Outlaws - Ghost Riders

I know this is likely sacrilege to hardcore fans, but this is where I started with the band. "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" was the song that hooked me. It hooked me good. I think I got the album in late 1981. I know it was about a year before Rick Cua released his first solo album, and that was in '82. The same year the Outlaws would release Los Hombres Malo  - the last album I'd get by the band for decades. I did hear "Green Grass & High Tides" on the radio once back in the early '80s when one of the local radio stations dedicated a weekend to the 100 best guitar solos of all time. I remember it being a pretty cool song, but honestly it just felt like a retread of "Free Bird," and frankly, that song never did much for me, so any kissing cousins by default didn't do much for me by extension.

That was then.

But back to my first blush with Outlaws, and frankly it was a good one, even if I wasn't sure what to make of the weird balance between absolutely smoking rock and hay-riding country music. I know it's supposed to be southern rock, but it was country, dagnabbit. The album kicks the barn doors off right out of the gate with the title track, and the interplay between Hughie Thomasson's Strat and Billy Jones' Les Paul was magic. The two of them would weave a sonic tapestry that was a lot of fun to hear when they cut loose.

The album was produced by Gary Lyons, who had experience working with bands as diverse as Aerosmith, Queen and Foreigner. The songs had a lot of punch, and the album sounded great. Although the vinyl copy I found in the clearance bin (different than the dollar bin) had a couple of divots I should have checked out before buying. Thankfully, the small one on the first side is right between tracks, and only generated a single pop. Sadly, the one on the second side is right in the middle of "Can't Stop Loving You," a cheese-filled country lament I really like - and it lasts for a few revolutions. While probably more irritating to me than it would be to most, it was a pain. Such is the curse of vinyl. Sigh. It reminds me why I dumped the format in the first place ...

When the band rocked, I was at my happiest. When the boys let loose the three-guitar army, it was a lot of fun. This was the debut of bassist Rick Cua, who along with drummer David Dix laid a solid foundation for the band to work on. There are only four songs on the first side, and two of the best, "White Horses" and "Devil's Road," were written by guitarist Freddie Salem, and they're killer tunes.

The second opens with the slow burn "Can't Stop Loving You," written by Billy Nicholls, and it's a pretty decent song, although a lot of people likely know this one as a Phil Collins song from a couple decades later. I will admit that this is the side I didn't listen to as much. I did like the song "Wishing Wells," but the songs never clicked as much, and even listening to it now I'm digging the songs, but there's something borderline kitschy to Billy Jones' "Sunshine." The song is partially redeemed when the guitars kick in as the song begins the long fade into oblivion. Mister Jones makes up for it with the album's closer, "Freedom Walk." It's a very '70s song that feels a little like early Joe Walsh. I know the band had a lot of vocalists, but there are times when the producer needs to step in and say, "I think you're better suited to providing backing vocals here." This may sound pissy, and considering Billy Jones would exit the band after this release, he was a hell of a player and a decent writer, but he wasn't the best singer in the band.

Still, this was my introduction to the band, and their balance between rock and country was pretty cool, albeit a little precarious. Over the last year or so I've been able to pick up their first couple of albums on vinyl, and it's been a real treat. It is the country-infused rock that I am really liking. It's also helped to expand my feelings toward this album as well, which is a good thing.

They were an odd band to me, and one I enjoyed and also didn't fully understand. I always thought it was cool that it was Clive Davis who signed the band to Arista. He seemed like a guy who tried to champion the band, but for whatever reason even Clive Davis couldn't work his magic, and they never caught on in the same way as bands like Skynyrd.

Sadly, Billy Jones would succumb to substance abuse and would take his own life in the mid-'90s. Rick Cua would go on to be a pretty big deal in the Christian music industry, and Hughie would eventually join Lynyrd Skynyrd.