Disco de Alabama: “Southern Star”

Dear Alabama Fans,

This is the Greatest CD EVER recorded by Alabama. I am upset at whoever was in charge for not giving my favorite song of all time enough attention! Whenever I asked DJ's to play it, most of them screamed at me and told me no, but when they did, the audience loved it!!! So, my taste in great country music is not all bad. The song is called "PETE'S MUSIC CITY." I have seen to it that my wife likes it, the kids like it, the neighborhood likes it, and anyone that comes near me, likes it :)

Now, even after all these years have gone by, I am telling YOU to like it!

There are other songs on this CD that turned out to be major hits. But, don't ignore the classic tunes done with the rich voices of Charlie Daniels and Jimmie Fadden. Listen to the 'Borderline' and 'Ole Baugh Road' along with the others sung by the 'outlaw' Teddy Gentry and the 'swooner' Jeff Cook.

This CD is classic ALABAMA. Grab it!

There was a time when RCA had a policy of releasing country albums on vinyl with just nine tracks, but releasing extra tracks on CD. I had been considering buying a CD player for some time anyway, but when I discovered that the CD version of Southern star had thirteen tracks - four more than the vinyl version - my mind was made up, especially having heard some great songs from it on the radio.

The album was every bit as good as I expected - better, even - and remains one of my favorite Alabama albums. It yielded four country number one hits, these being Song of the south, High cotton, Southern star and If I had you. Of course, these are all brilliant and you can find them on their outstanding compilation, Essential (originally released as For the record 41 number one hits). If you are only interested in the hits, you should buy that collection instead of this album. This album is for those who like to hear some excellent songs that you've probably not heard on the radio very often, if at all.

Some of the other songs here paint little pictures of life in the south, like Down on the river (about an overnight fishing trip), Ole Baugh Road (about a local community), The borderline (a wild west story about a cowboy, a lawman and a gang of murderers), Pete's Music City (about a nightclub or honky-tonk). There are also love songs like I'm still dreaming, She can, I showed her and Dixie fire. Alabama record few covers, but those they do are always well chosen. On this album, there is one - Robert Parker's Barefootin', a great slice of sixties rock.

The hits are the most instantly appealing on this album but they are certainly not the only songs worth hearing. This is one of my favorites of Alabama's original albums. Of course, if you are new to Alabama's music, you should begin with that double-CD, appropriately titled Essential.

There was a time when RCA had a policy of releasing country albums on vinyl with just nine tracks, but releasing extra tracks on CD. I had been considering buying a CD player for some time anyway, but when I discovered that the CD version of Southern star had thirteen tracks - four more than the vinyl version - my mind was made up, especially having heard some great songs from it on the radio.

The album was every bit as good as I expected - better, even - and remains one of my favorite Alabama albums. It yielded four country number one hits, these being Song of the south, High cotton, Southern star and If I had you. Of course, these are all brilliant and you can find them on their outstanding compilation, For the record 41 number one hits. If you are only interested in the hits, you should buy that collection instead of this album. This album is for those who like to hear some excellent songs that you've probably not heard on the radio very often, if at all.

Some of the other songs here paint little pictures of life in the south, like Down on the river (about an overnight fishing trip), Ole Baugh Road (about a local community), The borderline (a wild west story about a cowboy, a lawman and a gang of murderers), Pete's Music City (about a nightclub or honky-tonk). There are also love songs like I'm still dreaming, She can, I showed her and Dixie fire. Alabama record few covers, but those they do are always well chosen. On this album, there is one - Robert Parker's Barefootin', a great slice of sixties rock.

The hits are the most instantly appealing on this album but they are certainly not the only songs worth hearing. This is one of my favorites of Alabama's original albums. Of course, if you are new to Alabama's music, you should begin with that double-CD of 41 number one hits.

This cd could've been classic. "Song of the South," "High Cotton," and "Southern Star" are signature Alabama, probably three of the best country songs released during this decade. "Down on the River," "Ol Baugh Road," and "Pete's Music City," all follow in the same vein as those three hits, with enough country nostalgia to move any casual country listener. "If I had you" was a ballad with some success on the charts, and "She Can" and "I'm Still Dreaming" are as good of ballads as the released single. With these 9 songs, its a great cd, arguably a classic.

But then you have "The Borderline," "I Showed Her," "Dixie Fire," and "Barefootin," which sound horrible. Out of the three, "The Borderline" is the most tolerable. The more you listen to it, the more it grows on you. But the latter two are absolutely horrendous. Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry simply cannot sing. Their voices are weak and squeaky and have too much treble. Its not just that the pitch is too high, they just do not have the tone or projection in their voices to carry lead vocals. "Barefootin," is a great song, in its own right. With Randy Owen's voice on it, it would've been spectacular. But instead we have the guitarist growling like a poor-man's jerry lee lewis. I'd love to have heard "The Borderline" with Randy singing. But without his voice these songs are mediocre at best. This isn't what people want when they buy an Alabama record. Not one Alabama song without Owen as the lead vocalist ever was released on single, and they dont get played on the radio at all. I understand experimenting with style, but when the experimental stuff isnt good and the normal-solid Alabama is brilliant, why would you want to experiment? No one is going to buy this cd to hear "I Showed her" or "Dixie Fire."

The songs that are on here that are good are great, while the ones that are bad are complete duds. I would recommend this cd to any Alabama fan, as the majority of the songs on her are either good or great. The handful of songs that are mediocre keep this cd from being a classic cd, but even with their inclusion, this is a great country music cd. I'd recommend this to anyone who is into Alabama, because this really might be their best albums, aside from "Mountain Music" (you can't get away from the rest of the band singing in any of their cds, unfortunately). For anyone just discovering Alabama, I'd recommend the essential Alabama, which has 44 solid tracks, and none of the 'let the boys sing' filler.

Had this "tape" a long time ago! Was very excited to receive it and find it as stated online. Great condition! Great deal! Thank you!