Molly Hatchet is the debut studio album by American rock band Molly Hatchet. The cover is a painting by Frank Frazetta entitled “The Death Dealer”. Starting off both the album itself and the recording career of the band, the first song famously begins with lead singer Danny Joe Brown growling “Hell yeah!”*
Title: Molly Hatchet
Band: Molly Hatchet
Released: September 1, 1978
Label: Epic Records
The first Molly Hatchet album I ever heard was Flirtin’ with Disaster. One of my high school friends had the cassette and we’d blast it in his Toyota. I was immediately struck by Danny Joe Brown’s vocals. A rich, guttural, voice that sprang from the Jenson’s and demanded to be heard. It was impressive to say the least, but at the time I was really into Rush, AC/DC (before Bon passed away), Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc., so Molly Hatchet kind of fell by the wayside for me. When I was in the USAF a few years later I bought No Guts … No Glory (1983) on cassette when it came out but nothing else since then. A few years ago I picked up a CD set which has the first five albums in it. It’s been a great addition to my CD collection. More recently I’ve been grabbing used vinyl when I can find it, which brings us to this album review.
When you consider all the great debut albums from the great bands over the years, this one is deservingly right up there with the best. As stated at the beginning of this article, the first song starts off with DJB growling “Hell yeah!” which sets the tone for this delicious slab of southern rock/country honk. The first song, Bounty Hunter, showcases some great, three-man, guitar work from Hlubek, Holland and Roland reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The second track, Gator Country, has long been a fan favorite with its rolling guitar work and Danny Joe’s almost Charlie Daniels-esque vocal styling. The lyrics name drop many of the great artists that paved the way for the success of the southern rock genre. A six minute and seventeen second epic, it reminds me a lot of the Allman Brothers.
Next up is Big Apple, a country boys poke at big city living. It’s a fun little number and fits in nicely with the rest of the record.
That is followed up by another fan favorite from this album, The Creeper. A nice, slower tempo, romp that really fits with the song title perfectly. A great performance by the entire band on this one.
The Price You Pay closes out side one. A slightly funky groove with a great bass line and some really good harmonica work, it does a nice job of wrapping up the first side of the album.
Side two opens with Dreams I’ll Never See, a reworked cover of the Allman Brothers song, Dreams. The main riff is perfect in it’s simplicity and the vocals are arguably one of Danny Joe’s finest moments. The longest track on the record, clocking in at just over seven minutes, it’s probably one of their top three fan favorites and along with the title track from Flirtin’ with Disaster, a song that strongly identifies the band.
After that comes I’ll Be Running. Its a good track but compared to the rest of the album seems lackluster and forgettable. That’s not saying its a bad song. Just a tough job to live up to all the great tracks that precede it.
Cheatin’ Woman is another solid song musically and lyrically. The riff sounds a lot like Rush’s Working Man (1974) to me. Not sure if that was on purpose or not.
Last but not least is the rollicking yet easy going, Trust Your Old Friend. A more than adequate closer to a tremendous first album from a band that would see a lot of changes and tumult during their history. I believe all of the founding original members have passed away but there always seems to be some version of the band out on the road doing shows. I saw them live once in 1983 and don’t remember much of the show. It was a long time ago and I was a bit inebriated but from the pieces of memories I have, it sounded pretty damn good.
Keep on rockin’ y’all. \m/
Track listing
Side one
- “Bounty Hunter” (Danny Joe Brown, Dave Hlubek, Steve Holland) – 2:58
- “Gator Country” (Hlubek, Holland, Banner Thomas, Jerry Moman) – 6:17
- “Big Apple” (Brown, Hlubek) – 3:01
- “The Creeper” (Brown, Bruce Crump, Holland) – 3:18
- “The Price You Pay” (Cecil Berrier, Brown, Holland, Bob Huckaba, Jerry Lee) – 3:04
Side two
- “Dreams I’ll Never See” (Gregg Allman) (Jerry Moman – Rhythm Guitarist)– 7:06
- “I’ll Be Running” (Brown, Hlubek, Moman, Thomas) – 3:00
- “Cheatin’ Woman” (Moman) (Holland) – 3:36
- “Trust Your Old Friend” (Moman, Crump, Duane Roland) – 3:55