Released: 1979
Chart Peak: # 30
Running Like the Wind
Last of the Singing Cowboys
Answer To Love
Unto These Hills
Melody Ann
My Best Friend
Pass It On
Running Like the Wind was the band's first release with their
new label, Warner Brothers, who won a bidding war with other major labels after
the band parted ways with Capricorn. Stewart Levine, as he did on
"Together Forever", was the producer. Released in 1979 it was
the last of the band's albums to achieve gold status. It found the band at
the height of their writing and this record seems to best reflect their
divergence of musical influences; from Toy's country roots, to Doug's soul and R
& B inspirations, to Paul and Jerry's jazz stlyings - it all seemed to mesh
perfectly. The LP reels you in from beginning to end, from the first
wistful chords of the title cut to the reflective fade-out of "Pass It
On".
Toy often said that "Running Like the Wind"
was his favorite song and he pours himself into it from beginning to end.
It is perhaps his most autobiographical song about the uncertainty of life on
the road and the optimism and vision with which he pursued it. "Last
of the Singing Cowboys" is a charging, horn infused song about the plight
of a blind guitar-playing retired rodeo champion. Though the story is
poignant the song will leave you with an adreanaline rush!
Toy's "Answer to Love" asks the age-old
question that no one seems to have an answer to. He surely doesn't pretend
to, though he can't help asking if anyone else does. A lament of the
mountain man is offered by Toy in "Unto These Hills." While the
previous song didn't have an anser to love, this mountain man, who found out
"his" girl "loved every man in town", solves the question by
retreating from whence he came.
Tommy makes his singing debut on Melody Ann, a song he
wrote for his wife and the love of his life. For him, absence does make
the heart grow fonder and he's glad to find her "standing there with a
smile" when he returns from the road. Love and the lonlieness of the
road seemed to be on the band's mind throughout the album as George illustrates
with "My Best Friend". This number rocks in defiance of the
notion that "time is gonna pull us apart". The band was truly smokin
on this song; if you listen closely at the end you can hear Toy telling the boys
that "I blew my headphones up".
The album ends with Toy's touching look at the bridge
brought about by the generation gap. He reminds us that "there's more
to grey hair than old bones" and that we ought to take the time to get to
know the generations that went before, as they can offer us not only insight,
but friendship. I know this ol' cowboy will be rockin' to Tucker in my
easy chair when I'm old and grey - hopefully the younger generation will give a
listen!
- Craig Cumberland
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