Comprising the same lineup as
Street Corner Talking,
Savoy Brown released
Hellbound Train a year later. For this effort,
Kim Simmonds' guitar theatrics are toned down a bit and the rest of the band seems to be a little less vivid and passionate with their music. The songs are still draped with
Savoy Brown's sleek, bluesy feel, but the deep-rooted blues essence that so easily emerged from their last album doesn't rise as high throughout
Hellbound Train's tracks. The title cut is most definitely the strongest, with
Dave Walker,
Simmonds, and
Paul Raymond sounding tighter than on any other song, and from a wider perspective,
Andy Silvester's bass playing is easily
Hellbound's most complimenting asset. On tracks like "Lost and Lonely Child," "Doin' Fine," and "If I Could See an End," the lifeblood of the band doesn't quite surge into the music as it did before, and the tracks become only average-sounding blues efforts. Because of
Savoy Brown's depth of talent, this rather nonchalant approach doesn't make
Hellbound Train a "bad" album by any means -- it just fails to equal the potency of its predecessor. But there is a noticeable difference in the albums that followed this one, as the band and especially
Simmonds himself was beginning to show signs of fatigue, and a significant decline in the group's overall sound was rapidly becoming apparent.