Molly Hatchet: Double Trouble Live (1985)
Me and my classic rock geek friends have been trading Molly Hatchet emails for days now, debating the merits and demerits of these Jacksonville, Florida-spawned heirs apparent to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Weâve argued over the bandâs sell-out to â80s AOR and glossy production, singer Danny Joe Brown vs. singer Jimmy Farrar, and even the misleading âadvertisingâ of their fantasy album covers, which definitely convinced this uninformed young metal-head to buy 1984âs The Deed is Done.
So what of the bandâs 1985 in-concert collection, Double Trouble Live?
Well, aside from harking back to the 1970sâ glorious tradition of double live LPs, thereâs no better Molly Hatchet âgreatest hitsâ set, if you ask me â even though it covers the groupâs disastrous flirtation (see what I did there?) with â80s demons on the likes of âStone in Your Heart,â âSatisfied Manâ and the intolerable âWalk On the Side of the Angelsâ (is that a fucking saxophone?).
Thatâs because it compensates for those sins with numerous no-fuss rockers (âWhiskey Man,â âBounty Hunterâ), extended boogie jams (âGator Country,â âFall of the Peacemakersâ), and stone-cold classics (âFlirtinâ With Disaster,â âBeatinâ the Oddsâ), even as the band owns up to their forefathersâ inescapable influence with reverent interpretations of âFreebirdâ and the Allmansâ âDreams Iâll Never See.â
To be sure, Double Trouble Live paints a complicated picture, but thatâs about the sum of Molly Hatchetâs career and, to be fair, many other second and third generation southern rock bands.
* One trivia item I just learned while writing this is that Mollyâs bassist for these recordings, the perfectly named Riff West, had been a member of Capricorn Records-signed, early â70s southern rock/glam/occult weirdos White Witch!
More Molly Hatchet: Molly Hatchet, Flirtinâ With Disaster.