back right in time.
'Dixie Boy' delivers another mid-tempo story song about simple life in the south, while 'Red River' is probably the only edgier song on the album bringing in a swampy-rock feeling, when it tells about hanging out with the guys at the river, " ... telling tales around the campfire lights about the girls in our dreams ...". Driving guitars and ringing keyboards make it the only uptempo song on the album (apart from the title track potentially and the traditional Jeff Cook Rock'n'Roll track at the end of the album, 'Lovin' Man').
But the album would not be complete without mentioning 'What In the Name of Love'. A beautiful melody delivers the heartbreaking emotion of realizing that a relationshiop has come to its end, without understanding why. So one is still hanging in there, while the other has started moving on. It is very difficult to highlight favorites on an album full of great songs, but this clearly is at the very top for me.
In summary, 'The Closer You Get' rightfully was one of my most favorite albums of all times, being one of the more introspective and ballad-heavy albums by Alabama. It features their distinctive harmony vocals and a production that is sparse and not overpowering. It does sound different than what can be heard on radio today, but I do believe it has stood the test of time and is still more than worth listening to.
'The Closer You Get' retains my initial 5 star rating as one my favorite all time records in my collection.
Artist: Alabama
Album: The Closer You Get"
Release Date: March, 1983 / Producer: Harold Shedd
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