Stray Dog 1973

Stray Dog S/T
1973

This album is one crazy wheels-off ride. I had heard about Stray Dog a few years back and happened across their second album, While You're Down There. I brought it home and gave it a spin on the old turntable only to be hugely disappointed. The guitars were almost heavy, but the songs were sickeningly-sweet-rot-your-teeth pop. Pure tripe. So I crossed Stray Dog off my list of records to find. Fast forward a couple years... I read somewhere somebody comparing a Firebird album to Stray Dog. Hmm... Yeah, right. Whatever. Then, at the used record store what do I stumble across but the first self titled Stray Dog record. I picked it up, looked at it, considered it, then put it back, thinking of the sick stomach I got from the other Stray Dog album I already wasted my money on and left the store. As the next week goes by, the Firebird comparison keeps creeping into my mind, so I finally decide to go back and see if it's still there. Sure enough, it was there and wow, it is night and day compared with the second album.

Stray Dog was a Texas power trio, led by singer/guitar player Snuffy Walden, who were tapped by Greg Lake, of ELP, to come to England to record their debut. They subsequently toured with ELP, but the album never really took off.

The album opens with a grandiose pipe organ intro, after which Snuffy sneers at you "Fasten your seatbelts!" and then the ride begins. The first 2 songs assail you with barbaric chaotic power trio bluesrock, full of wicked riffs, Snuffy's swaggering and swaying sidewinder guitar soloing, and a ferocious rhythm section pounding. After a ballad, which I always skip, there's a killer version of ZZ Top's Chevrolet. Next Speak of the Devil, complete with Stax-like background singers, and Slave rock soulful yet savage. The last song reins the wild dog pack in a bit for some more straight ahead 70's pop rock. Not a bad song, but not up snuff, or is it snuffy, in the riff department compared to the rest.
There's only 7 songs on the album, but the 5 serious rockers make it well worth the trip. It's not heavy in a behemoth power chord kind of way, but more like a berserk rabid dog ripping apart your ZZ Top records. This album definitely lands high up on my list of 70's obscurities. And non-obscurities as well really. The Firebird comparison is not a bad one after all. It's very much Texas power trio heavily blues-infused rock.
Don't know what the story is with the 2nd album, While You're Down There. A second guitar player and a new singer were added for it. I would guess it was pressure from the record company to come up with something more palatable for the mainstream based on the lack of success of their first album. Shame.
If you see the first album, buy it.

Anyway, here's my rating:

Riff Density - 7
Riff Caliber - 9
Post Blues Factor - 9
Groove Factor - 8
Dig It Factor -10