Swamp Dogg - Have You Heard this Story? [Blue Vinyl] - New LP

Dogg 1974.  When I was a youngster, I saw a used copy of this album, and on a whim (well, just look at the cover), I made it my selection for the day, slapped my dollar bill on counter and took home my first Swamp Dogg album.  I still have that copy in my collection.  Now you can get yours!  Another essential from Mr. Dogg. -- winch

Review by Mark Deming: In 1975, disco was starting to take over the charts, and perhaps in hope that he might just sell a few records for a change, Jerry Williams (aka Swamp Dogg) kicked off his fifth album, Have You Heard This Story??, with a potent and funky dance groove called "The Mind Does the Dancing While the Body Pulls the Strings" that would have inspired plenty of booty-shaking if the lyrics hadn't been so weird -- which means we're talking about a fairly typical Swamp Dogg album. This time out, Williams delivers a super-sized portion of solid funk and soul with an equal share of eccentric philosophizing on the side as he discusses Jesus before He became a media phenomenon ("When He Was No One"), comes home to find his wife cheating on him with another woman ("Did I Come Back Too Soon [Or Stay Away Too Long]"), shares his experiences with an incompetent physician ("Dr. MLG [JA]"), and laments the sad state of our culture and our nation ("Chewed Up Grass" and "God Ain't Blessing America"). Swamp Dogg's experience as a studio hand is clearly evident; these songs are rooted in tough, sinewy rhythm beds that keep one foot on the dancefloor even as the lyrics head off into the twilight zone, and "I Want a Lifetime of Loving You" and "I Wouldn't Leave Here to Go to Heaven" demonstrate the man could write a straightforward R&B tune when he was of a mind. But as great as the music is, it's Williams' weird but wise broadsides on the world around him that set him apart, and if you've got a taste for his ranting, this will slake your thirst.

Bass – Lenny LeBlanc

Congas, Tambourine, Claves, Cymbal – Audie Watkins

Drums, Tambourine – Jimmy Evans

Guitar, Harmonica – Travis Wommack

Organ – Randy McCormick

Piano, Producer, Arranged By – Jerry Williams Jr.

Saxophone [Baritone] – Ronnie Eades

Saxophone [Tenor], Flute – Harvey Thompson

Trombone – Charles Rose

Trumpet – Harrison Calloway, Stacy Goss