Produced by
Iron Butterfly's
Lee Dorman and
Mike Pinera,
Black Oak Arkansas introduced a three-guitar thunderstorm underpinning the scary basso profundo growls of lead singer
Jim "Dandy" Mangrum. This was a sound unlike any other on the then-nascent Southern rock scene. With songs like "Hot and Nasty," "Lord Have Mercy on My Soul," and an otherworldly cover of
Guy Mitchell's hit "Singing the Blues,"
Black Oak found a cult following through incessant touring with the likes of
the Allman Brothers Band. This is not pretty music, but it does have a propulsive kick to it, with the guitars going in several directions at once while
Jim Dandy's
Howlin' Wolf-influenced vocals lay out a strange blend of macho sexual and religious imagery. Although the sound would quickly become cartoonish over subsequent releases, this initial release contained the spark of the new and different. ~ Jim Newsom