Album Review: Alabama – ‘Roll On’

Alabama released their eighth album in 1984. Produced as per usual by Harold Shedd, Roll On was certified quintuple platinum and charted four number one hits.

The title track, an uptempo trucker’s anthem written by Dave Loggins, was issued as the lead single. Instead of focuses on the plight of the trucker, “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)” centers on the man’s wife and her immense worry when she fears he may be dead. Randy Owen gives an inspired performance on what’s become one of the band’s most iconic singles.

The heavily AC-leaning “When We Make Love” came next. Owen led with his tender vocal, which added sincerity to the ballad. Shedd also give the number plenty of breathing room, which makes up for the country signifiers it was lacking. To this day it remains one of my favorite Alabama ballads.

They followed with another iconic single, “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band).” The Dan Mitchell and Murry Kellum penned number has grown thin on me from over exposure, but it’s a great song and a bright spot from the barren landscape of 1980s commercial country music.

I also quite enjoy the album’s finale single, “(There’s A) Fire In The Night.” It’s a tale of lust, with the man far from the watchful eyes of his wife. Until writing this review I never knew RCA issued two videos for the song. The first featured a scandalous interpretation of the lyric, partial nudity, and bizarre tattoos. That was pulled in favor of the famous one featuring the band around the campfire. I like elements of the first one best, as it actually fit Bob Corbin’s campy lyric.

Robert Byrne and Alan Schulman co-wrote “The End of the Lyin,’” while Maurice R. Hirsch wrote “Country Side of Life.” The former is an Eagles influenced mid-tempo number while the former has an unappealing R&B influence.

Teddy Gentry takes a rare lead vocal on “The Boy,” a father-son relationship ballad he co-wrote with Owen and Greg Fowler. The track is written from the father’s prospective as he watches his son grow up. Gentry’s smooth vocal lessens the country elements of the song while the lyric suffocates the track with schmaltz. It’s not one of the album’s better numbers.

Owen also had writing credits on three other tracks, including the spectacular “I’m Not That Way Anymore.” A co-write with Gentry, Fowler and Mark Herndon, the song was recorded live at the now defunct Reunion Arena in Dallas. A giant missed opportunity; it should’ve been a single and another of their massive hits. I hadn’t heard it until now, but it might be one of my favorite things they’ve ever done.

The remaining two songs were credited solely to Owen. “Carolina Mountain Dewe” is a listless ballad about a lonely couple kept apart geographically. Thankfully he rebounds with “Food On The Table,” a homespun tribute to the loving home from which was raised.

Roll On is a quite enjoyable and consistently strong Alabama record. Shedd’s production doesn’t lean particularly country but it works more often then it fails. Roll On finds Alabama hitting their artistic stride.

Grade: A-