Title:  Together After Five
Company: Smash
Catalog: SRS 67130
Year: 1970
Country/State: San Antonio, Texas
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG+
Comments: small cut out hole top left corner

Ah, here's a pseudo-classic rock album that time seems to have forgotten ...

Produced by Huey P. Meaux, 1970's "Together After Five" (referencing the number of years the band had been together), captured Doug Sahm and company chugging along on all their creative cylinders. This time around the album was heavily geared to Doug Sahm originals with the lone non-original being a cover of Bob Dylan's 'One Too Many Mornings'. True, there wasn't anything as immediately catchy as 'Mendocino', theough 'Magic Illusion' came close, and 'Nuevo Laredo' was actually a better 'rock' song. At least to my ears the album served to showcase the band's musical diversity. Those years touring throughout Texas left these guys razor sharp when it came to playing together. I've always seen them as being a Southwestern version of NRBQ, capable of handling virtually any genre including blues ('T-Bone Shuffle'), pop ('Dallas Alice'), and conventional rock ('Revolutionary Ways').
 
- A remembrance of the their years on the roadhouse circuit, 'Nuevo Laredo' stood as one of the band's classic performances. I remember this as one of the first songs I ever heard on commercial radio with Spanish lyrics. Thanks to YouTube you can check out a black and white television performance of the track at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM2uOhiM2YM rating: ***** stars
- The 'heartbreaking' ballad 'Dallas Alice' (amidst parental disapproval girl of privilege and long hair hippy fall in love) was definitely an unexpected oddity. Very pretty, it also had a very middle of the road feeling, complete with a Frank Morin flute solo. Not what you'd ever expect to heard from these guys, but still quite pleasant. rating: *** stars
- While I've never been a big blues shuffle fan, 'T-Bone Shuffle' was a blazing blues instrumental that would have made its namesake proud. Morin and Sahm stole the show with their respective solos. rating: **** stars
- Normally an acoustic ballad like 'I Don't Want To Go Home' wouldn't make much of an impression on me, but Sahm's delivery managed to make this one of the band's most memorable performances. Stunning. rating: **** stars
- A weird story-teller number, 'Medley: Son of Bill Baety' had an interesting groove, but Sahm's nasal delivery was irritating and after all these years I'll be damn if I know what the lyric was about. rating: ** stars
- 'Backwoods Girl' was a decent mid-tempo rocker. The 'young girl looking for her way in tumultuous times' lyric didn't strike me as particularly original, but the song was still okay. rating: ** stars
- 'Revolutionary Ways' was the album's most commercial rock song. I'm always surprised that Sahm and company didn't do more stuff in this vein since the results were so good. rating: **** stars
- Kicked along by Meyers' instantly recognizable organ, 'Seguin' did a beautiful job of capturing the band's unique sound. One of the album highlights. rating: **** stars
- At least to my ears, Sahm's rugged voice has always been an overlooked treasure and it was seldom showcased as well as on the bluesy 'If She'd Only Come To Me'. A stripped down Dylan-esque ballad, there wasn't anything fancy on this one, but the results were stunning and included one of Sahm's best electric guitar solos. Shame Dylan didn't have a voice as good as Sahm's ... rating: **** stars
- Showcasing the more commercial side of the band's repertoire, 'Magic Illusion' was cut from the same bolt of cloth as 'Medocino'. Not quite as impressive, though Meyer's instantly recognizable keyboards always make me smile when I hear the song. rating: **** stars
- The album closed out with a medley that blended their cover of Dylan's 'One Too Many Mornings' with the Sahm original 'Got To Sing a Happy Song'. With a bland melody this one originally didn't do a great deal for me, but the performance grew on me over time. Wish they hadn't faded the harmonica solo out so early. rating: *** stars

As mentioned above, the album spun off a single in the form of:


- 1970's 'Nuevo Laredo' b/w 'I Don't Wanna Go Home' (Smash catalog number 2259)

This is one of the sleepers in the Sir Douglas Quintet/Doug Sahm catalog. Well worth looking for.
"Together After Five" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Nuevo Laredo (Doug Sahm) - 2:42
2.) Dallas Alice (Doug Sahm) - 3:12
4.) T-Bone Shuffle (instrumental) (Doug Sahm) - 3:03
4.) I Don't Want To Go Home (Doug Sahm) - 3:04
5.) Medley: Son of Bill Baety (Doug Sahm) - 4:56
6.) Backwood's Girl (Doug Sahm) - 4:55

(side 2)
1.) Revolutionary Ways (Doug Sahm) - 2:26
2.) Seguin (Doug Sahm) - 2:43
3.) If She'd Only Come To Me (Doug Sahm) - 2:50
4.) Magic Illusion (Doug Sahm) -
5.) Medley: One Too Many Mornings /Got To Sing a Happy Song (Bob Dylan / Doug Sahm ) - 4:59


For Sir Douglas Quintet fanatics 'I Don't Want To Go Home' was released as the 'B' side to a single issued under the moniker 'Wayne Douglas':

- 1970's 'Be Real' b/w 'I Don't Want To Go Home' (Mercury catalog number 73098)