Music Reviews

Album Review: Marshall Tucker Band – ‘Carolina Dreams Tour ‘77’

By Jeff Swindoll Dec 5, 2007, 15:58 GMT

The Marshall Tucker band has been around since 1972.  The band consists (or consisted of) Doug Gray (lead vocals, tambourine), Jerry Eubanks (saxes, flute, keyboards), George McCorkle (electric, twelve string and acoustic guitars), Tommy Caldwell (bass), Toy Caldwell (lead, acoustic, and steel guitars), and Paul Riddle (drums). 

In 1980, bassist Tommy Caldwell would die from injuries in a jeep crash (Toy would die in 1993 and McCorkle in 2007) and this recorded concert would be the last that would feature the band’s original lineup. 

They were touring to promote their 1977 ‘Carolina Dreams’ album and the concert features songs from that album, but it also has old favorites from the albums before.  The first two CDs are audio of the concert and includes their big hit “Heart It in a Love Song.” 

The final disc is a DVD of the concert (only recently discovered and with great effort made to restore the audio and video).  Not only that but they’ve included a nice roster of special features including a commentary with front man Doug Gray, the song “24 Hours at a Time” (14 minutes) reconstructed using available video footage and stills, and a slide show. 

I did prefer watching the concert over listening to it, but any fan of the band will be most happy to find this set in their Christmas stocking.  Not only that, but there’s a nice selection of special features on the DVD as well.