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Soul Ain't Funny But This Dogg Laugh

Edd S. Hurt | Boulder, CO USA | 06/28/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Swamp Dogg is the souldenym of Jerry Williams, a songwriter, producer and all-around madman. This reissue of his first two albums, which contains precious little information about its contents, will give devoted soul music fans a good idea of the full-speed-ahead style of Swamp Dogg. "Total Destruction" dates from 1969 (originally released on the Canyon label) and "Rat On" from 1971 (Elektra). They're classics of the genre. Swamp Dogg went on to make great albums like "Gag A Maggott" (1973), and he released a good compilation called "Best Of 25 Years Of Swamp Dogg" a few years back, which contains some of his greatest songs, like "Complication #5" (about the last living human) and "Or Forever Hold Your Peace" (in which a man realizes that he has, umm, known quite well his son's future bride), as well as the masterful "Understanding California Women" ("She had on some shorts so tight/They wouldn't let her cheeks breathe"). That collection, while uneven, is worth checking out, as is the CD under review. Crazier than even Joe Tex and more, how you say it, conflicted, Swamp Dogg is an artist who needs a comprehensive reissue program. I saw him perform a couple of years back, in Nashville, and his version of "Sam Stone" cut John Prine's; Mr. Dogg is truly the last of the great soul men."

I finally hear him

Bob | Pacifica, CA, USA | 07/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I read about Swamp Dogg years ago in a book about unknown heroes of rock and roll. I finally thought to look for his stuff on-line and am pleasantly surprised. Most cult artists are cultish for a reason. Their musical styles and idiosyncracies may be hard to grab onto. Dogg is molded in sixties R&B. If you liked the horn arrangements behind, say, Otis Redding, you'll be right at home here. What made Swamp Dogg an outsider was his lyrics. He "tells it like it is," so to speak, from the position of a black man in America. I've recently gotten three of his CDs so I'm not sure which song is on what CD unless I go out to the car and bring them in here, but something like "F*** The Bomb, Stop The Drugs" is a good example. Catchy, too. There's another, a showstopper no doubt, "God Bless America For What?" which examines patriotism and racism. Besides the political, he deals with plenty of the usual stuff, relationships, infidelity. His take is fresh, even if some of these songs were recorded decades ago."