Album review: 38 SPECIAL – Special Forces and Wild Eyed Southern Boys (Remasters)

September 24th, 2023 by brianmc

Rock Candy Records [Release date: 08.09.23]

In 2008, a major fire in Universal Studios’ Hollywood Warehouse devastated the company’s music archives. 38 Special were one of the bands to suffer a significant loss…and if nothing else, that gives these remasters added resonance.

The master tapes of Wild Eyed Southern Boys, and Special Forces – two of the band’s definitive rock albums of the eighties – escaped destruction. And it’s hard not get excited when you further discover that they have now been dusted down and polished up using today’s cutting edge technology.

The original releases, in 1981 and 82 (effectively their fourth and fifth albums) had signalled a game changing shift in style for the band. Vocalists/guitarists Donnie Van Zant and Don Barnes had the foresight to see which way the rock’n’roll wind was blowing. And so these two albums were a mix of Southern Rock’s storytelling tradition and the ascendant Stadium Rock emanating from the US westcoast.

Producer Rodney (Lynyrd Skynyrd/Gregg Allman/Doobie Bros) Mills drafted in acknowledged genre giant, Jim (Survivor) Peterik, to add his commercial nous to the band’s songwriting approach. Several singles popped out of each recording.

‘Caught Up In You’, ‘You Keep Runnin Away’, ‘Fantasy Girl’ and ‘Hold On Loosely’, were all fully formed blasts of hard driving southern rock tempered with accessible hooks and catchy choruses. They all charted, pushing album sales up into multi platinum territory.

The early eighties are not well known for durable recording technology. Consequently, this remastering is all the more impressive. Maintaining the warmth and depth of those original analogue recordings, while at the same time achieving a surprising amount of sonic separation and loudness, is quite some feat.

Each of these remasters have a handful of live bonus tracks. Emphatic additions to these already outstanding albums. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)